On Monday, 8 Adar I, thousands of Bnei Brak residents led by
gedolei Torah accompanied HaRav Yaakov (Phillip) Kohn
zt"l on his last earthly journey. HaRav Kohn, one of
the pillars of the bnei Torah community of France for
over forty years, was niftar after a difficult
illness. The levaya left from Kollel Chazon Ish in
Bnei Brak.
HaRav Kohn was born 65 years ago in France. In his youth, he
studied in the yeshiva of HaRav Chaim Chaiken in Aix-les-
Bains. After his marriage he moved to Eretz Yisroel,
where he studied in Kollel Chazon Ish in Bnei Brak.
HaRav Kohn once asked the Steipler Gaon whether he should go
back to France to found a kollel, despite the
difficult situation there spiritually. The Steipler Rav told
him go without a moment's delay. A few days later, HaRav Kohn
visited the Steipler again and he asked him why he still
hadn't left.
HaRav Kohn went to Strasbourg where he founded France's first
kollel based upon bnei Torah from the Bnei Brak
French community, including HaRav Shaul Barzem, son-in- law
of the Steipler Rav. The moment he arrived in Strasbourg he
began broad Torah activities in the general community and
played a very vital role in Otzar HaTorah schools throughout
France, especially in Strasbourg.
The kollel which he founded along with the group of
avreichim from Eretz Yisroel caused a
tremendous change in the Jewish community of Strasbourg.
In 5730, HaRav Yosef Sitruk, now France's Chief Rabbi, was
assistant Chief Rabbi of the Alsace region and later rav of
the Jewish community of Marseilles. HaRav Sitruk suggested
that HaRav Kohn transfer his kollel to Marseilles.
He did so and this caused profound changes in the city's
Jewish community. Talmudei Torah were set up, along
with a yeshiva ketana, a girls' seminary and another
kollel. Quite rapidly, Marseilles became an empire of
Torah.
Throughout the entire period, HaRav Kohn maintained close
contact with the gedolei haTorah in Eretz
Yisroel, including Maran HaRav Eliezer Menachem Shach,
shlita. HaRav Kohn was well known for his great
dedication to his institutions, and for his tremendous
bitachon. When there was a need to found another Torah
institution, he would buy the building, and then trust that
Hashem would help him pay.
Once after such a purchase, he found himself seated next to
an elderly Jew on a train. HaRav Kohn told him about the
Torah institution's financial distress now that he had
purchased an additional building. The Jew was overcome by
emotion, and told him that he had just won a large prize in a
lottery and would donate the entire sum to the building. The
sum he donated was precisely the amount HaRav Kohn needed.
He was totally immersed in Torah studies and was an
outstanding masmid, devoting every moment to Torah.
Even while waiting at the airport for a plane, he would not
take his eyes out of his sefer.
A number of months ago he fell ill with a disease from which
he never recovered. Early Monday morning (8 Adar I) he
returned his pure soul to its Maker. He is survived by 15
children and many grandchildren, all of whom follow in the
path he charted. His sons and sons-in-law study in the finest
kollelim in Bnei Brak and France. With his
petirah, an illustrious figure in the Jewish community
of France has left us.
