The rosh yeshiva (dean) of the world renowned Mir Yeshiva (Talmudic college) in brooklyn, Rabbi Shmuel Birnbaum, has died. His body is being brought to Israel for burial.

Rabbi Birnbaum was part of the previous generation of Torah scholars. The Mir Yeshiva was a world class learning institution before the World Wars. During the Holocaust almost the entire yeshiva survived together, traveling to Shanghai and functioning there for some years. Afterward the bulk of the yeshiva came to Israel, but a sizeable contingent went to America. Each group started a yeshiva, one in Brooklyn, the other in Jerusalem.

Thousands of Jews continue to learn in the still-thriving Jerusalem venue, hundreds coming from around the world each year. The Brooklyn-campus is not quite as large, but also has kept alive the passing-on of the previous generations' wisdom. Rabbi Birnbaum's loss will be felt heavily by thousands of his students, many of whom are, themselves, rabbinic pillars of communities throughout America.