Early Tuesday morning, the head of Gateshead’s Jewish community, Rabbi Yaakov Kaufman, passed away from coronavirus. He was 71 years old.
Rabbi Kaufman contracted the virus on Purim, almost a month ago, and had appeared to make a full recovery. However, last Friday his condition deteriorated suddenly and he was rushed to a London hospital for treatment; doctors did not manage to save his life.
Rabbi Kaufman was known throughout the English haredi community as an exemplary community leader. His home was always open to guests and he and his wife frequently hosted rabbis and rosh yeshivas from Israel, as well as Jews who traveled abroad to raise money for charity.
His father, who was the head of the local community before him, passed away just eight years ago, a week after his mother.
Rabbi Kaufman was also responsible for the town’s hevra kadisha (burial society) and in many cases where the deceased Jew was brought to Israel for burial, he would accompany the casket in order to safeguard the dignity of the dead and make sure that Jewish law was adhered to.
A Gateshead resident told Behadrey Haredim, “This is a tragedy. Rav Yaakov was perfectly healthy. One of his students visited him over Purim and they ate the seudah (festive meal) together and everyone danced. He contracted the virus from this student, but he had recovered from it … We are all in mourning here, in Gateshead and in the entire haredi community in England.”
Just three months ago, the Gateshead community lost another of its prominent members when Rabbi Pesach Eliyahu Falk (obm) passed away. Rabbi Falk was considered by many to be one of the greatest authorities in Jewish law in Europe, and his clear and definitive rulings written in English as well as Hebrew, particularly on the laws of Shabbat (Sabbath), made observance of the laws easy to follow even for those who had no background knowledge.
Rabbi Kaufman will be buried in Israel; his casket will be brought on a special flight on Tuesday.