Rebbe’s Lawyer Passes Away

Lubavitch.com

Chabad-Lubavitch mourns the passing August 18, of Jerome J. Shestack, a distinguished attorney and outspoken activist for human and civil rights, Israel and Soviet Jewry.

A prominent Philadelphia lawyer, Jerry Shestack was active in Democratic politics and served as president of the American Bar Association (ABA).

He chaired the International League for Human Rights for 20 years, and was appointed the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council from 1979 to 1980 by President Jimmy Carter.

Mr. Shestack had a long and substantive relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson until his passing in 1994.

He was co-counsel to Agudas Chassidei Chabad in the landmark case of 1987 regarding ownership of the Chabad-Lubavitch central library.

Unbeknown to many, “Jerry played a key role behind the scenes in the important missions of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on behalf of the Jewish people, and humanity at large,” said Rabbi Avraham Shemtov, Chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad.

Speaking to Lubavitch.com following Mr. Shestack’s funeral on Sunday, Rabbi Shemtov described the activist and advocate as an extraordinary human being, “an individual trusted and entrusted by the Rebbe in his work to advance Jewish identity, continuity and social values in general.”

“Human rights was not an issue in Jerry’s life. He lived it. And he did so with the inspiration he took from the Jewish values of his upbringing, and his exposure to the teachings of the Rebbe.”

Shestack was born in Atlantic City, N.J. Both of his grandfathers were rabbis, and he spoke Hebrew and Yiddish before he spoke English, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was wounded in an attack on the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga. The Philadelphia Daily News reported that he escaped serious injury because he did not go to lunch that day since they were serving pork on the deck that was hit hardest.

Mr. Shestack was awarded numerous prizes for his outstanding service, among them the the American Bar Association Medal in 2006, the Gruber Prize for Justice in 2008, and in 2009 the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights’ Lloyd N. Cutler Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is survived by his wife, Marciarose, and his two children, Jennifer and Jonathan.