Abraham Korf
Chabad-Lubavitch emissary (1932 or 1933–2025) who directed Chabad-Lubavitch of Florida from 1960 and founded the Lubavitch Educational Center in Miami
| Abraham Korf
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 October 1932 (Chabad.org tribute) or 1933 (Chabad.org obituary notice) Kharkiv, Soviet Ukraine |
| Died | 7 July 2025 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Rabbi; regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Florida |
| Known for | Founding the Lubavitch Educational Center and the Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College in Miami; directing the Florida emissary network |
| Parents | Yehoshua Korf and Chaya Rivka (née Rubinson) |
| Spouse(s) | Rivka Korf (née Eichenbaum; died 2017) |
| Children | Nine, including Mordechai Korf |
Abraham Korf (also spelt Avraham or Avrohom Korf; 1932 or 1933 – 7 July 2025) was an American rabbi and an emissary (shaliach) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He was the regional director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Florida for about 65 years, from his arrival in Miami in 1960.[1] He founded the Lubavitch Educational Center and the Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Miami, and Chabad.org credits him with bringing close to 400 emissary couples to Florida.[1] His son Mordechai Korf is a Miami businessman and donor named in United States civil forfeiture proceedings (see below). The Korf family's institutions, and donations made to them, are covered on Friends of Lubavitch of Florida, Lubavitch Educational Center and Korf Family Foundation.
Early life
Chabad.org's tribute, by Motti Wilhelm, says Korf was born in Kharkov on 25 October 1932, a date it places two days after Simchat Torah.[2] The same website's news notice says he was born in 1933.[1] His father, Yehoshua Korf, was a Lubavitch Hasid who, according to the tribute, directed the Kharkov branch of Chabad's clandestine yeshiva network until the authorities closed it in 1929.[2]
Both Chabad.org accounts say the family fled to Samarkand in the Second World War and left the Soviet Union in 1946 or 1947 among the Chabad Hasidim who travelled on Polish papers.[1][2] (The notice gives 1947 and the tribute 1946.) After a period in a displaced persons camp at Pocking, Germany, Korf studied at the Lubavitch yeshiva at Brunoy, France, and moved to the United States in 1953.[1][2]
Florida
Korf married Rivka Eichenbaum in Brooklyn in 1960. Chabad.org says the Rebbe officiated and that the Korfs were then asked, through the Rebbe's secretary Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov, to move to Miami.[1][2] The tribute quotes a Miami Herald item of 2 December 1960 reporting that Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch had opened a Florida regional branch with Korf "in charge of the new office".[2]
Chabad.org credits Korf with founding the day school that became the Lubavitch Educational Center (which it says now serves nearly 3,000 children) and the Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Miami in 1972, and says Miami-Dade County now has more than 65 Chabad centres.[1][2] It also cites the 2014 Greater Miami Jewish Federation population study as finding that 26 per cent of Jewish households in Miami-Dade had engaged with Chabad programming in the preceding year.[2] These figures are Chabad.org's own account of its emissary's work.
Family
Rivka Korf died in 2017.[1] Chabad.org lists Korf's surviving children as Rabbi Yossi Korf (Hollywood, Florida), Rashi Raices (Postville, Iowa), Shevi Sossonko, Rabbi Benjy Korf, Leah Jacobson, Mendy Korf, Motty Korf, Rabbi Zalman Korf and Sari Korf.[1] Rabbi Benjy (Bentzion) Korf is president of the Lubavitch Educational Center and director of Chabad of Mid Miami Beach, and Yosef Yitzchok Korf is spiritual leader of the Hollywood Community Synagogue, according to The Forward.[3]
Connection to the Optima litigation
Status: allegation, concerning a family member. The Forward reported in 2020 that Abraham Korf was listed as an officer of Friends of Lubavitch of Florida, which it said had received more than $6 million directly from the foundations of his son Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber since 2006, according to tax documents.[3] The same article said there was no evidence that any recipient knew of the alleged money-laundering, and that no source had traced donated money to the alleged scheme.[3] The allegations against Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber, and their denials, are set out on Mordechai Korf. No allegation against Abraham Korf himself appears in any source consulted for this page.
See also
- Mordechai Korf
- Friends of Lubavitch of Florida
- Lubavitch Educational Center
- Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College
- Korf Family Foundation
- Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Chabad.org Staff, Rabbi Avraham Korf, 92, Pioneering Director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Florida Chabad.org, 8 July 2025, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Motti Wilhelm, Rabbi Avraham Korf Built Florida Empire, Remained Dedicated Soldier Chabad.org, 17 July 2025, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Molly Boigon, They gave $25 million to Jewish nonprofits. Was some of that money laundered from Ukraine? The Forward, 21 February 2020, accessed 11 November 2026.