Yitzchok Dov Koppelman (April 30, 1909 – June 17, 2011) was born in

Vasilishki Vasilishki (; ; ; ; ) is an agrotown in Shchuchyn District, Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vasilishki selsoviet. History Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vasilishki was part of Vilnius Voivodeship. In 170 ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. He was the head of the 1951-founded ''Lucerne Yeshiva in Switzerland'' for nearly 50 years from 1963. A year before he died, a report about his visit from Switzerland to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia was titled "''World's oldest rabbi visits Oz''". While the main purpose of his trip was to raise additional funds for his yeshiva, he gave a number of public lectures: at an elementary school, a high school, a

Kollel A kollel (also kolel) (, , , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced Torah study, study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features Shiur (Torah), shiurim (lectures) and ...

, and a major shul.

Career

Koppelman was "a leading disciple of Rabbi

Shimon Shkop Shimon Yehuda Shkop (; 1860 – October 22, 1939) was Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva of Telshe, and later of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah of Grodno. Having innovated a style of Torah study, applying both to Halacha and to Talmud, he was widely r ...

," having been at the latter's yeshiva for 18 years. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he ran a yeshiva; after the war he established two more: one in Europe, another in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, the latter "named after the well known sefer by the same name written by R' Shimon Shkop." His work in Switzerland began in 1963. The Yeshiva was based in Obernau in the

canton of Lucerne The canton of Lucerne ( ; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the country's central, German-speaking Switzerland, German-speaking part. The population of the canton (as of ) is . , the population included 57 ...

(municipality of Kriens), where Rabbi Koppelman worked for 48 years and taught and inspired thousands of students from all over the world, including "Western Europe.. the United Kingdom, .. the United States of America, Canada, Eretz Yisroel and even Australia." as well as from Central and South America.

End of life

He was referred to as ''Zekan Roshei HaYeshivos'' (the world’s senior Rosh HaYeshiva), and lived to the age of 106. Koppelman's health permitted a trip from Switzerland to Australia the prior June. After being "hospitalized for" the prior "few weeks" he died. His body was transferred to Jerusalem and solemnly buried there in the presence of thousands of people.Bottom third of Front Page photo/two line caption: It was noted that Koppelman's death was within the same two weeks that included those of Rabbi

Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz (; 1913 – 27 June 2011) was an Israeli Haredi Torah leader and rosh yeshiva in Bnei Brak for over 70 years. He was a '' maggid shiur'' at Yeshivas Tiferes Tzion from 1940 to 2011 and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ponovezh L� ...

and Rabbi Chaim Stein.died June 29, age 98:

References

* This work began as a machine translation of a German-language wiki article. Initial editing was to incorporate material from a 2/3 page detailed obituary (he lived to 106). Subsequent touching up was to incorporate information (and citations) found via google. 1905 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Swiss rabbis 21st-century Swiss rabbis Swiss Orthodox rabbis People from Shchuchyn district Swiss people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Swiss men centenarians Jewish centenarians {{Europe-rabbi-stub