By COLlive reporter
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Zahler, a chossid and talmid chacham who served as Mashpia for the Chabad community in Zurich, Switzerland, passed away on Friday night, 26 Kislev 5781.
He was 95.
Born on 15 Iyar 5685 (1925) in Vienna, Austria, he became close to chassidus in his youth when he befriended the Chabad bochurim in a displaced persons’ camp in France.
Surviving the Second World War and arriving in the United States, he learned in the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch at 770 Eastern Parkway in 5708.
He returned to France in 5711 where he married Miriam Zahler (nee Ravinsky). His classmates escorted him to the airport and held an impromptu farbrengen that included singing, reciting a maamar and saying l’chaim.
The couple first lived in Paris, then moved to Basel and later Zurich where he served as the Mashpia of the Chabad community in Zurich who would speak during Chassidic farbrengens on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim. He would also present shiurim in Gemara and Chassidus and even basic Yiddishkeit to beginners.
He was a great talmid chacham who was knowledgeable in many areas of Torah. For years, he taught Jewish children who were enrolled in pubic schools, as well as the students of the local Talmud Torah.
Humble and punctual, he welcomed every person with a smile and conducted himself with gentleness and grace.
Over the years, he merited to receive many instructions, ranging from the personal as to how to prepare for his wedding, to the communal such as translating Tanya and Chassidus to German and other languages.
The levaya took place in Zurich on Motzoei Shabbos.
He is survived by his son R’ Yosef Yitzchok Zahler of Kiryat Sefer in Israel and grandchildren.
Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.
It would be nice to have a list of his publications.
He singlehandedly translated the Shaar Hayichud vihaEmunah into German, and compiled a booklet on Taharas Hamishpocha in German as well.
When perek 32 of Tanya was published in German, Rabbi Chadakov asked him to check the content and translation.
His many publications in French and German Jewish magazines, are currently not collected, as he was very modest, and did not enjoy making a fuss about himself.
BSD”
What’s missing in Rav Zahler’s A”H brief biography is HOW he survived the holocaust and how he was introduced to Chassidus. The answer is one and the same: HaRav Shneur Zalman Schneerson A”H saved many Jewish youngsters from being captured in wartime France. All the time they were in hiding (1940–1944), he also ran a Yeshiva where he taught them Chassidus. That is how Rav Zahler A”H and (l’havdil bein haChaim) Rav Dovid Moshe Lieberman were introduced to Chassidus and Chabad.
Sterna Citron (granddaughter of Rav Schneerson)