Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Senior Chabad Figure
BROOKLYN (VINnews) – Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, a prominent rabbi who oversaw several thousand Chabad-Lubavitch educational institutions, passed away on Tuesday, just days before his 75th birthday. Rabbi Kotlarsky’s bearded visage was well-known to everyone who attended or watched footage of the annual Kinus Hashluchim, proudly reading off the names of thousands of Chabad emissaries during the “roll call,” a highlight of the massive gathering. In addition to being the director of the Kinus Hashluchim, Rabbi Kotlarsky was the vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch. He traveled the world on behalf of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, pinpointing locations for Chabad sites and becoming known as the public face of Chabad in many foreign.
In 2023, Rabbi Kotlarsky was named to the Algemeiner’s list of top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life. Crown Heights resident Mendy Hershkop recalled Rabbi Kotlarsky for his big heart, his humility and the way he cared for every shaliach as if they were his own children.
“He was really a man who looked ahead,” Hershkop told VIN News. “Even in the present, he was able to constantly see the future, and see the future in the present.”
Tributes to Rabbi Kotlarsky poured in on social media.
“The world lost a giant today,” posted Shalom Goodman on X, who credited Rabbi Kotlarsky for having “a major part in building thousands of Jewish communities across the world as the unofficial leader of the Shluchim emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”
“If you’ve heard of Chabad, it’s because of Rabbi Kotlarsky’s work,” tweeted journalist Yochonon Donn. “Whenever I called him he was always traveling – in an airport in Kenya, a bus in India, visiting a shaliach in Wisconsin. Truly a giant among men.”
