HERSCHEL SCHACTER

SCHACTER--Herschel, American Jewish leader, rabbi, orator. Educated at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Mesivta Torah Vodaath, and Yeshiva College. As a rabbinical student at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, he was the first rabbi to be ordained by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. While serving as chaplain in the VIII Corps of the Third Army of the United States Armed Forces, he participated in the liberation of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and brought enormous comfort to many survivors. He led a UNRRA Kindertransport from Buchenwald to Switzerland after World War II. In 1956, he was a member of the first rabbinic delegation to the USSR and escorted a transport of Hungarian refugees from Austria to the United States. He served as rabbi of the Mosholu Jewish Center, Bronx, NY, for over 50 years, and as a distinguished leader of many American Jewish organizations. He was Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, President of the Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi, Founding Chairman of the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry, Chairman of the Chaplaincy Commission of the Jewish Welfare Board, and Director of Rabbinic Services at Yeshiva University. He is survived by his devoted and loving wife, Pnina G. Schacter; his children, Rabbi Jacob J. and Yocheved Schacter, Miriam Schacter and Dr. Benjamin R. Gampel; grandchildren, Dr. Leah and Rabbi Jonathan Knapp, Sarah and Corey Tarzik, Hannah Schacter-Gampel, and Abe Schacter-Gampel, and great grandchildren, Adina, Esti, Shira, Eli Knapp and Talia, Yonah, Aviva, Shaya Tarzik.