Rabbi Israel Fishweicher, a”h, הרב ישראל ליב בן שלמה זלמן, passed away on December 30, 2018. He served as the Chicago Rabbinical Council’s (cRc’s) Executive Director and Menahel of the Beth Din from 1985-1996. From 1973 to 1980, Rabbi Fishweicher was Director of Development at Hebrew Theological College. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he received his B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.A. from Jersey City State College. He was ordained from the Mesivta Torah Vodaath of Brooklyn, New York, and was honored with the Moreinu Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky Rabbinic Alumnus Award in 1995.
Rabbi Fishweicher served as a pulpit rabbi in a number of cities including Ansonia, Connecticut, Dallas, Texas, Detroit, Michigan, and Plainfield, New Jersey. He was principal of The Plainfield Hebrew Institute in Plainfield, New Jersey and of The Hebrew Ben Zion Academy in Pennsylvania. He taught at the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and he held executive positions in the higher Hebrew Day School movement in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rabbi Fishweicher was a “people person” who did whatever he could to help others. In order to be able to assist others in the best way, he worked hard to learn English, as Yiddish was his mother tongue. He was a genuine and kind-hearted person who was well respected across religious divides.
One mitzvah that Rabbi Fishweicher felt particularly close to was his involvement in the Chevra Kadisha. He was part of the Chevra for all of his married life. As a tribute to him, his son, daughter, and granddaughter have taken up that beloved mitzvah.
He was very loyal and supportive of cRc members. He called to engage them and make them feel part of the organization. As Menahel of the Beth Din, he did what he could to help people going through the Get process, even if it meant personally traveling great distances to speak to one or both parties.
Rabbi Fishweicher was proud of the work of the cRc. In an article he wrote in The Sentinel in 1986 he described how the cRc was a resource in many areas of Jewish life including kashruth, judicial matters, business questions, and religious laws and practices. It helped a person during different stages of life, from birth, with information about names and circumcisions and laws about adopting children, to providing kosher tahara and burial practices. The cRc was also instrumental in helping rabbis and their synagogues.
Rabbi Fishweicher, a”h, and his wife Sarah, a”h, (nee Schwartzman) are survived by their children: Mrs. Rebecca Silverstein, Mrs. Rochelle Kirshenbaum, Rabbi Abraham Fishweicher, Mr. Simcha Fishweicher, and Mrs. Layah Rosenberg.
