It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yosef Meir Gliksberg zt”l, the Chief Rabbi of Givatayim and a member of the Chief Rabbi’s Council of Israel. He was 91.
Last night, the rov was rushed from his home to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv after a team of paramedics and volunteers from Hatzalah performed life-saving CPR. The volunteers successfully revived his pulse and, after stabilizing him, transported him to the hospital. Despite efforts by the medical team, he passed away after further resuscitation attempts.
The levayah is being held today from the Shavei Yisrael Shul on Ben Gurion Street in Givatayim. It will proceed through the Religious Council building, ultimately reaching the Nachalas Yitzchok Bais Hachaim for kevurah.
Rav Gliksberg was born in Poland on the 10th of Nissan, in 1933. His father, Rav Shmuel Yaakov Gliksberg, was a distinguished member of the Gerrer kehillah and served as a rov in Poland and later as the chief rabbi of Buenos Aires, Argentina, after World War II. During the war, his family was exiled to Siberia.
In 1943, Rav Gliksberg immigrated to Israel with the Yaldei Tehran, a group of child survivors of the Holocaust. Together with these children, he was among the first talmidim of the yeshiva founded by the Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the Ponevezh Yeshiva. He later studied at the Chevron Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, where he received semicha from its Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yechezkel Sarna, as well as from Rav Reuven Katz and Rav Yechiel Michel Feinstein.
In 1955, Rav Gliksberg married Dr. Aileh Frankel, and they settled in Tel Aviv, where he served as a shul rov and learned in a kollel. In 1957, he was invited to establish a yeshiva in São Paulo, Brazil, where he dedicated himself to teaching and educating the local community.
In 1960, Rav Gliksberg was appointed as the Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva Hadarom in Rechovot, under the leadership of Rav Tzvi Yehuda Meltzer. He also served as a member of the religious council in Rechovot, the rov of the Poalei Mizrachi housing complex, and founded a shul for youth.
In early 1967, Rav Gliksberg was chosen as a member of the Givatayim Rabbinical Bureau, and after six months, he was appointed as the city’s chief rabbi. There, he established an advanced bais medrash for the study of Gemara and halacha, and he gave shiurim throughout the country.
During his tenure at the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Rav Gliksberg played a pivotal role in several key initiatives. He chaired the Education and Publicity Committee, coordinated the rabbinic geirus efforts, facilitated kosher supervision relations between the Chief Rabbinate and diaspora rabbonim, led the national kosher certification committee, served on the rabbinical examination committee, and contributed to the drafting of the religious councils law. Additionally, he was the chairman of the Rabbinic Council of Israel, initiated advanced rabbinic training programs, and published numerous articles on halacha and aggadah.
Rav Gliksberg leaves behind a distinguished mishpacha and descendants who continue his noble path of Torah leadership.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com Israel}