Rabbi Levie "Lou" Vorst (October 8, 1903 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

- July 28, 1987 in Rehovot) was

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

from 1946 to 1959 and chief rabbi from 1959 to 1971. Vorst and his family were transported to

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...

in January 1944. On 9 April 1945, they were put on the so-called Lost Train, a train heading East with no clear destination. The train was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in Tröbitz. Levie survived, however his wife Henriëtte died along the way, and was buried near the railroad tracks. Vorst served under caretaker chief rabbi

Justus Tal Justus (died on 10 November between 627 and 631) was the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Italy to England by Pope Pope Gregory I, Gregory the Great, on a mission to Christianization, Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their ...

from Amsterdam from 1946 to 1954 and under

hakham ''Hakham'' (or ''chakam(i), haham(i), hacham(i)''; he, חכם ', "wise") is a term in Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. It can also refer to any cultured and learned person: "He ...

Rodrigues Pereira from 1954 to 1959. In 1959 he became chief rabbi of Rotterdam. In 1971 he emigrated to Israel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vorst, Levie 1903 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Dutch rabbis Chief rabbis of cities Dutch emigrants to Israel Dutch Orthodox rabbis 20th-century Israeli Jews Israeli Orthodox rabbis Israeli people of Dutch-Jewish descent Rabbis from Amsterdam Rabbis from Rotterdam Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors