Amram Zaks Explained

Honorific-Prefix:Rabbi
Amram Yitzchak Zaks
Yeshiva:Slabodka yeshiva (Bnei Brak)
Yeshivaposition:Rosh yeshiva
Birth Place:Jerusalem
Yahrtzeit:20 Kislev, 5773[1]
Father:Chaim Eliyahu Zalman Zaks
Mother:Esther Leah Friedman
Children:Simchah Shmuel Zaks

Rabbi Amram Yitzchak[2] Zaks (1926—2012) served as the rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka yeshiva of Bnei Brak, Israel alongside Rabbis Dov Landau and Moshe Hillel Hirsch.[3]

Biography

Rabbi Zaks was born on October 30, 1926, in Jerusalem to Rabbi Chaim Eliyahu Zalman and Esther Leah Zaks. His mother was the daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Friedman and the sister of Rabbi Mendel Friedman, son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.[3]

Rabbi Zaks was a student of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer in Etz Chaim Yeshiva. In 1947, he traveled to Bnei Brak where he studied at the Slabodka yeshiva under Rabbi Isaac Sher. In 1952 he was engaged to be married with Rabbi Sher's eldest granddaughter, the daughter of his son-in-law, Rabbi Mordechai Shulman, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka. The wedding took place in March 1952, shortly after the death of Rabbi Sher (who died in February 1952). Several years after his marriage, his father-in-law appointed him to deliver shiurim at Slabodka.[3]

More than 20 years before Rabbi Amram died, he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered.[4]

Rabbi Zaks died on December 30, 2012. Tens of thousands attended his funeral, where he was eulogized by Rabbis Landau and Hirsch of the Slabodka yeshiva as well as by the Rebbe of Sanz, by Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarsky, by Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein (a student of Rabbi Amram), and by Rabbi Amram's son, Rabbi Simchah Shmuel Zaks.[4]

Notes and References

  1. News: Sep 16, 2013. Year in Review 5773. Hamodia. 31.
  2. Hamodia. Dec 5, 2012. p. 1; News: Kenos Hespedim for HaGaon HaRav Amram Yitzchok Zaks ZT"L. Yeshiva World News. Dec 23, 2012. Sep 24, 2013.
  3. Hamodia. Dec 5, 2012. p. D40.
  4. Hamodia. Dec 5, 2012. p. D41.