Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber has Passed Away

Jerusalem - 28-Jul-04

Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, considered a saintly figure among Russian Jewry, passed away this afternoon at the age of 87.  His funeral will set out tonight at 11 PM from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sanhedria Murchevet.  Thought of as the "Rabbi Aryeh Levine" of Russian Jewry, Rabbi Zilber was the top Halakhic [Jewish legal] authority and the leader of the Teshuvah [return to Judaism] movement in that community.  His "Toldot Yeshurun" educational network includes 250 Torah teachers and rabbis.

University-trained as a mathematics professor, he was imprisoned after World War II in Stalin's gulag, where despite the inhumane conditions, he managed to remain Sabbath observant.  Ultimately, in 1972, he was able to immigrate to Israel - after having completed the Babylonian Talmud a number of times.  He devoted his life to helping his fellow Russian Jews return to their lost traditions, as well as in countless other kindnesses such as obtaining Jewish divorces for "chained" woman.