Amram Zaks

Rabbi Amram Yitzchak[1] Zaks (1926—2012) served as the rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka yeshiva of Bnei Brak, Israel alongside Rabbis Dov Landau and Moshe Hillel Hirsch.[2]

Rabbi Amram was born in October 1926. His father was Rabbi Chaim Eliyahu Zalman and his mother was the daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Friedman and the sister of Rabbi Mendel Friedman, son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.[2]

Rabbi Amram was a student of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer in Etz Chaim Yeshiva. In 1947, he traveled to Bnei Brak where he studied at the Slabodka yeshiva under Rabbi Isaac Sher. In 1952 he was engaged to be married with Rabbi Sher's eldest granddaughter, the daughter of his son-in-law, Rabbi Mordechai Shulman, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka. The wedding took place in March 1952, shortly after the death of Rabbi Sher (who died in February 1952). Several years after his marriage, his father-in-law appointed him to deliver shiurim at Slabodka.[2]

Rabbi Amram's eldest daughter, Rebbetzin Devora Levovitz died on Sukkot of 1989 at a young age.[3]

More than 20 years before Rabbi Amram died, he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered.[3]

Tens of thousands attended his funeral. He was eulogized by Rabbis Landau and Hirsch of the Slabodka yeshiva as well as by the Rebbe of Sanz, by Rabbi B. D. Povarsky, by Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein (a student of Rabbi Amram), and by Rabbi Amram's son, Rabbi Simchah Shmuel Zaks.[3]