BDE: Rabbi Avrohom Korf, 92, OBM
With great sadness we report the passing of Rabbi Avrohom Korf OBM, the Head Shliach of Florida and the founder of a large Lubavitch network. He passed away on Monday, the 12th of Tammuz, 5785.
He was 92 years old.
Born two days after Simchas Torah 5693 (1932) in the city of Kharkov, Ukraine, Avrohom lived with his family under the harsh rulership of Stalin, working long hours at an early age to help his family survive.
When the opportunity arose for Avrohom and his brothers to study in a secret underground Yeshiva, their first lesson was to lay low and out of sight in order to avoid detection by the Communist government. Though religious freedom was written into the USSR’s constitution, citizens caught teaching or learning the Torah were often sentenced to years of hard labor in Siberia.
Undeterred by the threat, Avrohom and his brothers excelled in their studies; Avrohom especially advanced at lightning speed through the older grades.
As threats to their safety escalated, the Korf family began to materialize their escape. Nights of strategic planning led to the day in 1946 when it came time to up and move.
Armed with fake Polish passports – though they didn’t actually speak a word of Polish – and a bottle of vodka, the Korf family caravan inched its way passed the tipsy guard who smiled as he waved them across the border.
At Yeshiva in Brunoy, a small suburb in France, the immigrant teen’s dreams finally began to unfold. At the age of 19, with his dream to learn in Yeshiva fulfilled, Avrohom looked further, towards New York, where he would be able to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
He arrived in America in 1953.
An accelerated over-achiever, with added resolve to make up for the lost years in Russia, Rabbi Korf earned his shechita certification in 1954, and went on to receive his Ph.D in Rabbinic studies, with honors in the fields of Rabbinic Law and Talmudic Studies.
In 1956, Rabbi Korf was selected by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to be one of ten outstanding young men to travel to Israel as the Rebbe’s personal Emissaries. The group was directed to bring moral support and a message of unity from the worldwide Jewish community to the Jews in Israel who were reeling from the brutal terrorist attack that had left four Yeshiva students dead.
Rabbi Korf and his band spent an uplifting month in Israel. They brought Jewish teachings and comfort to the communities, and granted interviews to the amazed secular press.
On his 27th birthday, during yechidus Rabbi Avrohom Korf received a blessing to be successful in his search for a soulmate. That same year, he married Rivka Eichenbaum, Rebbetzin Rivka Korf.
Determined to go out on Shlichus, the young couple didn’t think of buying furniture. Instead they borrowed what they could and eagerly awaited their departure orders.
Less than a year into their marriage, the call came. They had been chosen to represent the Lubvitcher Rebbe as his Shluchim for the sunny state of Florida.
Unfazed by Avrohom’s sparse and halting command of the English language, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Korf packed up and said goodbye to their family and friends.
When the Korfs arrived in Miami Beach in 1960, they found themselves in a Jewish dessert, void of spiritual life. Since then they have spearheaded the network of Chabad Shluchim that have transformed the State of Florida into an oasis of Torah and Mitzvos.
Rabbi Avrohom Korf is survived by his children: Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Korf (Hollywood, FL), Mrs. Rasha Chana Raices (Postville, IA), Mrs. Bas Sheva Sossonko (Miami Beach, FL), Rabbi Bentzion Korf (Miami Beach, FL), Mrs. Leah Elka Jacobson (New York, NY), Rabbi Menachem Mendel Korf (Miami, FL), R’ Mordechai Yehuda Leib Korf, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Korf (Wallnut Creek, FL), and Sara Basya Korf, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The Levaya will take place Tueday, 8:00am – procession begins at Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters – 1140 Alton Road, followed by Yeshiva Torah Ohr – 17100 NE 6th Ave, North Miami Beach, FL 33162. Then to L.E.C. Campus – 17330 NW 7th Ave #100, Miami, FL 33169. The Levaya will then continue at 770 at 3:00pm followed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Ohel at 4:00pm. Times are subject to change slightly.
Shiva information to be announced.
Boruch Dayan Hoemes
