Reb Shalom DovBer Dubrowski, 96, OBM
Reb Shalom DovBer Dubrowski, one of the oldest living Lubavitcher Chasidim, and a longtime resident of Crown Heights, passed away on the first day of Chol Hamoed Sukkos.
by COLlive Editor · COLliveReb Shalom DovBer Dubrowski, one of the oldest living Lubavitcher Chasidim, and a longtime resident of Crown Heights, passed away on the first day of Chol Hamoed Sukkos.
He was 96.
He was born in the Soviet Union in 1930 to Nosson and Esther Baila, and named after the Rebbe Rashab. His father passed away when he was young, and he was raised by his grandfather, the renowned Chasid Reb Moshe Chaim Dubrowski.
While in transit, they lived in Alma Ata for a while, where as a young bochur, Berl was zoche to deliver necessary medications to the Rebbe’s father. Many years later, during a Chof Av Farbrengen where the Rebbe called up those who had provided for his father, Reb Berl was thanked by the Rebbe, with a bracha for a “long and healthy life, and nachas from children.”
Following World War II, he assisted his zeide, who had a leading role during the great Lubavitch escape from the Soviet Union, and eventually arrived in France, where he studied in Tomchei Tmimim in Brunoy, under the guidance of the famed mashpia Reb Nissan Nemenov. While in France, he married his wife, Leah, the daughter of Reb Mordechai Tzvi Charitonow, who had served as rosh yeshiva of Tomchei Tmimim in Yekaterinoslav. On 2 Adar 5716, Reb Berl left France for Crown Heights, settling near the Rebbe.
Eventually, R’ Berl 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 several decades, Reb Berl hosted an annual Simchas Beis Hashoeva farbrengen in his sukkah, led by his wife’s uncle, the legendary chossid Reb Mendel Futerfas.
He was also a longtime member of the chevra kadisha of Agudas Chasidei Chabad.
He is survived by his wife, Leah and children: Rabbi Mordechai Tzvi Dubrowski – Eretz Yisroel; R’ Yosef Dubrowski, Tampa, FL; R’ Nosson Dubrowski, Tampa, FL; R’ Moshe Chaim Dubrowski – Crown Heights; Mrs. Bella Rubashkin – Crown Heights; Mrs. Sara Hecht, S. Francisco, CA; Mrs. Chavi Rappaport – Thornhill, Ontario.
The levaya will pass by 770 on Tuesday at 1:30 pm, on the way to kevurah near the Ohel.
Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.
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