YWN regrets to share the petirah of Reb Berysz Aurbach z”l, a 105-year-old Holocaust survivor. He has been making international headlines for years by davening for the amud on the yahrtzeit of his mother, who was niftar when he was an infant; and for making a siyum bechoros every Erev Pesach, including just a few weeks ago.
Reb Berysz z”l, born Gimmel Elul 5680 (1920), hailed from a Chassidishe family in Biala Podlaska, Poland, a town with deep roots in Gerrer Chassidus. He was raised in a home filled with warmth, Torah, and mesorah, together with his siblings – three older brothers, a sister, and a half-brother.
In an incredible neis, he was one of the last Yidden to be smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto before Pesach 5703 (1943), mere days before the uprising and the brutal destruction that followed. Tragically, aside from one sister who had made her way to Eretz Yisroel before the war, his entire family was murdered al kiddush Hashem.
With nothing left in Poland, Reb Berysz reached out to an uncle in Australia, who sponsored his visa and enabled him to rebuild on new shores.
In Australia, Reb Berysz became a beloved member of the Caulfield Bais Medrash in Melbourne. Most famously, he would daven for the amud each year on the yahrtzeit of his mother, who was niftar when he was a baby – more than 105 years ago.
Remarkably, Reb Berysz was cogent and clear-minded until his final days, regaling his friends and community with fascinating stories of pre-war life and of his century-plus of life experience. On Tuesday, Reb Berysz suffered a heart attack, and was niftar a short time later in a local hospital.
Levaya details will be published when they become available.
Baruch Dayan Ha’Emes.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
