PERLMUTTER, ABRAHAM ẒEVI

PERLMUTTER, ABRAHAM ẒEVI (1844?–1926), rabbi in Poland. At the age of 18 he was nominated as rabbi in a townlet, later officiating in Leczyca, Raciaz, and other communities. Although descended from mitnaggedim, he sought the company of Polish ẓaddikim and was particularly close to the ẓaddik of Gostynin, Jehiel Meir Lifschits ("Ba'al ha-Tehillim") from whom he received the authorization to study languages to assist him in his public activities. In 1886 he was appointed rabbi in radom , where he participated in many community activities. He was awarded a silver medal after the coronation of Czar nicholas II in 1894. Perlmutter was active in improving the condition of Jewish soldiers stationed in the barracks in Radom and established a kasher kitchen there. He was also instrumental in abolishing a severe decree against Jewish peddlers. In 1909 he was appointed rabbi in Warsaw, a position he held until his death. In 1917 he was coopted to the provisional state council of Poland, which had been organized under the German occupation. In 1919 he was elected to the first Polish parliament (Sejm) as representative of agudat Israel for the Warsaw district. As the doyen of the Jewish representatives he was the first to present his party's declaration on the claims of Orthodox Jews in parliament. Even in his eighties Perlmutter continued to pursue his communal activities and he participated in the Polish and world conventions of Agudat Israel. (Yitzchak Arad)