Nathan Korff, 91, Milton rabbi known for his generous spirit

A scavenger ripped out her diamond earrings, then fired a bullet through her 6-month-old son’s foot and into her heart.

The family was targeted during the Russian Revolution after Czar Nicholas II tapped his father, Grand Rabbi Jacob Korff, as the country’s chief rabbi. His father was in Boston during the 1919 attack, and the boy was hidden for six years before he made his way to Boston.

The boy, Nathan Korff, became one of the leading figures in the Boston-area Jewish community, and the scar on his foot was one of the physical reminders of the travails he endured.

Rabbi Korff, who started Milton’s Congregation B’nai Jacob out of his home and helped guide it through decades, died Jan. 11 at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale after suffering a stroke.

Dementia was listed as the official cause of death, his family said.

He was 91.

As a young boy, Rabbi Korff watched his father bring many Jewish refugees to safety, removing doors in his house to make another bed by laying them across two chairs, calling for “more water in the soup,’’ as the number of guests grew.

Rabbi Korff was also generous, frequently meeting the needs of others, family and friends said.

“He had that touch he could relate to all people,’’ said his son, the Grand Rabbi Y.A. Korff, of Boston.

After reading about the plight of a single mother of six whose bags of newly bought clothing had been stolen, he found out their ages and sizes and sent them entire wardrobes. A newspaper reported that a Mr. Karp (not a Mr. Korff) was the benefactor and his response, was, “At least they didn’t get my name right.’’

Rabbi Korff was a familiar face at local events, often speaking at Milton High School graduations. In 2001, he reminded students that although they were completing one chapter, they would “never graduate from responsibility to society.’’

“He was a combination of . . . a religious presence, a scholar, and, at the same time, he was a tremendous humanitarian,’’ said Marion McEttrick, a Milton selectwoman.

“The reason he was so good at speaking is that he would always say something that would be original, new for the occasion. It would be inspiring. It would draw on a body of learning, and at the same time, it would be about people.’’

Rabbi Korff attended Boston public schools until his bar mitzvah, after which his father sent him to New York to Yeshiva Torah V’Daas.

He attended rabbinical college in Jerusalem and then returned to the United States and earned another rabbinical degree at Yeshiva Torah V’Daas in 1938, becoming one of the youngest ordained rabbis in the country at age 19.

His first rabbinical post was in Lawrence.

In the 1950s, he worked with leaders to found Congregation B’nai Jacob, initially conducting services out of his Milton home, with his wife, Helen, preparing meals for congregants.

The congregation then moved into a home converted into a synagogue.

“He always had a strong group of people who would be there for him and follow his vision,’’ his son said.

Rabbi Korff was a descendant of Yisrael ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov), founder of the Hasidic movement, and took much from his father.

“People came to him for direction,’’ Rabbi Korff’s son said. “He sorted out a lot of lives. He would look at each case as a special one and develop a plan that suited the individual.’’

To many, he would say, “Don’t talk so much - act!’ ’’ his son said.

“It was ‘speak less and do more’ - that was a big principle with him. He was full of wisdom; he always preached patience and perseverance, take your time.’’

McEttrick said Rabbi Korff also had a way of getting things done in Milton, often with an eye to improving the lives of the town’s youth.

In the late 1990s, he was involved with a campaign to create a skate park in Milton and brought in other members of the clergy to help with the effort.

“He was a detail person; he always was the type to dot every I and cross every T,’’ McEttrick said.

After phone conversations with those who knew him best, he would often instantly call back and make an even stronger case for whatever he had been pushing, family said.

“Only through understanding and friendship will there be peace between nations,’’ he told The Patriot-Ledger newspaper in Quincy in the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In addition to his son, Rabbi Korff leaves Helen, his wife of 62 years; his son Jeffrey M. of Northampton; his daughter, Janice of New York City; and 11 grandchildren.

Services have been held.