It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rav Tuvia Blau zt”l, one of Chabad’s senior rabbinic figures in Eretz Yisroel and longtime rav of the Chabad community in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Yerushalayim. Rav Blau was 90 years old.
His petirah comes just a few weeks after the passing of his wife, Rebbetzin Chana Frumit Blau a”h, who was niftar on 2 Tammuz after both had been hospitalized in serious condition.
Rav Blau was born in Yerushalayim in 1936 to Reb Boruch Yehudah Blau z”l, a prominent leader of the Yerushalayim branch of Poalei Agudas Yisroel (PAGI). His grandfather was the legendary Agudas Yisroel leader Rav Moshe Blau zt”l, with whom the young Tuvia shared a particularly close relationship. As a youth, he learned with his grandfather regularly and often accompanied him on his public activities.
He received his Torah education in the renowned Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah and Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, where he was considered one of the yeshiva’s outstanding talmidim. During those years he developed a deep attachment to the teachings of Chassidus and became devoted to Chabad and to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, remaining a deeply connected chossid throughout his life.
In 1966, Rav Yisrael Leibov z”l, then chairman of Tzeirei Agudas Chabad in Eretz Yisroel, appointed Rav Blau as director-general of the organization’s activities division. He served in that role for more than two decades, until 1987, overseeing numerous nationwide educational and outreach initiatives and playing a major role in spreading Chassidus throughout Israel.
Rav Blau enjoyed an especially close relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In 1972, during celebrations marking the Rebbe’s 70th birthday, he was personally selected by the Rebbe to serve on the prestigious “Committee of Seventy Institutions,” which was established to help create dozens of new Torah and educational institutions around the world.
Perhaps his greatest contribution came in the field of education. In 1975, Rav Blau was appointed director of the renowned Beis Chana Seminary for Girls in Yerushalayim, a position he held for more than 40 years. Under his leadership, thousands of students passed through the institution, many of whom went on to become mothers, educators, and community leaders. Former talmidos regarded him as both a spiritual mentor and a steadfast guide in Torah, emunah, and Chassidus.
Alongside his educational work, Rav Blau earned a reputation as one of Chabad’s foremost writers and thinkers. Known for his sharp intellect and powerful pen, he became a leading defender of Chabad philosophy and Torah values. When the official Chabad weekly Kfar Chabad was founded in 1980, he joined its original editorial board and spent the following decade writing hundreds of essays and opinion pieces that helped shape the movement’s public voice.
For many decades, Rav Blau also served as the spiritual leader of the Chabad community in Neve Yaakov, where he established Torah classes, provided halachic guidance, strengthened community life, and became a trusted address for countless people seeking advice and encouragement.
In recent months, his health deteriorated and he was hospitalized as Chassidim around the world davened fervently for his recovery. This morning, he was niftar, leaving behind a tremendous void in both the broader Torah world and the Chabad community.
Rav Blau is survived by a distinguished family dedicated to Torah, chinuch, and Chabad shlichus. Among them are his son, Rav Peretz Uriel Blau, a member of the administration of Beis Chana Seminary in Yerushalayim; his son-in-law Rav Mordechai Menashe Laufer, an author and one of the shluchim in Ashdod; and another son-in-law, veteran educator Rav Aharon Halperin of Kfar Chabad.
The levayah will take place at 2:00 p.m., departing from the Shamgar Funeral Home in Yerushalayim and proceeding to the Chabad section of Har HaZeisim, where Rav Blau will be laid to rest beside his wife.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com}