Mrs. Etel Bryski, 96, AH

Mrs. Etel Bryski, matriarch of a large Lubavitcher family, passed away on Sunday night, eve of 11 Kislev, 5783. 

Mrs. Etel Bryski, matriarch of a large Lubavitcher family, passed away on Sunday night, eve of 11 Kislev, 5783. 

She was 96 years old.

Born to R’ Yisroel Yosef and Baila Eckhaus, Etel grew up in Boro Park, where her parents, who were renowned for their yiras shomaim, served as the operators of the renowned “Boro Park Mikvah” on 52nd Street.

In 1946, she was introduced to Rabbi Mordechai Bryski, a Lubavitcher tomim who had studied in Tomchei Tmimim of Otwock. When WWII broke out, he escaped with a group of temimim and bochurim from other yeshivos to Shanghai, Japan, where they spent the remainder of the war years. At the war’s conclusion, he was granted a visa to the USA, where he continued his studies in 770 before meeting his to-be wife.

After their marriage and the birth of their first son, Eliezer, Rabbi Bryski and his wife were dispatched by the Frierdiker Rebbe to serve as a mashgiach at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Montreal, Canada. In 1948, they returned to New York, where Rabbi Bryski began serving as a melamed at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, eventually teaching there for 23 years.

By 1969, as the Bryski Family grew to eleven children, the couple asked the Rebbe, who had since assumed the nesius, his bracha to relocate to Crown Heights and for Rabbi Bryski to pursue a full-time career in real estate, as his earnings as a schoolteacher were not nearly sufficient to cover the large family’s expenses. The Rebbe granted his bracha on both counts – on the condition that Rabbi Bryski would always remain involved in Jewish education in one form or another – which he did.

During the coming decades, her husband dedicated himself to building the community of Crown Heights, Mrs. Bryski also dedicated herself to the community, volunteering for bikur cholim and other organizations, while devoutly raising her large family.

She is survived by her children Eliezer Uri Bryski – Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Bryski – Brooklyn, NY; Yitzchok Bryski – Brooklyn, NY; Rabbi Aaron Yaakov – Brooklyn, NY; Mrs. Rochel Tzilka Kohn – Brooklyn, NY; Rebbetzin Chave Sarah Einbinder – Tarzana, California; Rabbi Menachem Mendel – Agoura Hills, California; Rabbi Moshe Dovid – Agoura Hills, California; Rebbetzin Rivkah Leah Katz – Los Angeles, California, and many children and grandchildren.

The Levaya will be held on Monday, passing 770 Eastern Parkway at 1:00 pm, and kevura at Montefiore Cemetery at 2:00 pm.