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Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dworkin (1900–1985) was the rabbi of the Crown Heights neighborhood and a member of the Vaad Rabonei Lubavitch. He merited that the Rebbe referred to him as “my Mara D’Asra” (my local halachic authority).
Rabbi Dworkin was born in the town of Rogachev in 1900 (5660) to Rabbi Yerucham and Rivkah.
In 1912 (5672), he was sent to study at the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah in Lubavitch, where he became one of its outstanding students. His principal teacher in Talmudic studies was Rabbi Shmuel Nissenbitz (the "Barisover"), and in Chassidus he studied under Rabbi Gronem Esterman.
Among his fellow students were Rabbi Yehudah Heber, Rabbi Yisrael Leib Lipschitz, and Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Axelrod.
His exceptional Torah scholarship was demonstrated by an occasion when he reportedly engaged in a Torah discussion with the renowned Joseph Rosen for five consecutive hours.
After Tomchei Temimim left Lubavitch, he continued his studies in Kharkov together with a group of Temimim. The learning took place in the women's section of the "Metznaski Shul" synagogue and in a smaller synagogue on the first floor.
He married Tzivia, daughter of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Dobravsky.
About a year after his marriage, Rabbi Dworkin was appointed rabbi and shochet of the town of Voronok in Ukraine. Several years later he moved to Starodub, where he served as rabbi and halachic authority.
He taught Torah publicly to both scholars and ordinary Jews, covering both revealed Torah and Chassidus, often under clandestine conditions due to Soviet persecution.
During the arrest waves of 1937–1938, when many rabbis and Chassidim were targeted by the NKVD, agents came to arrest him at his home. He happened not to be there, and his wife managed to evade them and warn him. He immediately fled the city and relocated to Leningrad.
While living in Leningrad, he became one of the leading Chassidim of the city. To earn a livelihood he worked as a bookbinder. During World War II he worked tirelessly to ensure that many Jews, including Chassidim, received proper Jewish burial.
Following the war, he left the Soviet Union and arrived in Pocking, where he served as a lecturer in Talmudic studies. In Kislev 5708 (1947), he arrived at Tomchei Temimim in Brunoy, France, where he served for a period as the chief mashgiach overseeing the study of Nigleh (the revealed parts of Torah).
Between 1947 and 1954 he traveled throughout Europe as a roving emissary dedicated to strengthening Judaism.
While in Ireland, he supervised the local Chabad shechitah system.
In 1954 (5714) he moved to Pittsburgh, where he served as rabbi of the local Chabad community.
Around 1964, he was brought to serve as rabbi of the large Chabad community in Crown Heights. Together with Rabbi Shmuel Levitin and Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson, he functioned as one of the principal halachic authorities associated with 770.
He was also appointed Rosh Kollel in Crown Heights.
After the passing of Rabbi Shneur Zalman Garelik, his name was proposed as a candidate to become the rabbi of Kfar Chabad, but the proposal was ultimately withdrawn.
His wife, Rebbetzin Tzivia Dworkin, passed away on Friday night, 15 Iyar 5736 (1976).
During a period of serious illness, he once spoke with the Rebbe. The Rebbe told him that he could request whatever he wished. Understanding it to be an auspicious moment, Rabbi Dworkin asked not for recovery, but for the coming of Moshiach.
One week before his passing, while hospitalized at Sinai Hospital and already in a terminal condition, his nephew came to visit him. Rabbi Dworkin suddenly awoke and exclaimed emotionally:
"There were those on the right and those on the left. The ones on the left would not give him any time. However, the ones on the right granted another seven days—and they won!"
At the time, his nephew thought the illness had affected his mind. However, exactly seven days later Rabbi Dworkin passed away, and the remark was understood in retrospect.
Rabbi Dworkin passed away from his illness on Motzaei Shabbos, Parshas Ki Sisa, 17 Adar 5745 (March 1985), close to midnight, shortly after requesting a cup of water.
His funeral took place the following day and was attended by approximately five thousand Chassidim. He merited that the Rebbe personally participated in the funeral.
Rabbi Dworkin left no children.
Following his passing, elections were held for the rabbinate of Crown Heights. The rabbis elected to serve were:
Rabbi Dworkin remains remembered as one of the foremost halachic authorities of Chabad in the generation of the Rebbe and as the rabbi whom the Rebbe famously called “my Mara D’Asra.”