ABOUT

KOLLEL ERETZ HATZVI 

Rabbi Hershel Tzvi Hakohen Pfeffer OB"M was sent to Pittsburgh by the Frierdiker Rebbe. In his more than 60 years in Pittsburgh, he was a one-man mitzvah campaign.

As the gabbai of Lubavitch Center, he helped members and friends celebrate birthdays, bar mitzvahs, weddings and births with aliyas to the Torah. As a sofer, he wrote, checked and corrected mezuzahs, tefillin and Sifrei Torah for community members and
shuls throughout the region. As a shochet, he would rise long before dawn to make sure Jews had kosher meat for Shabbos and Yom Tov.

Perhaps his most beloved activity was blessing congregations, brides and grooms, and ordinary people, with birkat kohanim, the special blessing Hashem commanded Aharon Hakohen and his descendants to give. Rabbi Pfeffer truly exemplified the spirit of Aharon Hakohen with his smile, his compassion and his care for all.

Kollel Eretz Hatzvi, which his family helped establish in his memory, is driven by a single goal; to bring Torah learning to every member of the Pittsburgh Jewish Community.

Established by Rabbi Yisroel Rosenfeld of Lubavitch Center and run by Rabbi Chaim Itkin, Bais Medrash provides the perfect place for community members to come, connect and learn Torah on an ongoing basis.