Rabbi Lipa Klein, one of the elder Chabad chassidim from Nachlas Har Chabad, who helped preserve the chassidisher flame in Tashkent and later helped found Yeshivas HaBucharim Or Simcha, where he served as secretary for over fifty years with unwavering dedication, passed away on the first day of Sukkos.

R’ Lipa Klein was born in 5695 (1935) in Pushkina, near Leningrad, to his parents Rabbi Shmuel Menachem and Miriam Klein, among the prominent Chabad chassidim in Poltava, Pushkina, and later in Tashkent.

During World War II, he and his family survived the Nazi siege of Leningrad, fleeing to a distant region. Two years later, they reached Tashkent, where his parents heroically hosted many Jewish refugees with true mesiras nefesh.

He studied in Tomchei Tmimim under the well-known chossid, Rabbi Yisroel Neveler (Levin), and later learned under Rabbi Zalman Buber (Pevzner), the rov of the Chabad community in Tashkent, from whom he was deeply influenced.

He married Mrs. Rochel Klein (née Sirota) tblcht”a , daughter of R’ Mordechai and Rivka Sirota, together raising a chassidishe family with mesiras nefesh under the Communist regime.

In Tashkent, he was known as a dedicated transcriber of Chassidus. Whenever a single copy of a sicha or maamar Chassidus arrived, R’ Lipa would spend long nights painstakingly copying it by hand in multiple copies so that others could learn from it. When the first four volumes of Likkutei Sichos reached Tashkent, he borrowed them and hand-copied them in their entirety so he could study them and share them with others.

The Rebbe personally gave instructions to Chabad activists on how to arrange the Klein family’s exit from the Soviet Union. In the summer of 5731 (1971), R’ Lipa and his family made aliyah to Eretz Yisroel. A few months later, he traveled to the Rebbe, where he merited special kiruvim and was included in the delegation the Rebbe sent to the renowned posek, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.

After settling in Eretz Yisroel, he was appointed secretary and member of the administration of Yeshivas HaBucharim–Or Simcha in Kfar Chabad, a position he held for more than fifty years with total devotion. Over the years, he merited to receive direct instructions and messages from the Rebbe regarding the yeshiva’s activities.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Rochel Klein, and their children, Rabbi Shmuel Menachem Klein of Eilat, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Klein, Mrs. Doba Hershkop, and Mrs. Chana Berger, both of Nachlas Har Chabad.

The levaya, attended by hundreds of friends and family members, took place on Motzaei Yom Tov from his home in Nachlas Har Chabad and continued to Har HaZeisim, where he was laid to rest.

The family will begin shivah following Simchas Torah.

Baruch Dayan HaEmes.