Yitzhak Zilber Biography

Votsap raqual ishak Zilber is the largest Russian -speaking rabbi and lalachic authority, the founder of the religious Russian -speaking community of Israel, the leader of the movement for the return of Jews from the former USSR to their roots, to tradition. The books of Rava Yitzhak Zilber “Flame does not sleep you”, “I belong to my friend”, “so that you remain a Jew” and “Conversations of the Torah” became table books for hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews.

His father hit Kazan from Latvia as a result of various vicissitudes of that troubled time. Parents gave him real Jewish education - Rav Zilber never studied at a secular school, which did not prevent him from becoming a student of Kazan State University. From the age of 15, Rav Yitzhak Zilber has already given the Torah lessons in Kazan, despite the fact that it was prohibited.

After the Second World War, he was convicted and served a sentence in the Stalin Gulag, where, despite the inhuman conditions with an extraordinary self -sacrifice, Shabbat never violated. After the liberation, Rav Yitzhak Zilber returned to Kazan. There he did not allow children to attend school on Saturday, for which the KGB wanted to deprive him of his parental rights.

He moved to Tashkent, and in G. by this time he had already finished the whole Talmud several times. His son, Bentsion Zilber, managed to learn a significant part of the Talmud, also persecuted in the Soviet Union. He recalled that when he arrived in Jerusalem, there was not a single immigrant from Russia - “Baal Tshuva”.

Rav Zilber devoted himself to approaching the Torah of the Russian -speaking population of Israel. There were times that his wife could not light the Sabbath candles on the table, because almost before the onset of Saturday, it was circumcised by the new Baaly Tshuva. Rav Zilber helped hundreds of women from Rosia in receiving divorce documents - Geta. He himself went on distant trips, looking for missing husbands around the world.

He died just a few hours before the 9th AVA. His funeral was collected, despite the post, a huge number of people from all over Israel and turned into crying through the destroyed temple. His business is continued by children and numerous students. The only son, equal Bences Zilber, took the place of his father and is a rabbi and spiritual leader "The crowd of Yeshurun." Daughter, Rabbanit Hawa Cuperman - leads numerous programs for women.