Senior Member of Chabad Leadership, 84, Passed Away

Rabbi Dovid Raskin, dean of the Central Lubavitcher Yeshivah in Brooklyn, and a senior member of Chabad’s central leadership, passed away yesterday, Tuesday, May 10 after a lengthy illness. He was 84.

Born in 1927 in then Soviet Russia, Raskin was raised in the Chabad Chasidic tradition by his parents Rabbi Yaakov Yosef and Draiza Raskin.

In 1955 Rabbi Raskin was appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, to serve as the chairman of the newly formed Central Lubavitch Youth Organization. Responsible for Jewish programing and education throughout the New York City boroughs and Long Island, Rabbi Raskin helped pioneer many of Chabad’s now iconic outreach initiatives.

In addition to being a mentor to thousands of rabbinical students, Rabbi Raskin played a leadership role as member of Chabad’s central organizations, Agudas Chassidei Chabad, the umbrella organization for the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, the movement’s educational division, and Machne Israel, its social-services arm.

During his life time, Rabbi Raskin suffered the loss of three of his children, Baila Devora Raskin, Chaya Mushka Pearson and most recently his daughter Shterna Sara Klein, who passed away this past week. He is survived by his children Rivka Raskin, Yitzchak Raskin and Devonya Rubin all of Crown Heights, as well as 12 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

He is survived by his sister Mrs. Tzivia Bravman of Kfar Chabad, Israel, and brother Rabbi Sholom Ber Raskin of London, England.