Rabbi I. Yellin, Talmudic Scholar, Dies

Rabbi Isaac Yellin, a noted Talmudic scholar and early leader of the Orthodox Jewish community in Southern California, died Wednesday in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 88.

Born in Porozova, Poland, Yellin migrated with his family as a young child to Montreal, where he was raised. He began his rabbinical studies at Yeshiva University in New York City in the mid-1920s but at the age of 16 returned to Poland to complete his education at the Kaminetz Yeshiva, a theological seminary. It was there that Yellin received his ordination and earned his early reputation as a Talmudic scholar.

His education completed, Yellin returned to the United States and, in 1936, married Dorothy Hochman, who lived in Boston and was the daughter of the chief Orthodox rabbi of the New England states. Yellin began his rabbinical career in Massachusetts.

His war years were spent in New York City, where he held a rabbinical position. In the late 1940s, he moved his family to Los Angeles, where he assumed the leadership of the new Mishkon Tefila synagogue in Santa Monica. He later took the rabbinical leadership of Congregation Etz Jacob in the Beverly-Fairfax area.

In the early 1950s, he founded the SOS Exceptional Youth Foundation and the Circle Y Ranch residential facilities which, for the next 30 years, rehabilitated, educated and cared for hundreds of young men of all faiths who were incarcerated by the juvenile justice system.

In 1966, Rabbi Yellin was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from Young Israel of Century City.

Rabbi Yellin is survived by his wife; sons Dr. Albert Yellin, Dr. Mark Yellin and Ira Yellin; and by six grandchildren. Funeral services are at 10:30 a.m. today at Young Israel of Century City, with burial at Home of Peace Memorial Park in East Los Angeles. Contributions should be sent to the Rabbi Isaac Yellin Educational Fund at Young Israel of Century City, 9317 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035.