Members of Canada’s Jewish community are mourning the loss of Rabbi Gunther Plaut, who died Wednesday in Toronto. He was 99.

He was predeceased by his wife Elizabeth.

Plaut, who was born in Germany and was a law student as the Nazi party came to power, was a standout scholar and writer. His 1981 work The Five Books of Moses is considered one of the leading modern commentaries on the Torah.

He served as the senior rabbi at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple from 1961 to 1977, after which he served as its senior scholar until his death.

Rabbi John Moscowitz, the current senior rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple, said Plaut was a highly accomplished scholar, writer and author, publishing 26 books.

“It’s fair to say he was one of the pre-eminent rabbis of the last several decades, really the second half of the twentieth century,” Moscowitz told CBC News Thursday.

Moscowitz said Plaut left Europe in the late 1930s and spent many years in the United States, before coming to Holy Blossom in 1961.

Plaut held major posts

The Holy Blossom website says Plaut distinguished himself through several major posts, including presidency of the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Plaut also helped found Toronto’s Urban Alliance for Race Relations and served for seven years as vice-chair of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

He was a Companion of the Order of Canada and has also received the Order of Ontario.

CBC’s Evan Solomon interviewed Plaut in 2002. He spoke of his work as chaplain with the U.S. Army liberating a concentration camp in 1945 and the struggle to keep his faith during the horrors of the Holocaust. You can watch Solomon's interview with Plaut by clicking on the link above.

The funeral for Plaut will be held Sunday at 11 a.m. at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.

Interment will follow at Holy Blossom Memorial Park on Brimley Road.