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Karliner Chassidic Teachings and Traditions for Shavuos
- Rabbi Yonah Bookstein
- May 20
- 3 min read
Nothing can be accomplished through coldness!
The following are beautiful traditions and teachings connected with the holy days of Shavuos among the chassidim of the holy Rabbi Aharon Perlow of Karlin, known as the “Beis Aharon.”
After Shavuos, the Rebbe of Karlin, Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Perlow, once related that his grandfather, the holy “Beis Aharon,” did not wish to part from the assembled chassidim at the close of Yom Tov. He exclaimed:
“Why is everyone rushing home? Is this not like כתינוק הבורח מבית הספר — ‘a child fleeing from school’?!”
This was in reference to the words of Chazal on the verse “ויסעו מהר סיני” — that Klal Yisroel departed Har Sinai “like a child fleeing from school” after receiving the Torah.
The Karliner Rebbe added that even the elder chassidim of his grandfather — lofty Jews whose very homes were permeated with ruchniyus — were nevertheless included in the Beis Aharon’s remark. Such was his yearning never to part from the holiness of Matan Torah.
The Rebbe also related that when the holy Beis Aharon traveled to Medzhybizh for Shavuos, groups of young men would gather to hear words of Torah from him. The Beis Aharon distributed large pieces of lekach (honey cake) and said:
“When a Jew came to the holy Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta, he would tell him everything he had done from the day he was born until that moment, and what he needed to correct from then onward. But we distribute lekach; through this, we want each person to understand on his own what he has done and what he must rectify.”
Customs of the Second Day of Shavuos
On the second day of Shavuos in Chutz La’Aretz, it is customary among Karliner chassidim to sing the piyut “Hanechras Reishis Da’as,” printed in Sha’ar Tziyon. During one visit to Israel on Isru Chag — corresponding to the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora — the Karliner Rebbe recounted:
Once, during the singing of “Hanechras,” the Beis Aharon sat for nearly two hours with his eyes closed and a Siddur open before him. The choir continued singing the piyut the entire time. Several singers had to be replaced because they became exhausted, until finally the Beis Aharon closed the Siddur.
The Rebbe concluded: “Such life and vitality did grandfather draw from those holy words…”
On another occasion, when the Beis Aharon came to the holy tziyon of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer in Mezhibuzh, he turned to the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Yom Tov Simcha and said:
“Tell me — how can one approach such a holy place empty-handed?”
The Rebbe then waited approximately twenty minutes in deep contemplation. Afterwards he remarked: “Children and women also come to this holy tziyon; therefore, we too may enter in their manner — with simple and innocent faith.”
Story of the Baal Shem Tov on Tehillim
The holy Beis Aharon also repeated the following teaching concerning the Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer:
Once, the Baal Shem Tov entered a synagogue where people were reciting Tehillim in order to annul a harsh decree. He perceived that the Tehillim were being said coldly and without fervor. The Baal Shem Tov cried out:
“Nothing can be accomplished through coldness! Tehillim must be said with fire and hislahavus!”
