Chaim Gutnick

Chaim (HaKohen) Gutnick (1921 - 25 October 2003) ( Heb. : שניאור-חיים הכהן גוטניק ), was a prominent Orthodox Jewish Chabad rabbi in Australia . Gutnick was born in Zolotonosha , Ukraine ; soon afterwards his family moved to Tel Aviv , and then in 1927 to London , where his father, Mordechai Ze'ev Gutnick, a graduate of Tomchei Temimim , served as a Chabad rabbi. After his father's death, on 29 November 1931, Gutnick came under the influence of Yehezkel Abramsky . He was educated at the Jews' Free School in London, and then at the Telshe yeshiva in Lithuania . When the Second World War broke out, he escaped with a small group of refugees, including the wife and daughter of Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler , which eventually found its way to Australia in 1941. On the instruction of Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn he remained in Australia, and joined the Australian Army . He applied for a position as a chaplain, but was turned down. After the war Gutnick's stepfather Osher Abramson accepted a rabbinic position in Sydney , Australia , and moved there together with Gutnick's mother and his brother, Sholom Gutnick . Gutnick married Rose Chester, and had six children together. Their son Joseph is a well-known Jewish philanthropist ; their son Mordechai is a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Australia. In 1958 Gutnick was offered the rabbinate of the newly constructed Elwood Talmud Torah Hebrew Congregation , in Elwood, Victoria ; he served in that position until his death in 2003. In 1967, Gutnick founded the Rabbinical Council of Victoria , and served as its president until his death. He was also honorary Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand , where he delivered a monthly lecture and examined the students. Gutnick received the honour of unusually long private audiences with The Lubavitcher Rebbe , who gave him much advice in all areas of his work. Gutnick also served as a chaplain in the Australian Defense Force . Speech by Steve Bracks on 19 November 2000, at a JNF dinner in Gutnick's honour. "Man's steps are ordained by God, and since Providence has guided you to Australia, this is your place [...] Prepare the ground for the arrival [of Jewish refugees] so that it will be a place of Torah, where God can be found." Speech by Rabbi Gutnick on 20 April 2003, at Kollel Beth Hatalmud.¹