BDE: Mrs. Ruth Kirschenbaum, a”h, Holocaust Survivor

We are saddened to inform you of the passing of Mrs. Kirschenbaum, a longtime Boro Park resident, and a Holocaust survivor. She was 100 years of age.

 She was born in Barniv, Poland in the year 1921, to Eliyahu and Rivka Flaster. She lost her entire family in the Great Churban, and yet she retained her emunah with ironclad strength.

 She went through incredible suffering, at every perceivable camp, under the Nazis. At risk to her own life, she gave potato peels to hungry inmates.. “She certainly had nightmares throughout her life, but she was skilled at brushing off the darkness of the past, and looking to a brighter future. That was the story of her life,” related a family member. “She as kind and gracious to everyone.” 

 “She was a true matriarch to her family,” recalls a grandson. “When her sons were in yeshiva Torah Vodaath, she would travel all the way there to ensure that they had lunch, and were faring well. She loved her children fiercely, until her last day.”

 She was establishing her roots in Boro Park at a time when people got fired for not showing up to work on Shabbos. This happened to her husband many times… and it was she who stood by him and gave him the strength to withstand the nisayon.

 The Kirschenbaum’s lived in the vicinity of Maimonides Hospital, and long before there were large bikur cholim organizations, Mrs. Kischenbaum, was a one-person chessed operation, making her way throughout the halls to get patients what they needed, and to inquire about their welfare. She kept up this mitzvah for decades.

 The family davened at the Bluezever Shtiebel, and were extremely close with the Bluezer Rebbe, zt”l. They would also frequent Cong. Torah Utefiila on Fort Hamilton Parkway.

 She was the backbone of her family. She loved her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren dearly, and would wait for their phone calls all the time, so she could be filled in on everything in their lives. Her neighbors loved her, and to the end of her life, they would dote on her… frequenting her home, because she was a fun and loving person to be around.

 The levaya will take place at 1:00 p.m at Shomrei Hadas, with kevurah taking place in the Anshei Barniv section of New Montefiore Cemetery, alongside her husband.

Yehi Zichra Baruch. 

Watch Live the Levaya of Mrs. Ruth Kirschenbaum, a”h.

 https://www.shomreihadas.com/http-webcast-funeralvue-com-events-viewer-60203-hash996e2fa7640db34f/