Zalman Moishe Ha Yitzchaki - Biography

Biography

Reb Zalman Moishe was born in Nevel, Russia, to his father, Reb Dovber ("Berel Der Shoichet"), who was the Chabad shochet in Nevel. The surname HaYitzchoki indicated their lineage to Rashi. His mother was Rochel Zisselson, the daughter of a prominent Lubavitch family in Nevel. He married Neshe Reines of Zhembin, the Reines's were a prominent Rabbinic family in White Russia.

After marrying, Reb Zalman Moishe began studying unofficially part-time at the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva in Zhembin, and this brought him to become intensely devoted to the study of Chabad Chassidus. He would come to attend the lectures on this topic delivered by Reb Shmuel Groinem Esterman, the official Mashpia.

Several years later he moved to Schtzedrin, a small village founded by the Tzemach Tzedek, and populated exclusively by Chabad Chassidim. He accepted the request of the village's inhabitants that he come practice shechita. This was during World War I, a time when abject poverty prevailed. Nevertheless, Reb Zalman Moishe was careful to distribute all his earnings to the needy.

After his father died in 1919 he returned to Nevel to replace his father as the city's shochet. He immediately became one of the central personalities in the city, and his home became a centre for Chassidic farbrengens.

In the year 1933 he decided to immigrate to the Holy Land. In order to file his application he moved to Moscow, where he stayed for two years, until his application was accepted in 1935. He then moved to Tel Aviv.

In the early 1940s he suffered partial paralysis, and would spend most of the day studying the Chasidic discourses of the Rebbe Rashab, and praying at great length.

His children were:

• Sarah (1904-1997) wife of the Mashpia Rabbi Avrohom Drizin (Mayorer) (1900-1991)
• Shmuel (1906-1986)
• Faya (1920-1983) wife of Rabbi Meir Borovski (1915?-1994?)

He is buried in Tzfas.