Rabbi Harold E. (Tzvi Elimelech) Karp, z”l, passed away Thursday morning, Feb. 14, 2019.
He was born in Poland in 1932. He is one of the few members of his family to have survived the Holocaust. He had an incredible journey that took him as a child by cattle train from Poland to Siberia in 1939, where he lived for more than a year, then to Kazakhstan, and finally to a displaced persons camp in 1947. From there he went to Canada in 1947, where he attended St. John’s High School and met his wife Esther, with whom he celebrated 64 wonderful years of marriage.
He was ordained by the Hebrew Theological College and served as a pulpit rabbi of the Hyde Park Hebrew Center for over 17 years. He was also a founding member of the Or Torah synagogue where he also served a term as interim rabbi, with his colleagues, Rabbi Shalom Cohen, z”l, and Rabbi Yehiel Poupko.
He graduated law school from DePaul University and established a law firm where he practiced law for over 50 years.
He was an active member of the Jewish community, and in addition his synagogue participation, belonged to Hapoel Hamizrachi as well as serving as legal counsel for the CRC Chicago Rabbinical Council.
He is succeeded by his: dear wife Esther; brother Irvin Karp; son Jeffery and his wife Lidia; daughter Rachel Finkle, her husband James, and their daughter Zara; son Asher, his wife Cheryl, and their children Hadassa, Adina, Yaakov and Ephraim; daughter Melanie Lasry and her husband David, their four children Ariel (and his wife Leivana, and their children, Talia, Eliav and Hallel), Elie, Yoel and Nethanel. He is also succeeded by his nephews and nieces: Miriam Geller, Percy Golubchuk, Gary Karp, Michael Karp, Marcy Rosch and Ellen Grady.
He was dearly loved and will be sorely missed.
