Rabbi Eliezer Pupko
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Rav, Velizh, Belarus (Philadelphia)Date of Death:
Sat. September 23, 1961 -
Tishrei 13 5722
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Directions to Kever: Montefiore Cemetery in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Jenkintown which is part of Abington Township is located about 10 miles north of downtown Philadelphia. Location: Needed
Biographical Notes:
Photo Caption: Rav Eliezer Pupko, Credit: Needed
Photo Caption: RavĀ Eliezer Pupko,Ā Credit: Moreshes Chachmei America (MCA)
Photo Caption:Ā Rav Eliezer Pupko (R) along withĀ Rav Meir Sharf of Brooklyn (L),Ā outsideĀ Ā The White House, c. 1945, Credit: Life Photo Collection
Photo Caption: 1. Needed, 2. Rabbi Yeruchem Gorelick, Yeshiva University, 3. Rabbi Zalmen Reichman, Bronx, 4. Needed, 5. Rabbi Eliezer Poupko, Credit: MCA
Credit: MCA
Credit: MCA
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Rabbi Eliezer Poupko (or Pupko) (1886-1961) was born in Radin, Lithuania, on March 18, 1886. He attended the Telz yeshiva. Receiving Semicha in 1908, he served for twenty four years as chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Veliz, Russia. Rabbi Poupko was twice tried in 1930s for defying the religious policies of the Soviet Union and was sentenced to two years in a Siberian prison. He served only part of that sentence as the United States rabbinate was able to win a commutation.
Rabbi Poupko came to the USA in 1931, first serving congregations in Haverhill, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. In 1942, he became the Rabbi of the Aitz Chaim Congregation in Philadelphia. He was an honorary president and a member of the executive board of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada.
Rabbi Poupko married Pesha Chaya, a daughter of the Rabbi of Kenna near Vilna and subsequently of Saratov. Their four oldest sons were sent to study in the Chofetz Chaim’s yeshiva in Radin, and indeed many of Rabbi Poupko’s children went on to play a pivotal role within the Jewish world. Rabbi Reuven Poupko published a Sefer by the name of Toras Reuven in Philadelphia in 1940, containing a warm approbation by Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer that praises the author’s father. Rabbi Baruch Poupko became a leading American Rabbi and author of numerous articles, books and anthologies. One of Rabbi Poupko’s sons-in-law was the renowned Rabbi Mordechai Savitzky, Chief Rabbi of Boston and author of twenty-two works on the Talmud. Another is Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz.
His son R’ Yitzchok was the son in law of the Tomashpiler Rebbe
His son-in-law is Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Av Beis Din of RCA and Chicago Beis Din.
My Bubby mentioned to me (she died in 1990) that my uncle LEIBEL KAPLAN had his Bar Mitzvah at the PROVIDENCE SHUL in R.I. that RABBI POUPKO served. He could not believe that
my American born uncle gave his bar mitzvah speech in Yiddish. Many years later, his son-in-law
RABBI SCHWARTZ served in PROVIDENCE as Rabbi of the SHUL my parents attended
JERRY SNELL PROVIDENCE,R.I.
How was he related to the Chafetz Chaim?