Yisroel Jacobson

Yisroel Jacobson (or Israel Jacobson) (1895-1975) was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi and the representative of the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, to the United States during the 1920s and 1930s.[1][2] Rabbi Jacobson was one of the first Lubavitcher activists to arrive in to the United States. He was born in Russia and migrated to the United States in 1925.[3]

For the German-Jewish philanthropist and communal organizer, see Israel Jacobson.

Yisroel Jacobson

Biography

Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson was born in Zurowitz, White Russia on 20 November (the third of Kislev) in 1895. He died on 27 May (17 of Sivan) in 1975 at the age of 79.[4][3]

Before World War Two

Rabbi Jacobson volunteered to move to the United States at the request of the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. The sixth Rebbe had sought one of his followers to establish a platform to help Chabad Hasidim emigrate to the United States. Jacobson arrived from Poland to New York in 1925, he initially had trouble finding work but soon became a rabbi and Torah teacher. Soon Rabbi Jacobson became active in fundraising activities, sending the funds overseas to the sixth Rebbe, supporting Chabad activities in Eastern Europe and enabling the sixth Rebbe to leave Russia.[5]

Rabbi Jacobson served as the rabbi in the Anshei Bobroisk synagogue in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He founded Yeshivas Achei T’mimim in New York in 1932, for young men who had become close to Chabad.[6]

During World War Two

After the start of World War Two, Rabbi Jacobson helped secure safe passage for the sixth Rebbe and his family to leave Poland.[5] After the sixth Rebbe's secured passage from Nazi-occupied Poland to Riga, Latvia, Rabbi Schneersohn contacted Rabbi Jacobson to intercede with the American counsel in Berlin to secure the sixth Rebbe's library of books and manuscripts in Otwock, Poland. The rescue attempt did not succeed, and subsequent attempts to secure the library were made after the war.[7]

After World War Two

Following the passing of the sixth Rebbe in 1950, Rabbi Jacobson became an early supporter of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (prior to the latter's acceptance of leadership of Chabad) backing Rabbi Menachem Mendel over his brother-in-law Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary.[8]

Rabbi Jacobson served on the faculty of the central Lubavitch yeshiva at 770 Eastern Parkway. He also helped found the Yeshiva Hadar Hatorah for baalei teshuvah ("returnees" to Judaism)[9] where he served as dean. He was also the dean of the Beth Rivkah school for girls.[3]

Students

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, described Rabbi Jacobson as "my mashpia" (spiritual mentor) and cites his teachings in his memoir.[10]

References

1. "Transition in Lubavitch: January 28, 1950". lubavitch.com.
2. "An Influential Rabbi and Communal Activist - Rabbi Herschel Schacter, 95". www.chabad.org.
3. "Rabbi Israel Jacobson". The New York Times.
4. Seligson, Michoel. Our Heroes Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson Part 1 Crownheights.info.
5. Rigg, Bryan Mark. Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Yale University Press. 2008. Pages 32-34, 97.
6. "Leading the Charge for Lubavitch in America". Beis Moshiach Magazine.
7. Mintz, Jerome. Hasidic People. Harvard University Press. 1998. Pages 289-290.
8. Heilman, Samuel, and Menachem Friedman. The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Princeton University Press, 2012. Pages 53-54.
9. "50 For Baalei Teshuva Yeshiva". www.collive.com.
10. Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman. My Life in Jewish Renewal: A Memoir. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2012. Page 59.