THE SKULENER REBBE ZT”L

The Skulener Rebbe ZT”L

The Skulener Rebbe, one of the last surviving remnants of the

generation of tzaddikim who were moser nefesh for Yiddishkeit in

Europe, was niftar at the age of 96, plunging his tens of thousands

of chassidim and admirers around the world into mourning.

The levayah took place at 11 o’clock Tuesday morning, April 2, at

the main Skulener beis medrash in Boro Park. The paroches was

removed from the aron kodesh. Police and Shomrim prepared for

one of Boro Park’s largest levayos.

The Rebbe was born in Romania to his holy father, Rav Eliezer

Zusia Portugal zt”l. Together, the father and son were imprisoned

by Romanian authorities during the Communist era for teaching

Torah and helping Jewish children. The Rebbe adopted hundreds of

children and helped ferry them out of the country to freedom. Many

of them adopted the Rebbe’s family name as their own.

The Rebbe and his father were fi nally freed at the intercession of

Sen. Robert “Scoop” Jackson in the 1970s, and made the United

States their new home. The Rebbe took over the admorus at the

passing of his father in 1982, and was known for his heartfelt

tefi llos for other yidden and his ahavas Yisroel.

One of the Rebbe’s proudest achievement was the mosdos Chesed

L’Avarham in Eretz Yisroel, which houses, clothes and feeds

hundreds of children who would otherwise be lost to Yiddishkeit.

Zecher tzaddik livracha.