Rabbi Yisroel and his wife Shaina Zaltzman serve as the directors of the Jewish Russian Community Centre (JRCC) of the Willowdale neighborhood and the south of the City of Toronto (The City).

Rabbi Yisroel grew up in Toronto. His parents, Rabbi Yoseph and Chiena Zaltzman, were sent by the Rebbe to Toronto in December of 1980 to serve the Russian Jewish community in Toronto, then counting 1,000 families.

Rabbi Yisroel grew up in a home that was (and is!) dedicated 24/7 to the needs of each and every individual in the Jewish Russian Community, no matter his or her level of observance and affiliation.

Rabbi Yisroel studied at Yeshivot in Netanya, Israel and Tzfat, Israel for 7 years, then continued studying at the Central Chabad Yeshiva in Brooklyn, NY, also known as the Rabbinical College of America, where he received his rabbinical ordination in 2018. Rabbi Yisroel also headed the Yeshiva in the Poconos, PA for the school year of 2015–2016.

Shaina Zaltzman (née Dubov) was born in London, England, where her parents, Rabbi Nissan Dovid and Sarah Dubov, have headed the Chabad house in South London (Wimbledon) since 1988. Her father, a scholar who has published over 15 books on Jewish law and thought, is a world-renowned lecturer sought after in many communities.

Shaina studied in seminary in Tzfat, Israel for 2 years and later taught in the Chabad High School in London for another 2 years.

Rabbi Yisroel and Shaina met in 2018 and got married on the 24th of the month of Elul, September 4, 2018.

In the past 2 decades, along with the awesome growth of the Community—today counting approximately 15,000 families in the GTA—local branches of the JRCC have opened throughout the GTA in order to better serve the entire community.

In September 2019, after spending an additional year learning near the Rebbe's synagogue in Brooklyn, NY, and continuing Rabbinic study in Manhattan, NY, Rabbi Yisroel and Shaina moved to the Yonge and Finch area to serve both the local and broader community in the south of the City.