Sydney, Australia - An American-born rabbi who has been hailed as “the greatest Australian Jewish leader of the past century” was buried July 11 on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, who was sent to Australia as the special emissary of the Chabad-Lubavitch rebbe, died July 7 after a long illness. He was 83.
Israel’s former Ashkenazic chief rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, officiated at the ceremony in Jerusalem in front of hundreds of mourners, including Groner’s younger brother, Leib, who was the personal secretary of the Lubavitch rebbe for more than 40 years.
Yossi Aron, religious affairs editor of the Australian Jewish News and longtime student of Groner, told the Forward, “Rabbi Groner did more to develop the Orthodox community than any other rabbi. He put Chabad on the map in Australia.”
Isi Leibler, a former Australian Jewry president who now lives in Jerusalem, said, “History will record that Rabbi Yitzchok Groner was beyond a doubt the greatest Australian Jewish leader of the past century.”
Born in New York in 1925, Groner was first sent on a pilot tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1947. He returned Down Under in 1953, and several years later, in 1958, the Lubavitch rebbe asked him to be his emissary there for a few years. Groner stayed for 50 years, building a thriving Lubavitch community of thousands as well as a network of educational and religious institutions, including two Jewish schools; a men’s kollel; a women’s seminary, and a clutch of Chabad houses around Melbourne, three of which are run by his sons or sons-in-law.
In a rare interview in 2004, Groner said: “My objective is to make my boys and girls a mensch. I want that they should be decent, moral, learned, observant young men and women, a credit to the community where they will live.”
At Groner’s 80th birthday party, which raised $1 million for Chabad, then-prime minister John Howard said he had the “enviable reputation as the people’s rabbi.”
On Wednesday, July 9, more than 1,500 mourners came to the memorial service, which was held at the Yeshiva Centre in Melbourne and streamed live on the Internet. Groner’s body was then flown to Israel for burial alongside his parents.
Succeeding Groner as Lubavitch chief will be Rabbi Zvi Telsner, who is married to one of Groner’s daughters.
Showing posts with label Yitzchok Dovid Groner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yitzchok Dovid Groner. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Rabbi Yitzchak Groner
Posted on: Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 18:00 CDT
By Isi Leibler
Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities. History will record that Rabbi Yitzchak Groner was beyond doubt the greatest Australian Jewish leader of the past century.
His towering achievements and charismatic presence at all communal levels played a major role in transforming Australian Jewry into one of the finest communities in the Diaspora. The extraordinary expansion of Chabad educational institutions positively influenced the growth of Torah education and day schools throughout the entire Jewish community.
Although unyielding on halachic principles, he exemplified the best traditions of Chabad outreach and compassion. Despite his towering presence and erudition, Ha'Rav Groner was a modest man who spurned materialism and inspired a love and respect by all sections of the community, non-observant as well as religious.
His life represents a role model of spiritual leadership. May he be a Melitz Yashar to be emulated by rabbis all over the world, including Eretz Yisrael.
On a personal note I always enjoyed a special kesher, connection with him, regarding him as among the greatest Jewish personalities I was privileged to respect and love. He brought me on a number of occasions to meet the Rebbe, and I appreciated the high regard in which the Rebbe viewed him.
May Hashem comfort his rebbetzen, children and family among the mourners of Zion.
Yehi Zichro Baruch,
May his memory be blessed.
Originally published by Isi Leibler.
(c) 2008 The Jerusalem Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
By Isi Leibler
Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities. History will record that Rabbi Yitzchak Groner was beyond doubt the greatest Australian Jewish leader of the past century.
His towering achievements and charismatic presence at all communal levels played a major role in transforming Australian Jewry into one of the finest communities in the Diaspora. The extraordinary expansion of Chabad educational institutions positively influenced the growth of Torah education and day schools throughout the entire Jewish community.
Although unyielding on halachic principles, he exemplified the best traditions of Chabad outreach and compassion. Despite his towering presence and erudition, Ha'Rav Groner was a modest man who spurned materialism and inspired a love and respect by all sections of the community, non-observant as well as religious.
His life represents a role model of spiritual leadership. May he be a Melitz Yashar to be emulated by rabbis all over the world, including Eretz Yisrael.
On a personal note I always enjoyed a special kesher, connection with him, regarding him as among the greatest Jewish personalities I was privileged to respect and love. He brought me on a number of occasions to meet the Rebbe, and I appreciated the high regard in which the Rebbe viewed him.
May Hashem comfort his rebbetzen, children and family among the mourners of Zion.
Yehi Zichro Baruch,
May his memory be blessed.
Originally published by Isi Leibler.
(c) 2008 The Jerusalem Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Mourners pay tribute to Groner
More than 1,500 mourners paid tribute to Australia’s most senior Orthodox rabbi.
Wednesday's memorial service for Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the chief rabbi of Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community, took place outside the Yeshivah Centre that he built as his Lubavitch headquarters. The ceremony was streamed live on the Internet, allowing thousands around the world to watch it.
