Rabbi Avrohom Cohen, 64, OBM

By COLlive reporter

Rabbi Avrohom Cohen, one of the Rebbe’s first Shluchim in the land of Israel and an early activist with Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union, passed away on Thursday, 3 Teves 5778.

He was 64.

Rabbi Cohen was born in 5714 to a modern-Orthodox family in Jerusalem. While studying in Yeshiva Kol Torah, he began learning chassidus with Shabtai Slavatitzky, today the Shliach in Antwerp, Belgium.

He later learned in the Yeshivos of Chevron, Ger and Belz, during which he learned with Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Segal, head of Chabad’s Kolel Tzemach Tzedek in Jerusalem.

He then became a Lubavitcher, enrolling in the Tomchei Tmimim Yeshiva in Kfar Chabad and being guided by the Mashpia Rabbi Mendel Futerfas. Cohen soon went to learn in the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.

After his marriage to Nechama Stambler, daughter of Rabbi Meir Tzvi Stambler, Rabbi Cohen was sent by the Rebbe to Beer Sheva to serve Jewish immigrants from Russia.

His Shlichus in Teves 5731 made him the 6th Shliach of the Rebbe in the land of Israel and the first Shliach operating in the southern Israeli city where our forefather Avraham Avinu lived.

Rabbi and Mrs. Cohen began their activities by opening a small center from which they provided Mezuzahs and Shabbos candles to locals.

Rabbi Cohen initially learned in a local kolel in the morning, while his wife taught at the religious school Chazon Ovadia. Rabbi Cohen later served in the IDF’s Artillery Corps and Military Rabbinate.

In 5745, he founded a Chabad shul which was the beginning of the large network of Chabad centers and educational institutions in the city, led today by Head Shliach Rabbi Zalman Gorelik.

Rabbi Cohen recalled once visiting a store owner who told him, ‘You’ll tell me about the Rebbe of Lubavitch? I’m walking because of him’. The man said he was severely injured in battle and the doctors were skeptic about his chances of recovery. He wrote to the Rebbe and received a blessing.

Following the Kinus Hashluchim of 5753, he decided to rename the Chabad center in the Yud Aleph neighborhood of Beer Sheva to “Beis Moshiach.” The Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Leibel Groner told him that the Rebbe approved the renaming.

Rabbi Cohen fell ill recently but was able to participate in the wedding of his daughter a week ago. On Thursday, he suddenly collapsed in his house and passed away.

He is survived by his wife Nechama, children Meir Cohen, Sholom Ber Cohen, Levi Yitzchak Cohen, Moshe Cohen, Shneur Zalman Cohen, Shmuel, Yisroel, Chana Krishevsky, Shoshana Bluma Halperin, Chaya Mushka Wishnefsky; grandchildren.

Baruch Dayan Haemes.