R. Yisrael Moshe son of R. Avraham Yaakov Kalab (Kilov / Kilov)
Riga
Son-in-law of R. Menachem Mendel Zak, chief rabbi of Riga.
Born in 5659 (1899)1) in the town of Preil.
He studied at the yeshivas of Grodno and Radin. A distinguished student of R. Shimon Shkop and R. Naftali Trop.
In 5681, when his father-in-law founded the yeshiva in Riga, he was appointed to serve as its rosh yeshiva, and served in this capacity until 5689, when he was elected chief rabbi of Talsi. He founded a yeshiva there and served there in the rabbinate until 5695 (1929–1935).
On 5 Adar II 5695 (10 March 1935) he was elected to fill the place of R. Shalom Menachem Mendel Avin as rabbi in Riga.
He perished in the Holocaust.2)
He is mentioned in Igrot Kodesh of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Mohariatz):3) “to the Gaon R. Kilov, may he live — the sum of nine hundred and sixty lats.”
In the book Sadeh Yitzchak (of R. Yitzchak Ba'agun, Av Beit Din of Zidik in Lithuania), p. 125, he writes: “And in 5687 my friend the Gaon R. Moshe Kalab, may he live, Av Beit Din of Talshin, who was then rosh yeshiva in Riga, called my attention to this.”
Yahadut Latviya, pp. 331 and 392. Newspaper HaYnt, 6 Adar II 5695. An article about him in Eleh Ezkerah, vol. 7.
Latvia and Rabbis