Obituaries

Obituaries from page 81

WILLIAM ZACK, 87,

of Bingham Farms, died
Sept. 27, 2007. A CPA,
Mr. Zack was a partner
with Zack, Fields and
Company. He received
his graduate and
post-graduate degrees
Zack
from the University
of Michigan. He was a
World War II Navy veteran, a supporter of
Yad Ezra and the Jewish Federation.
Mr. Zack is survived by his wife,
Lois Lurie Zack; children, Andrew and
Helaine Zack of Huntington Woods and
Nancy Zack Meuser and Robert Meuser
of Highland Park, Ill.; grandchildren,
Julie, Katy and Emily Zack, Lindsay and
Zackary Meuser.
Mr. Zack was the beloved husband of
the late Charlotte M. Zack; devoted son of
the late Freda and the late Abraham Zack.
Interment at Beth El Memorial Park.
Contributions may be made to Yad Ezra,
2850 W. 11 Mile, Berkley, MI 48072 or
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
6735 Telegraph, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301.
Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

Zionist Rabbi Opposed Disengagement

Matthew Wagner
Jerusalem Post

F

ormer Chief Rabbi Avraham
Elkana Shapira, the 94-year-
old spiritual giant of religious
Zionism, died Sept. 27, 2007.
Shapira was known principally for
his uncompromising opposition to any
territorial compromises, even within
the context of a peace agreement. He
called on soldiers to refuse orders to
aid in the dismantling of Jewish settle-
ments in the Gaza Strip and West Bank
during the 2005 disengagement.
Religious Zionist rabbis who opposed
Shapira on military insubordination
were severely criticized for rebelling
against the man they had crowned as
"the greatest halachic [Jewish law]
authority of the generation."
In 1982 Shapira was appointed head
of religious Zionism's flagship Mercaz
Harav Yeshiva after death of Rabbi Tzvi

1

0

Yehuda Kook, son of Rabbi
stint as chief rabbi. First, he
Avraham Yitzhak Kook.
recognized Ethiopian immi-
In contrast to Tzvi
grants as members of the
Yehuda, who was primarily
Jewish people. His decision,
an innovator in theology and
which followed that of Rabbi
Jewish thought and who
Ovadia Yosef of Shas, opened
was the spiritual father of
the way for the acceptance
Rabbi Avraham
the Gush Emunim settle-
of Ethiopian immigrants to
Elkana Shapira
ment movement, Shapira
religious Zionist institutions.
was first and foremost an expert on
And in 1986, Shapira made the con-
Jewish law.
troversial decision to allow heart trans-
Shapira's highly legalistic approach
plants and other organ transplants.
to spiritual leadership clashed with the
To this day, according to most haredi
more philosophical approach adopted
halachic authorities heart transplants
by Rabbi Tzvi Tau, Tzvi Yehuda's most
are impractical since heart failure, not
eminent spiritual heir.
brain death, determines halachic death.
Between 1983 and 1993, Shapira
"In these two decisions, Rav Avrum
was chief Ashkenazi rabbi while Rabbi
upheld Rabbi [Avraham] Kook's ideal
Mordechai Eliahu served as the chief
of what the chief rabbi was supposed
Sephardi rabbi. Shapira and Eliahu
to be," said Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun, a Gush
were considered the two most senior
Emunim founder. "He was undoubtedly
religious Zionist halachic authorities.
a halachic man to his very core. But he
Shapira was behind two ground-
knew how to rise to the challenges that
breaking halachic decisions during his
face the burgeoning Jewish nation." L__J

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