More than 1,500 Mourners paid tribute to Rabbi Groner OBM
MELBOURNE, Australia [JTA] — Wednesday’s memorial service for Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the chief rabbi of Melbourne’s Chabad-Lubavitch community, took place outside the Yeshivah Centre that he built as his Lubavitch headquarters. The ceremony was streamed live on the Internet, allowing thousands around the world to watch it.
Groner died Monday after a long illness.
More pictures in the Extended Article (by Roei Chemny)
Police closed the main street outside the Yeshivah Centre to enable the mass of mourners to follow the coffin as it departed for the airport. His body was flown to Israel for burial Friday on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem alongside his parents.
Hundreds of messages from places such as Tasmania, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, America and England already have been posted on the Yeshivah Centre’s Web site.
“Australian Jewry has lost one of its noblest personalities,” wrote Isi Leibler, a former president of the Australian Jewish community, who now lives in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a rabbinical student in Australia in the 1980s, wrote: “It’s safe to say that there will never be another like Rabbi Groner. It’s also safe to say that if world Jewry could produce another hundred like him, we would instantly solve the global problem of Jewish assimilation. But that’s the problem with great men. They are so rare that they are not always appreciated during their lifetime, but are sorely missed once their fiery hearts are no longer present to illuminate our lives.”
a suffering chassid
I remember When Yitzchak Groner came to Farbreng for myself & other then Bachurim twenty five yrs ago or so. How he left us with an ever lasting impression & I will never forget it.I hope that he will join together with the Rebbe& others up there including my father& demand & pester The Aibishter so to speak to Bring the Geula & return them to us Taikaf Umiyad Mamosh
everyoneisachossid
Rabbi Groner was truly an ohev Yisroel. He loved everyone even those that tried to go against him. He was a talmid chocham and a chossid. All of us in Lubavitch could learn from his middois and dedication.
Moshe G.
I am very saddened to hear about the passing of Rabbi Groner.
When I visited Australia 7 years ago I went to Rabbi Groner’s shul on Hotham st.
Rabbi Groner just had an operation on his leg and was walking with a cane.When he noticed that I was a new face in the crowd he walked all the way to the back of the shul to greet me, even though it must have caused him pain to walk after his operation.He wanted to make sure I had a place to sleep and i had a place to eat.
Rabbi Groner was a great man, and a man of high class.I have much respect for him.He epitomized what it means to be a shliach of The Rebbe.
Rabbi Groner really cared about every person he met.He had a warm and caring demeanor and during my stay in Australia he made me feel at home.
His passing is a tremendous loss not only the Australian community, but to the entire world.