Funeral services were held Monday for Rabbi Jacob Hecht, 66, a prominent spiritual leader and member of the Lubavitch Chabad movement whose voice was known to tens of thousands from his Sunday radio programs.
Hecht died Sunday of heart failure while dining with campers at Camp Emunah, a Lubavitch summer camp for girls in Greenfield Park, N.Y. Hecht was founder and director of the camp.
Hecht, the official interpreter for the Lubavitcher rebbe Menachem: Schneerson, during the rebbe’s discourses, was best known for his “Anti-Shmad (Conversion) Campaign,” in which he was successful in deterring many Jews, particularly young people, from converting away from Judaism.
The campaign was featured in his weekly radio program, “Shema Yisroel,” which was broadcast Sunday afternoons on WEVD.
Hecht was rabbi of Congregation Yeshiva Meir Simcha HaCohen of East Flatbush, and was for 44 years executive vice president of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education.
He was author of two books, “Brimstone and Fire” and “A Book of Sermons and Essays on Judaism.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
