Lelov Hasidic Dynasty

The Koidanov family is an Hasidic dynasty in Koidanovo . Koidanov Ḥasidism was a branch of the Karlin trend of Ḥasidism and the continuation of Lachowicze Ḥasidism. Its founder was SOLOMON ḤAYYIM (Perlow) OF KOIDANOV (1797–1862), grandson of the ẓaddikim Asher of Stolin and Mordecai of Lachowicze (Lyakhovichi); he was educated in the former's home. Solomon Ḥayyim apparently first served as arabbi in Stolin and Turov in Polesye province. On the death of his uncle the ẓaddik Noah of Lachowicze in 1832, Solomon Ḥayyim was chosen by many of Noah's followers as admor and took up residence in Koidanovo. His influence spread to the northern part of Polesye and beyond into Belorussia (Minsk). He left no written works. The Koidanov prayer book Or ha-Yashar, published after his death (1877; 1903², 1928³), contains a special supplement relating the customs of Solomon Ḥayyim and details about his life. During his life the kolel Koidanovwas founded in Ereẓ Israel, in Tiberias.

His son and successor, BARUCH MORDECAI (1818–1870), was active on behalf of the kolel. Another son, Noah (d. 1904), was admor in Gorodishche near Novogrudok. The third son was ABRAHAM AARON OF PUKHOVICHI (Marina Gorka). The dynasty was continued by AARON (d. 1897), son of Baruch Mordecai, whose personality and wide knowledge of Kabbalah and Ḥasidism helped to strengthen Koidanov Ḥasidism. In 1866 he appealed to the Koidanov Ḥasidim to support the kolel. He published Or Ne'erav by Moses Cordovero , to which he added a supplement Nireh Or (Vilna, 1899), and Sefat Emet by Moses Ḥagiz with a collection of teachings on the value of Ereẓ Israel in kabbalistic and ḥasidic works (1876). On the title page of the Koidanov prayer book he added eight principles to be observed in order to achieve perfection.

His brother SHALOM (1850–1925) served as rabbi in Bragin and edited and published the teachings of the Koidanov rabbis and genealogical details on the dynasty. His most important works are Divrei Shalom (1882), and Mishmeret Shalom (1912, 1959?). The successor in the dynasty was Aaron's son JOSEPH (1854–1915), a scholar who founded a yeshivah which became an important educational institution in the Koidanovo area. In 1890 he wrote an introduction to the Koidanov prayer book. During his lifetime Koidanovo remained a center of Ḥasidism. The Koidanov Ḥasidim had synagogues also in Vilna, and the United States. NEHEMIAH (1860–1927), the brother of Joseph, headed the Ḥasidim remaining in Poland and lived in Baranovichi. His son and successor in Baranovichi, SHALOM ALTER (b. 1906), perished in Vilna in 1941 during the Holocaust.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

S.E. Stamm, Zekher Zaddik (1905); W.Z. Rabinowitsch, Ha-Ḥasidut ha-Lita'it (1961), 120–7; M. Buber, Talesof the Hasidim, 2 (19663), 153–8. W.Z. Rabinowitsch, Lithuanian Hasidism (1970), 161–9.