Rabbi Hillel Plesser, head of the Talmud Torah Morasha in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and a rabbi at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, was laid to rest at the Har HaMenuhot cemetery in Givat Shaul, Jerusalem Thursday afternoon.
The funeral was attended by Mercaz HaRav Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, Major General David Zini, Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner, Jerusalem Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Rabbi Aryeh Stern, former MK Moti Yogev, Rabbi Yitzchak Sheilat , Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes, and other rabbis and students from the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva.
Rabbi Plesser collapsed suddenly and passed away late last night at the age of 71, He had recently undergone surgery and returned home from the hospital.
He leaves behind a wife and 12 children.
Rabbi Plesser was a student of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and was one of the students who at Rabbi Kook's behest worked to publicize the plight of Jewish Soviet Refusenik Natan Sharansky to allow him to leave Russia and immigrate to Israel.
Rabbi Plesser founded Talmud Torah Morasha, which was innovative school which had a more intensive curriculum and longer school days and school years than other religious Zionist schools at the time and which has served as a model for religious Zionist schools in the years since its founding. The school was founded to bring the principles of Rabbi Kook to the curriculum.
Rabbi Plesser's son-in-law, Col. David Shapira, the deputy commander of the Gaza Divisio, famously eliminated the terrorist who committed the 2008 massacre at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva.
Pabbi Plesser's son, Moshe Plesser, stopped a terrorist tractor attack on Jerusalem's Jaffa street in 2008.
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Hagit Moshe paid tribute to Rabbi Plesser and said: "Jerusalem lost a great educator this morning. The light of the rabbi's face, his knowledge of the Torah and his vision for the education of young people for Torah life led the 'Morasha' institutions to be a home for Torah, kindness and love of Israel. In everything he achieved and said, the rabbi radiated great modesty and humility, I am sure that his students will carry his Torah and his legacy for many years to come, and the city of Jerusalem will make sure to continue and perpetuate his legacy and his educational path."