Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Littman Plotkin, a chossid and activist from Crown Heights who served as the first Shliach to Berditchev, passed away on Shabbos morning, 19 Tishrei.

He was 97 years old.

R’ Shmuel was born in 5688 (1928) to his father, Harav Avrohom Eliyahu Plotkin, and was named for his grandfather, one of the distinguished Chabad chassidim of Rogatchov.

He spent his early childhood in Pushkin, near Leningrad. During the war years, his family fled eastward, eventually reaching Samarkand. After the war, the Plotkin family was among the Lubavitcher families who escaped the Soviet Union in the famous exodus of 5706 (1946). They settled first in the DP camps in Pocking, Germany, and later in France, where his father served as one of the community’s leading rabbonim until his untimely passing in 5709 (1949).

R’ Shmuel later moved to Crown Heights, where he married Mrs. Devorah Greener and went into business.

With the fall of the Iron Curtain, he was sent by the Rebbe to the former Soviet Union, where he worked energetically to rebuild Jewish life in Berditchev and Zhytomyr. After some years of dedicated activity, he returned to Crown Heights, later resuming his involvement in Berditchev.

Over the years, he devoted much time to publishing the writings of his father, including Biur L’Tanya, Kisvei Avrohom Eliyahu, and Kuntres B’Inyanei Mikvaos.

R’ Shmuel served as a member of the board of the Union of Rabbis of the CIS and as one of the rabbonim of Getzel’s Shul in Crown Heights. He also previously served on the Vaad HaKahal of the Crown Heights community.

He is survived by his wife, Devorah Plotkin, and children: Rabbi Avrohom Plotkin – Markham, Ontario; Mrs. Chani Vogel – Rochester, NY; Mrs. Shternie Raskin – Brooklyn Heights; Mrs. Mattie Pil – San Francisco; Shneur Plotkin – Crown Heights; Levi Plotkin – Hollywood, Florida; Fradie Chein – Crown Heights; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He will be interred in Tzfas, next to his father, Harav Hagaon Avrohom Eliyahu Plotkin.

The levayah will pass 770 11 pm tonight before continuing to Eretz Yisroel for burial.

Boruch dayan haemes

Photos: JEM, Hasidic Archives