The Jewish Press joins Klal Yisrael in mourning the passing of the Kaliver Rebbe of Eretz Yisrael, Rav Menachem Mendel Taub, zt”l, this past Sunday. The eldest of the chassidic leaders, the Kaliver was acknowledged as a foremost halachic authority and dedicated his life to perpetuating the memory of victims of the Holocaust. He himself suffered brutally at the hands of Joseph Mengele.
He urged that the Shema be recited at the conclusion of religious events; introduced the practice of personally singing certain well-known Mashiach-themed songs at chassidic events and Holocaust memorials; established several centers of his chassidus in Eretz Yisroel and set up several kollelim; and also published his well-received Kol Menachem, a 13-volume work on the Chumash and Yomin Tovim.
He was the sixth generation from Rav Yitzchak Isaac of Kaliv, the founder of the Kaliv dynasty.
Yehi zichro baruch.