BDE: Dr. Zev Zelenko, legendary ba’al teshuva and Physician

By: Yehuda Alter 

We are deeply saddened to inform you of the passing of Dr. Zelenko, a ba’al teshuva from the Former Soviet Union, and physician in the Monsey and Monroe communities for decades. 

He was born Vladimir Zelenko in Kiev, in the year 1973. The family came to America when he was a young child, and settled in Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, a haven for many Russian immigrants. He attended the State University of New York at Buffalo, and acquired a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2000. 

He dedicated his career to healthcare in our community, and founded medical clinics and was a respected physician in the Monroe community for many years. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, he gained fame for his concoction of hydroxychloroquine together with zinc as an antidote to the virus—something that earned great interest from the Trump Administration. 

In 2019, he published his autobiography “Metamorphosis,” chronicling his journey from a secular childhood in Russia to finding Yiddishkeit and helping his community. 

In recent years he was diagnosed with multiple illnesses, which he fought valiantly. He was sadly niftar Thursday afternoon. 

Yehi zichro Baruch.