Meir Ashkenazi (rabbi of Kfar Chabad)
Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi of Kfar Chabad since 2015
| Meir Ashkenazi
| |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Rabbi |
| Known for | Rabbi of Kfar Chabad since 2015 |
| Parents | Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi and Sima Ashkenazi (née Wolpe) |
| Predecessor | Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi |
Meir Ashkenazi is a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi who has been the rabbi of Kfar Chabad since January 2015, when he succeeded his father, Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi. He is a great-grandson of Meir Ashkenazi, the Chabad rabbi of Shanghai.[1][2]
No citable source found for this draft gives his year of birth, education or a full biography. The account below is limited to contemporary news reports.
Appointment
Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi died on 14 January 2015. CrownHeights.info reported the same day that a panel of rabbis and community leaders had appointed his eldest son, Meir, as his successor, and that Meir was then a maggid shiur (lecturer) at the Lubavitcher yeshiva in Safed. It said the formal installation would follow the funeral.[3] COLlive reported that the gabbaim of the synagogues in Kfar Chabad had been called that evening to an emergency meeting at the local council offices, where they signed an agreement to appoint him, and that the official announcement would be made at the funeral together with the Chabad rabbinical court in Israel. It described him as living in Safed, serving as a rabbi in the yeshiva there, the eldest of nine sons, and the son-in-law of Rabbi Dovid Meir Drukman, rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin.[2]
On 15 January 2015 COLlive reported that, at the funeral, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gluckowsky of the Chabad rabbinical court and of the Chabad community in Rehovot announced the court's decision, and that Rabbi Yochanan Gurary, also of the court, read the official letter and proclaimed the appointment.[4] Chabad.org, in its obituary of the father, listed Meir as being of Safed.[1]
Later public acts
In January 2016 The Yeshiva World reported that Ashkenazi, addressing a community election meeting, had spoken against housing renovations of more than two storeys, had described a housing shortage "resulting in many sleepless nights for parents", and had called for an industrial zone in the village to create employment, to be advanced through the regional council.[5]
On 3 June 2024 Anash.org reported that he was one of six rabbis added to the Beis Din Rabbonei Chabad, the Chabad rabbinical court in Israel, and identified him as rabbi of Kfar Chabad.[6]
On 13 July 2025 Israel National News reported that he had ordered the closure of Kfar Chabad's wedding halls until further notice, after what he described as "events bordering on immodesty" at the Beit Zlata hall. The paper said the management of Beit Rivka then announced the closure of Beit Zlata and the main hall in Kfar Chabad B, leaving only the event tent in operation, and that the decision had caused an "uproar" and mixed reactions among residents.[7]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Menachem Posner, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi, 71, Chief Rabbi of Kfar Chabad, Israel Chabad.org, 14 January 2015, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 COLlive, New Chief Rabbi for Kfar Chabad COLlive, 14 January 2015, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ CrownHeights.info, Eldest Son to Replace Father as Rov of Kfar Chabad CrownHeights.info, 14 January 2015, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ COLlive, Chief Rabbi Officially Announced COLlive, 15 January 2015, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ The Yeshiva World, Mora D’asra of Kfar Chabad is Concerned with Maintaining a Modest Standard of Living The Yeshiva World, 11 January 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Anash.org, Beis Din Rabbonei Chabad Expands with 6 New Members Anash.org, 3 June 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Israel National News, Kfar Chabad in an uproar as rabbi orders wedding halls closed Israel National News, 13 July 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.