A huge throng of mourners from Jerusalem, led by rabbonim,
dayonim and roshei yeshivos and members of the
Bucharian community accompanied HaRav Yehuda HaKohen Rabin,
zt"l, on his last earthly journey on 16 Tishrei. He was
the chief rabbi of the Bucharian community in Eretz Yisroel
and head of the Atteres Chizkiyah beis medrash. HaRav
Rabin was 83 years old at the time of his petiroh.
HaRav Rabin was born in Bucharia in 5679 (1918). His father,
HaRav Chizkiyah HaKohen Rabin, the chief rabbi of Bucharia,
stemmed from an ancient rabbinical family whose offspring had
officiated as rabbis in Bucharia for generations.
As a youth, HaRav Yehuda Rabin studied in a local talmud
Torah. When he was still young, the Bolsheviks gained
control and closed down all botei medrash and
talmudei Torah in the country. As a result, his father
began to teach him privately. It was from these studies with
his father that HaRav Yehuda derived most of his knowledge of
Torah as well as his yiras Shomayim.
His outstanding talents and tremendous hasmodoh were
evident at a young age. When he was 15 his family moved to
Eretz Yisroel and settled in Jerusalem, where he began to
study under HaRav Yaakov Ades in Yeshivat Porat Yosef in the
Old City. His refined personality was formed in this yeshiva,
where he was considered one of its most outstanding students.
After his marriage, he joined the Yeshivas Shem Kollel
founded by his father, and remained there for many years,
amassing much Torah knowledge. He received smicha on
the laws of issur veheter, ishus, gittin and
kiddushin as well as yoreh yoreh, yodin yodin
from the great rabbonim of the time.
In his capacity as the chief rabbi of Bucharian Jewry in
Eretz Yisroel, HaRav Rabin served as a link in his family's
illustrious chain, established over two hundred years ago. He
lived in the Bucharian Quarter in Jerusalem for many years,
studying and praying in the Bava Tama synagogue. Many
neighborhood residents regarded him as their rav and
approached him with halachic questions, while he, in
his pleasant manner, guided them by means of his
droshos and daily shiurim.
Over the past twenty years before his petiroh, he
resided in Sanhedria Hamurchevet, where he founded the Ateret
Chizkiyah synagogue, named after his father, HaRav Chizkiyah
Hakohen Rabin. The synagogue is one of most prominent in the
neighborhood. He delivered shiurim to the many
Sanhedria Hamurchevet residents davening there.
He was niftar on the first day of Succos. His
levaya the following day was attended by many Jerusalem
residents, as well as many members of the Bucharian community
from all over the country who had come to pay final respects
to their revered rav. The levaya left the Sanhedria
funeral home and continued to Har Hamenuchos, where he was
buried in the Kohanim plot.
He is survived by four sons: the rabbonim Avraham, Yitzhak,
Yaakov and David; by two daughters married, respectively, to
HaRav Mattityahu Niazoff and HaRav Simcha Ilan, and by his
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. All of his offspring
are pursuing the Torah path he charted for them.
