R’ Berel Dubravsky, 96, AH

R’ Berel Dubravsky, a longtime resident of Crown Heights, who baked matzos for the Rebbe and served on the chevra kadisha, passed away on Chol Hamoed Sukkos.

Born in the Soviet Union in 1930 to R’ Nosson and Esther Bella Dubravsky, he was named for the Rebbe Rashab, who had passed away approximately ten years earlier. His father passed away when he was young, and he was raised by his grandfather, R’ Moshe Chaim Dubravsky.

The family lived in Alma-Ata near the Rebbe’s father, Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson. As a young bochur, R’ Berel saw Reb Levi Yitzchak on a number of occasions and was once sent by his grandfather to bring him a shaila concerning a chicken.

Following World War II, R’ Berel escaped the Soviet Union with his family during the great Lubavitch escape and eventually arrived in France. He entered Tomchei Tmimim in Brunoy, where his room in the yeshiva dormitory was adjacent to the room of the famed mashpia R’ Nissan Nemenov and his family. He later recalled hearing R’ Nissan saying Tehillim with great emotion during the late hours of the night.

While in France, he married his wife, Leah, the daughter of R’ Mordechai Tzvi Charitonov, who had served as rosh yeshiva of Tomchei Tmimim in Yekaterinoslav.

On 2 Adar 5716, R’ Berel left France for Crown Heights, settling near the Rebbe.

During the Rebbe’s farbrengen of Yud Tes Kislev 5718, when the Rebbe conducted an appeal toward the construction of a new neighborhood in Kfar Chabad, R’ Berel was among those who submitted a pledge. The Rebbe turned to him and instructed him to multiply the amount he had pledged tenfold.

For his parnasa, R’ Berel became a partner with R’ Yitzchok Tenenbaum in the Lubavitch Matzah Bakery in Crown Heights. The bakery held a unique place in the Rebbe’s Pesach preparations, with the Rebbe’s own matzos baked there, as well as the matzos the Rebbe distributed to chassidim in the days before Pesach.

For many years, R’ Berel also hosted an annual farbrengen in his home together with his wife’s uncle, the legendary chossid R’ Mendel Futerfas.

He was also a longtime member of the Crown Heights chevra kadisha.

He is survived by his children: R’ Moshe Chaim Dubravsky – Crown Heights; Rabbi Mordechai Tzvi Dubravsky – Eretz Yisroel; Mrs. Bella Rubashkin – Crown Heights; and Mrs. Chavi Rappoport – Thornhill, Ontario.

The levaya will pass 770 tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1:30 pm, on the way to kevurah near the Ohel.

Boruch dayan hoemes