Groner died Monday after a long illness.
Police closed the main street outside the Yeshivah Centre to enable the mass of mourners to follow the coffin as it departed for the airport. His body was flown to Israel for burial Friday on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem alongside his parents.
Hundreds of messages from places such as Tasmania, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, America and England already have been posted on the Yeshivah Centre’s Web site.
“Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities,” wrote Isi Leibler, a former president of the Australian Jewish community, who now lives in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a rabbinical student in Australia in the 1980s, wrote: “It’s safe to say that there will never be another like Rabbi Groner. It’s also safe to say that if world Jewry could produce another hundred like him, we would instantly solve the global problem of Jewish assimilation. But that’s the problem with great men. They are so rare that they are not always appreciated during their lifetime, but are sorely missed once their fiery hearts are no longer present to illuminate our lives.”
Wednesday's memorial service for Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the chief rabbi of Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community, took place outside the Yeshivah Centre that he built as his Lubavitch headquarters. The ceremony was streamed live on the Internet, allowing thousands around the world to watch it.
Groner died Monday after a long illness.
Police closed the main street outside the Yeshivah Centre to enable the mass of mourners to follow the coffin as it departed for the airport. His body was flown to Israel for burial Friday on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem alongside his parents.
Hundreds of messages from places such as Tasmania, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, America and England already have been posted on the Yeshivah Centre’s Web site.
“Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities,” wrote Isi Leibler, a former president of the Australian Jewish community, who now lives in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a rabbinical student in Australia in the 1980s, wrote: “It’s safe to say that there will never be another like Rabbi Groner. It’s also safe to say that if world Jewry could produce another hundred like him, we would instantly solve the global problem of Jewish assimilation. But that’s the problem with great men. They are so rare that they are not always appreciated during their lifetime, but are sorely missed once their fiery hearts are no longer present to illuminate our lives.”
Monday, July 07, 2008
Australia's Chabad rabbi dies
Australia’s most senior Orthodox rabbi has died.
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the chief rabbi of Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community, died Monday following a long illness. He was 83.
The brother of Leib Groner, a personal secretary to the former Lubavitcher rebbe, he will be buried in Jerusalem -- alongside his parents -- later this week. A memorial service is currently being planned in Melbourne with Chabad officials scrambling to find a venue large enough for the thousands expected to mourn the spiritual giant described as the person who “put Chabad on the map in Australia.”
Michael Danby, a Jewish member of the Australian government and Groner’s local lawmaker, said: “No spiritual leader of the Australian Jewish community has had a bigger effect on the postwar generation, both in terms of the restoration of spiritual life and educational institutions.”
Over the last half-century, Groner built an Orthodox community of thousands of Lubavitchers and a network of institutions in Melbourne: two schools -- Yeshivah College and Beth Rivkah Ladies' College -- educating more than 1,500 pupils; a men’s kollel; a women’s seminary; several mikvehs; and a cluster of Chabad houses throughout the city, three of which are run by the rabbi’s sons or sons-in-law.
Born in Brownsville, N.Y., in 1925, Groner was first sent to Australia and New Zealand by the Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1947. He returned in 1953 before the rebbe requested he become his emissary to Australia in 1958.
Wheelchair-bound in the twilight of his life, the rabbi was renowned for his booming sermons. His flock would line up outside his door to ask religious question of their spiritual leader.
Groner is survived by his wife, Devorah, his brother Leib, his eight children and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the chief rabbi of Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community, died Monday following a long illness. He was 83.
The brother of Leib Groner, a personal secretary to the former Lubavitcher rebbe, he will be buried in Jerusalem -- alongside his parents -- later this week. A memorial service is currently being planned in Melbourne with Chabad officials scrambling to find a venue large enough for the thousands expected to mourn the spiritual giant described as the person who “put Chabad on the map in Australia.”
Michael Danby, a Jewish member of the Australian government and Groner’s local lawmaker, said: “No spiritual leader of the Australian Jewish community has had a bigger effect on the postwar generation, both in terms of the restoration of spiritual life and educational institutions.”
Over the last half-century, Groner built an Orthodox community of thousands of Lubavitchers and a network of institutions in Melbourne: two schools -- Yeshivah College and Beth Rivkah Ladies' College -- educating more than 1,500 pupils; a men’s kollel; a women’s seminary; several mikvehs; and a cluster of Chabad houses throughout the city, three of which are run by the rabbi’s sons or sons-in-law.
Born in Brownsville, N.Y., in 1925, Groner was first sent to Australia and New Zealand by the Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1947. He returned in 1953 before the rebbe requested he become his emissary to Australia in 1958.
Wheelchair-bound in the twilight of his life, the rabbi was renowned for his booming sermons. His flock would line up outside his door to ask religious question of their spiritual leader.
Groner is survived by his wife, Devorah, his brother Leib, his eight children and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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