Mrs. Rivka Rubashkin, OBM
Mrs. Rivka Rubashkin, matriarch of the Rubashkin family and a longtime resident of Boro Park whose home became a center of chessed, hospitality, and support for countless individuals for decades, passed away on Sunday, 30 Sivan, 5786.
by COLlive Editor · COLliveBy COLlive reporter
Mrs. Rivka Rubashkin, matriarch of the Rubashkin family and a longtime resident of Boro Park whose home became a center of chessed, hospitality, and support for countless individuals for decades, passed away on Sunday, 30 Sivan, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 5786.
She was in her late 90s.
She was the wife of Reb Avraham Aharon Rubashkin OBM, the legendary kosher meat pioneer, philanthropist, and patriarch of a large Lubavitch family who passed away in 2020. Together, they built a home rooted in Torah, Chassidus, and world-renowned generosity to all who walked through its doors.
Born Rivka Chazanov of the Chein family of Nevel, she married R’ Avraham Aaron Rubashkin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand after fleeing German-occupied Nevel in July 1941.
After the Second World War, the Rubashkin family left the Soviet Union via Lemberg and spent time in Austria, before they settled in Paris in 1947.
In 1953, they moved to New York City, where her husband and his partner R’ Alter Lieberman opened Lieberman & Rubashkin Glatt Kosher Butchers on 14th Avenue in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn. It was later named Rubashkin’s.
After moving to New York, the Rubashkins made their home in Boro Park. While her husband built businesses that would eventually transform the kosher food industry in America, Mrs. Rubashkin provided a warm Jewish home whose doors were open to all.
For decades, she was known to neighbors, guests, yeshiva bochurim, and struggling families as a woman who never turned anyone away. Visitors to her home were welcomed with warmth and sincerity, and countless individuals benefited from her quiet acts of kindness, many of which were never publicized.
Rivka Rubashkin was also widely known through Crown’s Deli on 13th Avenue, which she ran since the early 1960s. While the restaurant operated as a family business, many recalled that it functioned more as a place of chessed than as a commercial establishment. Anyone who was hungry could find a meal there, whether they had money to pay or not. The restaurant, which closed in the late 2000s, never made a profit.
Her kindness extended far beyond those she knew personally. Throughout the decades, she and her husband were supporters and philanthropists of many Jewish and communal causes. They also quietly assisted families in need, newly arrived immigrants, yeshiva students, widows, and others facing difficult circumstances. Many recipients never knew the source of the help they received. Her home was open to people of all ages and all walks of life, who knew they could visit for a meal, a place to stay, or the warmth of home.
Mrs. Rubashkin is survived by her children, Mrs. Gitel Goldman – Miami Beach, FL; Mrs. Sara Balkany – Boro Park; Mrs. Rochel Leah Rosenfeld – Tzfas, Israel; R’ Yossi Rubashkin – Crown Heights; R’ Moshe Rubashkin – Crown Heights; R’ Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin – Jackson, NJ; Mrs. Chayala Gourarie – Crown Heights; R’ Heshy Rubashkin – Postville, IA; and Mrs. Chana Zelda Minkowicz – Crown Heights; grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
She is also survived by her siblings, Meir Simcha Chazanow and Rochel Leah Dagan. She was predeceased by her siblings Basya Kalmenson and Miriam Chazanow.
The levaya will take place today, Monday, passing by her home at 12:15 PM at 5500 15th Avenue in Boro Park, by 770 Eastern Parkway at 2:15 PM, and near the Ohel at 3:30 PM.
Baruch Dayan Ha’emes – Rivka bas Uziel.
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