Dr. Avrohom A. Seligson was born in Cracow, Poland in 1907. His parents were Rabbi Michoel Aharon, who was a fourth generation descendent of the Alter Rebbe, and Chaya Rochel who stems from a lineage of illustrious rabbis. Rabbi Michoel, was the only Lubavitcher Chossid in Cracow at the time, and his home served as a center for shiurim in Chassidus and chassidishe farbrengens.
Following the footsteps of his maternal uncles, the young Reb Avrohom, studied medicine at universities in Vilna and Straßberg, graduated and went on to become a physician. In the course of his pioneering research in the field of endocrine glands, Dr. Seligson corresponded regularly with Professor Harvey Cushing, the Sterling Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine at Yale University and a leading neurologist at the time, who took a keen interest in Dr. Seligson’s findings.
When WWII broke out, Dr. Seligson received a visa issued by Chiune Sugihara and was able to escape Poland through Vilna and Vladivostok, and ultimately arrived to Kobe, Japan. In Kobe, he met up with other Jewish refugees, including other Lubavitcher Chassidim, from across Eastern Europe. After six months of applying for visas to the U.S. and being rejected by the US government, the Japanese government sent the refugees to Shanghai, China. Throughout WWII, Dr. Seligson served as a physician to the refugees in the Shanghai ghetto. Under harsh conditions, where typhus and other diseases were rampant, Dr. Seligson saved countless lives.
In 1947, Dr. Seligson arrived to the U.S. where he established himself as physician and for over forty years, served as the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s personal physician, as well as the the physician of members of the Rebbe’s family. He was also the community physician of Crown Heights.
On Tuesday, the 25thof Shevat, 5749 (January 31, 1989), he passed away and was laid to rest directly behind the Ohel.
Dr. Seligson wrote commentaries on Chumash, Tanya and the Talmud and on additional Torah matters and his works on medicine were published by various medical journals.