By COLlive reporter
Rabbi Yosef Yisroel Blau, a Chabad chossid who held leadership positions and helped run and grow many Chabad institutions, passed away on Wednesday, 25 Elul 5778.
He was 76 and recently battled a terrible illness.
Rabbi Yossel Blau, as he was known, was born to a prominent frum family in Jerusalem, known for its activism.
When his brother Rabbi Tuvia Blau became a Lubavitcher chossid, R’ Yossel followed him and began learning in Chabad’s Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Lod and later at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights.
A few years after his marriage to his wife Miriam, he started working as a secretary at the Yeshiva in Lod which served as the headquarters of Chabad institutions in Israel, directed by Rabbi Ephraim Wolf OBM.
As an assistant to Rabbi Wolf, Rabbi Blau played instrumental roles in Chabad institutions and activities such as building the Nachlas Har Chabad neighborhood in Kiryat Malachi in which he settled with his family.
“Yosef Blau – everything that he does, he does it fully,” the Rebbe once commented about his involvement which included dealing with government agencies to receive funds for Chabad schools and centers.
Over the years, he served as Deputy Director of Israel’s Education Ministry, member of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in Israel, was the rabbi of the regional council of Tamar, Chairman of the Religious Council of Kiryat Malachi and director of the Vocational School in Kfar Chabad.
Rabbi Blau was recently working on an autobiography about his life and work and completed chapters have been released on social media. Family members said the entire book has been written. They plan on publishing it once all chapters are edited.
The levaya took place on Wednesday and he is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Baruch Dayan Haemes: Yosef Yisroel ben Baruch Yehuda.
BDE. Ad mosai?