Yitzhak Aharon Korff

File:Zhvil-Mezbuz Rebbe, R'Yitzhak A. Korff.JPG

Grand Rabbi Y.A. Korff, the Zvhil–Mezhbizh Rebbe

File:The Zvhil-Mezbuz Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Yitzhak Aharon Korff in his study.jpg

Grand Rabbi Yitzhak Aharon Korff (center) in his study with cousins the late Tolner Rebbe of Boston, Rabbi Yitzhak Twersky (left) and Grand Rabbi Shlomo Goldman, the Zvil-Sanzer Rebbe of Union City, NJ

Grand Rabbi Yitzhak Aharon Korff is the Rebbe of Zvhil – Mezhbizh. He serves as chaplain of the City of Boston and spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Jacob, Zvhil–Mezhbizh Beis Medrash of Boston and Newton, Massachusetts. He is a dayan (judge of Jewish law) of Boston’s Beth din (rabbinical court) and Vaad HaRabbonim (council of rabbis). He is also Consul General to the government of Austria and publisher of the Boston-based Jewish newspaper The Jewish Advocate.

Family

Rabbi Korff is a direct descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, the 18th century founder of the Hasidic movement, through the Baal Shem Tov’s grandson Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh, founder of the Mezhbizh Hasidic dynasty. Rabbi Korff also descended from numerous other Hasidic dynasties, including Zlotshev, Chernobyl, Apt, Yampol and Karlin, as well as Zvhil.

He is also a descendant of the Chabad chasidic dynasty through the Chabad Mitler Rebbe's daughter and son-in-law Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkass, son of Grand Rabbi Mordechai (Magid of Chernobyl). The students of the Maggid of Mezeritch had a tradition that Moshiach would decend either from the Maggid's eldest student- Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl or from the Maggid's youngest student- the Alter Rebbe of Chabad. The two dynasties were merged through this marriage to produce a line that would satisfy both possibilities within the tradition.

His first wife, Shari Redstone whom he divorced, is the daughter of Sumner Redstone Chairman of the Board and controlling shareholder of the Viacom and CBS Corporation media conglomerates, and is also the majority owner of Midway Games and is the owner of the National Amusements theater chain.

The Rebbe's second wife, the Rebbetzin, is a native of Jerusalem and a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov and the Hasidic dynasties of Zvhil, Zlotshev, and Tshernobl. She is the daughter of the Shomer Emunim Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Avrohom Chayim Roth of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, who is the son of Reb Arele. Her mother, the Shomrei Emunim Rebbetzin, Rabbi Korff's third cousin, is the daughter of the previous Zvhiler Rebbe of Jerusalem, Rabbi Mordechai.

Education

He was educated at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Yeshivas Beis Mordechai (Zvhil) of Jerusalem, and was tutored privately by masters of Hasidism and Kabbalah.

In addition, the Rebbe has a Ph.D., two law degrees, and several Masters degrees, from Columbia University, Harvard University, Boston University, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and other institutions.

Rabbi Korff simultaneously combined careers as a rabbi, chaplain, lawyer, diplomat, businessman and entrepreneur, and subsequently also inherited his grandfather's position as a Hasidic Rebbe.

Works

Rabbi Korff is also the author of Meshivas Nefesh Yitzchok: Insights of a Contemporary Chassidic Master, published (2001) in the original Hebrew/Yiddish/Aramaic and in English translation.

See also

• Mezhbizh (Hasidic dynasty)
• Zhvil (Hasidic dynasty)

External links

• Zvhil-Mezbuz Beis Medrash

Sources

• Toldos Anshei Shem, Rand and Greenblat, New York, 1950
• Sefer Meshivas Nefesh Yitzhak, New York, 2000, 2001, second Revised Edition ISBN 0-9645367-1-4
• HaHasidut, Prof. Yizhak Alfasi, Jerusalem.