To call Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Czapnik a multifaceted individual would do a disservice to the man who passed away on March 30 after contracting COVID-19.

Affectionately known as “Yossel,” Czapnik moved from his family home in Manhattan’s Upper West Side as a young man and spent his formative years becoming close with some of the foremost scholars of the day, studying in academies of higher Torah learning.

He quickly developed a reputation for his wide-ranging scholarship as a “fountain of knowledge,” from Talmud and Jewish law to history and current events.

A dedicated community man, Czapnik was known to spend entire nights packing food trucks for the needy with an instinct of knowing just the right word to say to cheer up someone who was feeling down.

A gifted writer, he served as a senior editor of Yated Ne’eman for many years—first from Brooklyn, N.Y., until he moved to Lakewood, N.J., where he lived closer to his alma mater, Beth Medrash Gevoha.

Although Czapnik did not live an easy life personally, he leaves behind a brother and a community who will remember him with love and admiration.

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