Rabbi Yoel Kahn, leading student of Lubavitcher Rebbe, passes away

Kahn was known for transcribing Schneerson's talks and teachings and disseminating them to communities around the world for over 70 years.

JULY 17, 2021 20:22

Rabbi Yoel HaKohen Kahn, known simply as Reb Yoel, was chief scribe of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, for over 40 years. Seen here in a familiar pose listening to the Rebbe teach at the farbrengen gathering of 12 Tammuz 1983. (photo credit: JEWISH EDUCATIONAL MEDIA/THE LIVING ARCHIVE) — Rabbi Yoel HaKohen Kahn, known simply as Reb Yoel, was chief scribe of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, for over 40 years. Seen here in a familiar pose listening to the Rebbe teach at the farbrengen gathering of 12 Tammuz 1983.

(photo credit: JEWISH EDUCATIONAL MEDIA/THE LIVING ARCHIVE)

Rabbi Yoel Kahn, a leading student of the Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, passed away on Thursday at the age of 91.

Kahn was known for transcribing Schneerson’s talks, speeches and teachings, and making them available to communities around the world for over 70 years, according to Chabad.org.

Rabbi Yoel Kahn was the foremost disciple of the Rebbe. A once-in-a-generation scholar, with unique intellectual and pedagogic gifts, Reb Yoel was dedicated to absorbing and disseminating the Rebbe’s teachings. He passed away on today at the age of 91. pic.twitter.com/2886rA36m9
— Chabad.org (@Chabad) July 16, 2021

Kahn was born in the Soviet Union in 1930 to Refoel Nachman and Rivkah Kahn, members of the Chabad Chassidim. His father was imprisoned for maintaining a connection with the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe for the first three year’s of Kahn’s life.

The Kahns managed to escape Russia in 1935, traveling through Poland and Austria, eventually ending up in Mandatory Palestine, where Yoel studied in the Chabad yeshiva in Tel Aviv.

Kahn traveled to the US in 1950, shortly after Schneerson’s father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneersohn, the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, passed away.

The Rebbe delivers a Chassidic discourse on Sept. 4, 1975. Reb Yoel, whose hat can be seen directly in front of the Rebbe, would listen, memorize, absorb and then transcribe the discourse, which he would then hand in to the Rebbe for editing. (Credit: JEWISH EDUCATIONAL MEDIA/THE LIVING ARCHIVE)

After Menachem Mendel entered the role of Lubavitcher Rebbe, Kahn quickly began transcribing the Rebbe’s talks and teachings, producing Likkutei Sichot, the 39-volume set of the Rebbe’s edited talks, the six-volume Maamarim Melukatim containing the Rebbe’s edited discourses and the Torat Menachem, a work in progress which currently numbers 118 volumes of Hebrew translations of the Rebbe’s complete and unedited farbrengens, a type of hasidic gathering where the Rebbe spoke and sang.

Kahn would also lead the singing during the Rebbe’s farbrengens which were held at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, NY.

Kahn was also known as an educator who managed to translate complex, transcendental ideas into more accessible, clear and logical arguments, according to Chabad.org. Kahn was also tasked by Schneerson with compiling Sefer Ha’Arachim, a scholarly encyclopedia of Hassidic concepts, which he worked on until his last days.

Kahn is survived by his wife, Leah. He had no children.