ZIRELSOHN, JUDAH LOB

(1860-1941)

Romanian rabbi and communal leader. He was born in Kozelets in the Ukraine, and served as rabbi of Priluki and Kishinev. He initially was a supporter of Zionism, but later dissociated himself from the movement. In 1912 he was one of the founders of Agudat Israel. When Bessarabia was incor-porated into Romania in 1920, he became chief rabbi of Bessarabia and the leader of Orthodox Jewry there. In 1922 he was elected a deputy in the Romanian parliament, and in 1926 a senator. His writings include responsa, homilies, eulogies, essays and poems.