Mrs. Basya Kalmenson, a noted mechaneches and veteran shlucha in Aubervilliers, France, wife of Rabbi Sholom Mendel Kalmenson a”h, daughter of Rabbi Uziel Chazanov a”h, and matriarch of a large Lubavitch family, passed away on Monday, 25 Menachem Av.

Mrs. Basya Kalmenson, a noted mechaneches and veteran shlucha in Aubervilliers, France, wife of Rabbi Sholom Mendel Kalmenson a”h, daughter of Rabbi Uziel Chazanov a”h, and matriarch of a large Lubavitch family, passed away on Monday, 25 Menachem Av.

She was 95 years old.

Born in Lubavitch, where her father was working as a shochet, she moved with her family to Samarkand during World War II as countless Yidden fled the terrors of the Soviet regime. Despite many hardships, she faced life with joy and strength.

Together with her husband, Rabbi Sholom Mendel Kalmenson a”h, she went out on shlichus to Aubervilliers, where she founded the Chné-Or educational institutions and built a flourishing educational empire grounded in Torah, chassidus, and love for every Jew. What began with fifteen students grew through her devotion into a campus serving nearly seven hundred students from preschool through high school, and her dedication was such that she even obtained a bus driver’s license to transport girls who lived in outlying areas.

Her levaya started in France and will continue on Wednesday in Yerushalayim, with Kevura on Har HaZeisim, near her husband’s resting place.

She was predeceased by her husband, Rabbi Sholom Mendel Kalmenson, a”h.

She is survived by her children: Beila Gansbourg (Milan, Italy), Rivka Lipsker (Crown Heights), Rochel Bruchstat (Crown Heights), Feiga Levitin (New Haven, CT), Leah Raskin (Australia), Sterna Deitsch (Migdal HaEmek, Eretz Yisroel), Chaya Nisselevitch (Aubervilliers, France), Rabbi Meir Simcha Kalmenson (Aubervilliers, France), and Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kalmenson (Aubervilliers, France).

She is also survived by her siblings: Rivka Rubashkin – Boro Park, Meir Chazanov – Crown Heights, and Rochel Dagan – New Haven, CT.