BDE: Reb Luzer Kolman, z”l, 100, Dedicated his life to Tefillah

BY: Boropark24 Staff

We are saddned to inform you of the passing of Reb Eluzer Kolman, at the age of 100. He was a chazzan for most of his long life, and leaves this world with a legacy of having inspired thousands of hearts, as he leaves behind beautiful generations.

Hailing from Grosswardein, he vividly remembered the Ahavas Yisroel and the Imrei Chaim of Viznitz, with whose descendants he remained close, he remembered, “It was a sweet, idyllic childhood.” “The Imrei Chaim came to my shevah brachos, and I kept a very strong connection to Viznitz, and continue to go to Reb Mottele (the Viznizter Rebbe) shlit”a, in Monsey—I remember him as a child, when we went together to Yesodei Hatorah in Grosswardein.

Before Pesach of 1943, Reb Elazar was taken to the Munkatabor, the Hungarian labor service. Fortunately, the Hungarian government court martialed him for we were liberated after six months—because this spared him the fate of the most of his other family members.

We were nine brothers and sisters. Only four of us survived. My parents and the rest of my siblings were murdered al kiddush Hashem in Auschwitz. Hy”d.

“I came back to Grosswardein. The Viznitzer Rebbe was there, and the Agudah was active there. In 1947 I went to Budapest, and I joined the Agudah there. Reb Ziedel Simititzky came with fifty visas to take boys to his father in law—Rav Moshe Schenieder’s—yeshivah in London (they got out just before the Iron Curtain shut on Hungary). Reb Elazar spearheaded that effort.

Reb Elazar himself left on the last transport to London, and spent some time in the Schneider’s yeshivah. He arrived on a student visa to learn in Torah Vodaath, and got married a short time later. He moved to the Bronx in 1949 where he became a chazzan. He became close to the Bik family and would daven at Rav Bik’s shul often, and when they moved to Boro Park, the Kolman’s moved along with them.

For decades, he had a special minhag of davening simchas Torah at Rav Bick’s Shul—in the most unique, melodious manner (This mesmerizing liturgical program begins with a Yamim Nora’im themed Barchu, and from there it is an around year journey into the davening of the Yamim Tovim from throughout the year.). He would explain that it is rooted in a minhag of the tzaddikim from many courts—and he was still doing this unique delivery back in Rav Bick’s shul in the Bronx, on Plimpton Street.

To anyone who privileged to meet him, his smile and his eidelkeit remained with you. With his passing, we lose yet another precious link to that bygone world of Torah and chassidus.

The levaya will take place at Shomrei Hachomos Chapel on 39th street at 10:00 am.

Yehi Zichro Baruch.