Born in Communist Russia in 1932 during the era of religious repression, Rabbi Garelik spent his early years studying in the network of clandestine Yeshivas in the Soviet Union. After surviving the Holocaust and escaping the USSR, his family managed to reach Israel in 1949, where he continued his studies. In 1956 he arrived in New York to study at the Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva where he was ordained. Shortly after Rabbi Garelik’s marriage in 1958, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, appointed him as his representative in Milan, Italy, where he served as rabbi of the community as well as overseeing Chabad-Lubavitch institutions in southern Europe. At the Rebbe’s behest, in 1960 he began providing Kosher certification throughout Italy, doing so for over 50 years. That work is today carried on in Italy by his son-in-law, Rabbi Avraham Hazan www.eurokosher.it.

In 2000, Rabbi Garelik established the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) and served as its president for over two decades. In 2007, he founded European Kosher (EK) under the auspices of the RCE to provide Kosher certification throughout Europe www.ekosher.eu. Rabbi Garelik passed away in 2021.