It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Rav Mordechai (Murray) Maslaton zt”l, rov and rosh kollel of Cong. Emek Hatorah on Ocean Parkway in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was 75.
Rav Maslaton was a pioneering rov in the Brooklyn Sefardic community, building Torah and spreading Torah values with fierce devotion. With astounding fortitude, he brooked no compromise when it came to adherence to halacha and hashkafah, and was constantly working to raise the level of spirituality in the community.
Rav Maslaton studied in Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore during the 1960s, learning under the rosh yeshiva, Rav Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman zt”l. He used the knowledge and skills he acquired to later establish a culture of bnei Torah among the Syrian community in Flatbush and raising dikduk b’mitzvos while demonstrating the beauty and purity of the Sefardic mesorah.
His mesirus nefesh for the Yahadus of others and the love he had of his fellow Jews were remarkable, as he laid the groundwork for much of the growth of the institutions that have since sprouted in the area.
The levaya will take place Sunday morning at 11:00 outside Emek HaTorah, located at 1781 Ocean Parkway, between Avenue R and Kings Highway. Kevurah will take place in Eretz Yisroel.
The family will be sitting shivah at 1853 East 4th Street in Brooklyn, NY.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
What a loss
May his neshama have an aliya
Baruch Dayan Haemes.
He was a very special man. This is a huge loss for the Sefardi community. Yehi zichro baruch.
BD”E A powerhouse in the Flatbush community. Must have been sudden
Rav Maslaton zt”l was one of the Sephardic Torah leaders that brought about the rejuvination of intense Torah study and strict observance in the then Sephardic community.
BDE Naflah Ateret Rosheinu
What terrible news
What a warrior for Torah and what a sincere and down to earth person. Ome of a kind.
BDE
Tragic just horrific as it gets worse R”L
4th tzaddik niftar in less then 2 weeks
other 3 gedolim include:
1)HaRav Aaron Felder zl-Posek Hador & Rav of Congreg. Bnai Israel-Ohev Zedek in Philadelphia-May 4 2014-70
2)HaRav Zundal Kroizer-Famous for written and published seforim-May 7 2014-90
3)HaRav Chaim Avraham Zonnenfeld ZTL-Chief Rabbi of Ramat Aviv-May 14 2014-82
great-grandchild of Harav Yosef Chaim zonnenfeld
Is it possible for anyone of us to say this is coincidence? will we finally start to listen to the gedolim that Hashem has sent us to guide us in the right path? or will we C”V let this mageifa of Gedolim continue C”V
May his neshama have an aliya
Will this Mageifa of Gedolim ever end
When it came to improving Yiddishkeit, nothing & nobody stood in his way! He will be missed. BDE
was it sudden ????
loss for the world
not just the sefardim
who was his rebbe ???
Rabbi Maslaton was a true kanaei. In his youth he plucked boys out of public school and placed then in Mir, Lakewood, Baltimore, he would petition the yeshivas to accept these boys and would not take m no for an answer. Today these “boys”and there families number on the thousands.
He never compromised, never apologized, went head to head against popular “rabbis” who he he felt were diluting Torah. He was niftar Shabbat evening, walking home from shul he suddenly lost his breath and was suddenly and unexpectedly niftar’m I don’t know how he could ever be replaced.
Just as much as no one, and I mean no one, stood in his way and they were afraid of him, to the same extent and more he would totally maknia himself to the Gedolim. He once told me he never fought without the permission of the American or the Israeli gedolim.
I learned in Emek often and it was amazing to see what he built.
Yehi Zichro Barouch.
Rabbi Maslaton was instrumental in placing of hundreds of Persian boys in different yeshivot after the revolution. The entire Persian Torah community owes him a huge debt of Hakarat hatov.
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I was a counselor in Camp Ahava, which was
located in Hancock NY, in the early seventies.
and the Niftar ZT”L, was the head counselor.
His accomplishments were phenomenal.
when my husband, Shabtai Wishky and I were in the U.S. in 1988 and several times after, because of my husband’s medical problems, he was a source of strength and wise counsel, along with his son-in-law, Rav Moshe Siman-Tov Z”l. Personal conversations with him come to mind. We were also Zoche to be present with him and his famaily for Seder Pesach–the most uplifting Seder I ever experienced. He actually said he liked a Chidush I mentioned. Unfortunately, I forget what I said. The last time we saw him was when he visited my husband in Israel when my husband was ill. He went out of his way to do that. Unforgettable, irreplaceable, unique, a true Tzadik.
he was also instrumental in placing many Iranian girls. a large group came more than 30 years ago just before pesach. he was able to place all of them for the chag and before they moved on to become part of many communities, especially baltimore
He once said to me: I am not pro any Mossed, I am “Pro-kid”. He cared so much for every Jew and was outspoken for what he thought was right.
what a Holy Man.
Very Sad!!!