Tragedy struck the Breslov community on Wednesday when Rabbi Yisrael Pinto, was Niftar. Rabbi Pinto was the owner of the “Orot” hotel in Uman and taught Torah widely among the community there.

Rabbi Pinto came down with the flu recently, and his condition steadily worsened during the past Shabbos. He was brought for medical treatment to a hospital in Odessa where he was sedated and put on a respirator. He was then flown to Israel to continue his treatment in Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Yerushalayim. Rabbis instructed his family to add on the name of Raphael to Rabbi Pinto’s name in an effort to help change his fate.

However, his bodily systems gave way to the disease and he was Niftar. Rabbi Pinto leaves behind a wife and six children. His Levaya took place at 10:00 P.M. in Yerushalayim’s Har Hamenuchot cemetery.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)