One of the Thirty-Six Hidden Tzaddikim

HaGaon Rav Yitzchak Zilber, zt”l His life and legacy, as told by his students and those close to him Compiled by Avraham Cohen Rav Yitzchak had to find someone urgently, probably for a get, but he did not know the address. He called a taxi, came out of the house, sat in the car, and said, “Let’s go!” The taxi driver asked, “Where to?” “I don’t know. I need to find a certain person. Please go…” They left Sanhedria and reached a traffic light. “Now, where?” Rav Yitzchak answered, “If one does not know where to go, it is written that one should make a right turn.” They turned right and drove past the Ramot neighborhoods, left Yerushalayim, and headed in the direction of Tel Aviv. The driver could not bear it any longer. He turned into the first town along the way, Givat Ze’ev, and said, “You don’t even have an address! Don’t waste your money. Get out here — look, here’s a bus stop, and go home. I feel bad wasting your money.” Rav Yitzchak got out of the taxi and asked the first passerby, “Excuse me, do you know such-and-such a person?” The man answered, “He lives in that house over there.” The incredible life of Rav Yitzchak Zilber — legendary leader of Russian Jewry in Israel for the past three decades — has been immortalized in the perennial bestseller, To Remain a Jew. Now you can read 280 firsthand stories of his unswerving emunah in Hashem, superlative middos, and unparalleled love for all Jews, which helped him rise above seemingly impossible situations throughout his life in Communist Russia and Eretz Yisrael. Told by the people who experienced them, they provide an awe-inspiring glimpse into the life of One of the Thirty-Six Hidden Tzaddikim.