THE FREIDIN FAMILY OF ZELVA
Rabbi Zalman's Sermons Freidin Family of Zelva
Rabbi Dr. Zalman Kossowsky was born in Teheran, Iran, in 1940, as a son of a family, which has a long line of Rabbis and teachers in the ranks of its ancestors. His parents were Polish emigrants from the shtetl of Zelva, where his father was Chief Rabbi. They were fleeing the Russian occupation in 1939, and on the way to South Africa, where his late father, Rabbi Dr. Mikhl Kossowsky occupied a Rabbinical post, as well as his grandfather, Rabbi Isaac Kossowsky. Rabbi Isaac Kossowsky was a past Chief Rabbi of Volkovysk in Poland, and the Chairman of the Bet Din in the Transvaal. Zalman Kossowsky grew up in Johannesburg. After his graduation in the year 1956, he studied for the Rabbinate in Israel. In 1961, he successfully concluded his studies under the Chief Rabbi of Israel. From 1962 - 1978 he lived in the United States. He obtained his License in Education, and his Doctorate in the Social Sciences. There, he was also active in youth work. For two years he worked as a computer scientist in the computer industry. In 1972, he became Rabbi in North Miami Beach, Florida. He was appointed as a Chaplain in the Navy and left as a Lieutenant-Commander (Major). In1978, he returned to South Africa, and remained there for the next eight years. He was then asked by the Chief Rabbi of England to come as a Rabbi to London, and after five years - 1992 - his appointment to Zurich followed, as spiritual leader of the Israelitischen Cultusgemeinde. He and Danna Kossowsky-Oppenheim have 5 sons and 2 daughters and God-willing, a increasing number of grandchildren.
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