He took his first lessons from his father, a doctor and amateur violinist. At 11, he earned a scholarship to Juilliard, and in the early 1940s he was trained in Judaic studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

As a member of the British Royal Air Force in World War II, Mr. Zeitlin performed for Allied troops throughout the Middle East.

After the war he returned to Juilliard, where his teachers included the renowned violinist Ivan Galamian.

Mr. Zeitlin made his New York debut in 1951 at Town Hall, performing Bach, Schubert, and Stravinsky. He first appeared with the New York Philharmonic in 1967, playing the Schoenberg under Leonard Bernstein.

With the pianist Barry Snyder and the cellist Robert Sylvester, Mr. Zeitlin was a founding member of the Eastman Trio, with which he played from 1976 to 1982.

He was also a longtime member of the faculty of the Music Academy of the West, the summer training program in Santa Barbara, Calif.

A resident of Rochester, Mr. Zeitlin leaves his wife of 61 years, Marianne Langner Zeitlin; a son, Hillel; a daughter, Leora Kelter-Zeitlin; a sister, Anba Kantor; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.