Shloma Zalman Coleman, 43, OBM

By COLlive reporter

R’ Shloma Zalman Coleman, a resident of Jerusalem who was active in hosting people at kivrei tzadikim, passed away on Sunday, 4 Shevat 5781.

He was 43 and passed from coronavirus.

Coleman was said to be the first Jewish resident of the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood in East Jerusalem, which was established around the tomb of the Kohen Gadol “Simeon the Just.”

The tomb and surrounding lands were purchased in 1876 by the committee of the Sephardic community and the Ashkenazi Assembly of Israel.

Starting shortly after the UN General Assembly recommended the partition of the country into a Jewish state and an Arab state, the Shimon Hatzadik and Nahalat Shimon neighborhoods were claimed by the Israelis.

Coleman protected the holy site and was always available to accommodate visitors there as part of the hachnosas orchim operation there.

Every Shabbos, Coleman would walk to the holy gravesite of Dovid Hamelech in the Har Tziyon neighborhood and organized a Seuda Shlishis to conclude the Shabbos.

In recent years, he also started traveling to Haditch, Ukraine, to visit and assist with the hospitality arrangements for visitors of the Alter Rebbe‘s Ohel.

A family member of his told COLlive.com that Coleman was there on Chof Daled Teves and returned from there with Covid-19. “He was fit and well before he went,” he said.

“When he arrived back in Eretz Yisroel, he was already feeling unwell and was sent to the Corona hotel to quarantine, as all arrivals, where his condition worsened immediately and niftar before he could receive treatment,” the relative said.

The levaya took place on Sunday. He was buried in Har Hamenuchos.

He is survived by his wife Batsheva Coleman, daughter Naomi Coleman, his parents and sisters.

Baruch Dayan Haemes: Shloma Zalman Ben Naftali