By COLlive reporter
On one of his last days at the Chief Rabbinate of Tel Aviv last month, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was in a rather festive mood – even joining a Chassidic dance in his office.
Visiting him was a delegation of Chabad Shluchim from around Tel Aviv who came to celebrate his 80th birthday and pay tribute to the Holocaust survivor who had been one of Israel’s most influential rabbinical figures.
Lau served as Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi between 1993 and 2003 and served as Tel Aviv’s Chief Rabbi for two terms. As he turns 80, Rabbi Lau is officially retiring from the government-funded posts.
The 38th generation in an unbroken family chain of rabbis, Rabbi Lau was born in Poland and was imprisoned in the Nazi extermination camp of Buchenwald. He then immigrated to Israel, reaching the position of Chief Rabbi of Netanya and later Tel Aviv.
When Rabbi Lau met the Rebbe in 1992 at Lubavitch Headquarters in New York, the Rebbe told him to finish his work in Tel Aviv, as he would soon be chosen to become Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 1993, Lau was elected to Chief Rabbi of Israel.
In a farewell interview with Yedioth Aharonot, Rabbi Lau reflected on his 56 years of activity and opposed the image of Tel Aviv as a secular city.
“There are 547 synagogues in Tel Aviv,” he pointed out. “I don’t know if there are any other cities with so many synagogues, apart from Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. So why call it secular?”
He added that there are “some 970 business owners—of supermarkets, grocery stores, hotels, butcher shops, and so on—seek a kashrut supervisor and a kashrut certificate from the Rabbinate.”
At the meeting in Rabbi Lau’s office, Tel Aviv’s Head Shliach Rabbi Yosef Gerlitzky introduced him to the new Shluchim that have expanded Chabad’s growing presence in the city.
Rabbi Lau and Gerlitzky reminised about the early days of Jewish outreach in the city. Lau was presented with a photo album of Chabad activities and his own presence in many of them.
At one point at the meeting, the elder chossid and Mashpia Rabbi Sholom Ber Butman rose to give Rabbi Lau blessings of good health and continued strength to continue his positive effect on fellow Jews.
VIDEO: “My Relationship with the Rebbe” – Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau speaks at the International Kinus Hashluchim in 2012
I hope he writes his memoirs (and somebody translate them to English)