It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yaakov Aharonoff zt”l. He was 100 years old.
Rav Yaakov was a member of the “Lochmei Hadas” organization that was established to fight the breaches of the state during the years of its establishment relating to shopkeepers and vehicles traveling on Shabbos.
Rav Yaakov was born on the 11th of Adar to his father, the late Rav Nissim, and to his mother, Rivkah, in Yerushalayim. As a child, at the age of three, he was orphaned when his father passed away.
He always told of the days when he brought home two slices of bread from the yeshiva, one for his brother and one for his mother, and his mother did not accept them because she feared that he stole them or took them without permission, so his mother returned with him to the yeshiva and asked the rosh yeshiva for permission.
His rebbi was the late Rav Yisrael Zev Mintzberg, rov of the Old City and the Katamon neighborhood, under whose direction he waged battles for Yahadus.
During the time that he lived in the Katamon neighborhood, he davened at the Satmar Beis Midrash.
His rabbeim at the Porat Yosef Yeshiva made him their messenger to save neshamos, and all his life he worked hard to bring people back to Yiddishkeit and to preserve the spirit of Yahadus in Yerushalayim.
He traveled to moshavs with Rav David Yehudioff, son-in-law of the Baba Sali, and with Rav Shabsai Yudelevich, and persuaded many parents to send their children to yeshivos.
As mentioned, he was a member of the “Lochmei Hadas” organization that fought for Yahadus and even sat in jail several times because of it. He was also involved in rescuing Yemeni children when they immigrated and fighting for the protection of kevorim when the state wanted to build homes on top of them.
The levayah was held today at the Shamgar Funeral Home in Yerushalayim, with kevurah on Har Hamenuchos.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com Israel}
