Rabbi Moshe Zev Kahn z"l

Rabbi Kahn Zatsal was a talmid of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon founder of the Telze Yeshiva of Lita and it was the Telze Yeshiva in 1924 which sent Rabbi Kahn, one of its finest students, to represent it in the Goldene Medina, America. Rabbi Kahn quickly realized that the situation in Europe was rapidly deteriorating for the Jews and that the United States, though religiously backward, promised true hope for the future. In 1927 he sent for his family and soon became one of Chicago's outstanding Poskim (authoring Responsa Tiphereth Moshe) and community leaders. He fought for organized and reliable Kashrut. He, like Ezra haSofer, realized that his generation needed a Rabbi that was not only responsive but innovative as well. Much of his success in meeting this challenge was that he - a Kohen - was an oheiv shalom ve-rodeif shalom and me'urav im ha-beri'ot. He had a fantastic joie de vivre and the genuine love and respect he showed his balabatim was warmly reciprocated. He was both leader and friend, a true model yet human and approachable. Little wonder, then, that he has left a lasting impression on his family and all those who had the zechut to know him.