Zak Menakhem Mendel b. 1873 in Friedrichstadt (Jaunaglona), studied at a yeshiva in Brest-Litovsk (Brest, Belorussia), in 1891 completed the Volozhin yeshiva in Oshmyany District, Vilna Governorate (Belorussia); in 1913 elected and confirmed as assistant rabbi of Riga; rector of the Riga Private Yeshiva. During the First World War received a commendation from the Livonia provincial government for special services. Rabbi in Vegere (Vegeriai, Lithuania) in 1895–1899; rabbi in Kandau (Kandava) from 1899; rabbi in Riga from 1915, chief rabbi. Killed in Riga in 1941.

Menakhem Mendel ZAK (18.03.1868, Friedrichstadt, Courland Governorate (Jaunaglona) — 1941, Riga)

Rabbi. He studied at a yeshiva (rabbinical seminary) in Brest-Litovsk (Brest, Belorussia) and in Volozhin, Vilna Governorate (Belorussia). In 1895–1899 rabbi in Vegere, Kaunas Governorate (Vegeriai, Lithuania). In 1899 elected rabbi of Kandau, Courland Governorate (now Kandava). From 1913 assistant chief rabbi of Riga; in 1915–1941 chief rabbi of Riga. In September 1941 confined to the ghetto, where he organized an underground synagogue. Killed in Rumbula on 30 November or 8 December 1941.

Latvia: Synagogues and Rabbis, 1918–1940 / Text auth. a. comp. R. Bogdanova. Riga, 2004. P. 244.