Rabbi Zalman Yudkin, 98, OBM

By Yeshiva World News & COLlive

Rabbi Schneur Zalman Yudkin, a humble and learned chossid who lived in Crown Heights, passed away. He was 98 years old.

As a child, he studied at Yeshiva Torah Im Derech Eretz, a school that operated in a gymnasium in Riga, Latvia, and was influenced by the teachings of the renowned German Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch OBM.

Over the course of his long life, Rabbi Yudkin lived by the tenets of both Hirsch and his Chasidic upbringing. In JEM’s photo archive, he is seen receiving from the Rebbe kos shel bracha, kuntreisim and a dollar for Tzedaka.

Rabbi Yudkin and his family clung to their Yiddishkeit with tremendous Mesiras Nefesh, and eventually settled in Crown Heights, where he was able to live a life of Torah and Avodas Hashem without fear.

He was well known figure in local shuls, where he would go around fundraising for Kiryat Malachi, and his presence alone put smiles on the face of Mispalelim as he would come through the door.

“He was a true Tzadik,” one individual who knew him said. “He was a special person with an incredible heart and a deep love for those around him and who taught me and so many others what it means to live as a Yid.”

Ami Magazine featured Rabbi Yudkin on its cover in 2015. “His mesiras nefesh under the Bolsheviks evident in every crease of his holy countenance,” the editor Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter wrote about him.

Marko Dashev, who photographed Rabbi Yudkin’s portrait for the article, recalled arriving “at the Rabbi’s residence, a 2nd floor walk-up apartment in a far flung corner of Crown Heights.” He said Rabbi Yudkin insisted on helping him carry his equipment despite his age.

The levaya and kevurah will be held on Friday 3:00 PM at the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York.

Baruch Dayan Ha’Emes.