Yehudah Jacobs Explained

Honorific-Prefix:	Rabbi
Yehudah Jacobs רב יהודה ג'ייקובס
Spouses:	Mrs. Esther Jacobs
Father:	Asher
Mother:	Esther
Birth Date:	c. 1935
Birth Place:	Cologne, Germany
Death Date:	April 27, 2020
Death Place:	Lakewood, New Jersey, U.S
Nationality:	United States
Alma Mater:	Beth Medrash Govoha

Rabbi Yehudah Jacobs (c. 1935^[1] – April 27, 2020) was a mashgiach ruchani (counselor) in Beth Medrash Govoha,^[2] the largest yeshiva outside of Israel and the second largest in the world after the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem.^{[3] [4]}

Biography

Jacobs was born about 1935 to Rabbi Asher and Esther Jacobs in Cologne, Germany.^[1] He studied in Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey starting in the late 1950s under Rabbi Aharon Kotler.^[5] He married his first wife, Ruthie, and they settled in Lakewood. He soon was appointed the mashgiach of Beth Medrash Govoha alongside Rabbi Nosson Meir Wachtfogel,^[6] a position he held for many years. After his first wife died (c. 1985), Rabbi Jacobs married his second wife, Esther. In 2010, he moved to Israel, where he stayed for a few years, all the while keeping up with the Lakewood Yeshiva. He later returned to Lakewood.

On April 27, 2020, he died of COVID-19 in Lakewood.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rav Yehuda Jacobs zt"l | Matzav.com.
2. Web site: BD'E - Hagaon Harav Yehudah Jacobs, Zt"l, Mashgiach of Bais Medrash Govoha | Hamodia.com. April 27, 2020. Hamodia.
3. Mark Di Ionno. "How Lakewood became a worldwide destination for Orthodox Jews". New Jersey On-Line LLC. Retrieved October 3, 2019. It's Friday in Lakewood. A few thousand young men in black suits and wide-brimmed black hats are rushing toward Beth Medrash Gohova (BMG), the world's largest yeshiva outside of Israel.
4. Steve Strunsky (April 16, 2019). "Lakewood yeshiva looks to use old golf course for new campus". New Jersey On-Line LLC. Retrieved April 19, 2019. Beth Medrash Gohova is said to be the world’s largest Jewish-affiliated university outside of Israel.
5. https://mishpacha.com/so-human-so-great-in-tribute-to-rav-yehuda-jacobs/ "He arrived in Rav Aharon Kotler’s Lakewood in the late 1950s"
6. Arem 2002, p. 240. Dershowitz 2006, p. 20.
7. Web site: Lakewood: Petira of Rabbi Yehuda Jacobs, long time mashgiach at BMG, he was also the Leader of the Regesh Network organization, a helpline for kids, teens and young adults . theyeshivaworld.com . 27 April 2020 . August 21, 2020.