HaRav Avraham Leiberman ZT"L
On Wednesday night/Thursday morning, HaShem had decided that he wanted to take back the neshama of HaRav Avraham ben Meir Leiberman ZT"L. The funeral was in Stamford CT on Thursday, and then his body was flown to BG Airport in Tel Aviv, so he can be buried in Yerushalyim, on Har HaMenuchot. I went with Pesh today, to say goodbye to a neighbor and close friend.
We met somewhere near the top, and then we drove down to near where his burial plot is, and they were carrying it down, and when Kfare and I saw them coming, Kfare ran to help carry, Schaffer went, and I went. We carried Rav Leiberman down the stairs, to his plot.
You see, here in EY, people aren't buried in a casket like everywhere else, they are wrapped in a few shrouds, sheets, and on the outside a tallis, and that's it. so when one carries a meis (a dead body), you can theoretically, touch the body (if it weren't for the sheets of course). I actually did--we had to go around some of the other kvaros, so when we turned, i turned my hand up on the the the wood (bodies are carried on these 2 wooden staffs which we held, connected by these metal strips which the meis is lying on) Rav Leiberman was leaning on me a bit, so if it weren't for the sheets, I would have been touching him. And while we were walking, I lookeda t his feet, and it hit me then that he was mamash right next to me. It was very weird. I can deal with dead chickens; dead people on the other hand, and especially when he was a close family friend, made it a little weird. It wasn't hard per se, just weird. Especially since it was the first burial I have ever gone to.
I didn't know Rav Leiberman that well, but I knew him, and knew that everything everyone said about him was true. His grandson, Meir, spoke, and he said, he loved how his zeidie would make each grandchild feel like they were the special one. He said, "and you would ask, 'who loves Saba?" And even Ayala, would couldn't speak English, knew how to say, 'I love Saba." And I could see him doing that in my mind, I saw it, and I'm like, yeah, that's him alright.
I wasn't able to go visit him in the hospital on Sunday with Abba and Peggy. I haven't seen him since he got sick--maybe once. I couldn't go to the levaya. But I was here. I'm glad I went. I felt I represented my part of the family. And after, I spoke to his sons, and I said I was a Schwarzmer, Abba's son (actually Pesh said it, so I didn't really say Abba's name). And they looked quite happy to see me there (how can one be happy then? Who knows, but they looked it somewhat).
Whatever I say won't do justice to how great he was. He had thousands and thousands of students, he brought many, many people back "on the derech," he was a great man. I am going to miss him.
HaRav Avraham ben Meir Leiberman ZT"L
We met somewhere near the top, and then we drove down to near where his burial plot is, and they were carrying it down, and when Kfare and I saw them coming, Kfare ran to help carry, Schaffer went, and I went. We carried Rav Leiberman down the stairs, to his plot.
You see, here in EY, people aren't buried in a casket like everywhere else, they are wrapped in a few shrouds, sheets, and on the outside a tallis, and that's it. so when one carries a meis (a dead body), you can theoretically, touch the body (if it weren't for the sheets of course). I actually did--we had to go around some of the other kvaros, so when we turned, i turned my hand up on the the the wood (bodies are carried on these 2 wooden staffs which we held, connected by these metal strips which the meis is lying on) Rav Leiberman was leaning on me a bit, so if it weren't for the sheets, I would have been touching him. And while we were walking, I lookeda t his feet, and it hit me then that he was mamash right next to me. It was very weird. I can deal with dead chickens; dead people on the other hand, and especially when he was a close family friend, made it a little weird. It wasn't hard per se, just weird. Especially since it was the first burial I have ever gone to.
I didn't know Rav Leiberman that well, but I knew him, and knew that everything everyone said about him was true. His grandson, Meir, spoke, and he said, he loved how his zeidie would make each grandchild feel like they were the special one. He said, "and you would ask, 'who loves Saba?" And even Ayala, would couldn't speak English, knew how to say, 'I love Saba." And I could see him doing that in my mind, I saw it, and I'm like, yeah, that's him alright.
I wasn't able to go visit him in the hospital on Sunday with Abba and Peggy. I haven't seen him since he got sick--maybe once. I couldn't go to the levaya. But I was here. I'm glad I went. I felt I represented my part of the family. And after, I spoke to his sons, and I said I was a Schwarzmer, Abba's son (actually Pesh said it, so I didn't really say Abba's name). And they looked quite happy to see me there (how can one be happy then? Who knows, but they looked it somewhat).
Whatever I say won't do justice to how great he was. He had thousands and thousands of students, he brought many, many people back "on the derech," he was a great man. I am going to miss him.
HaRav Avraham ben Meir Leiberman ZT"L
posted by Karban Nesanel at 14:39
3 Comments:
Wow, Tonny. I don't think that any comment can do justice to Rav Lieberman's amazing and inspirational life.
Baruch Dayan HaEmes.
Tonny, I'm very glad you were able to go and participate in this important mitzvah, especially for Rav Lieberman. To answer your question, when Ari and Shlomo saw that you were a Schwarzmer, the happiness you saw was their expression of being comforted by your presence. When I saw them back in Stamford during the shiva they told me how good it felt that you were there. They had a at least two Schwarzmers at each end of the levaya - 2 in Stamford and 2 in Yerushalayim (Pesh will always be one, you know) - because that's how much a part of our lives the Liebermans have been. Savta also wrote a beautiful letter to Yospa and everybody. It was, as Goldie told me, "so your mother!"
Oif simchas - shenitra'eh RAK l'smachot.
Abba
Dear Tonny,
You really participated in a great big mitzvah in carrying Rav Leiberman to his final resting place.
You know that I do Taharas and I do touch the Meit when I do this Avoda Kedosha, and at my first Tahara it felt a little strange to be around a Meit. I always think about the Meit as a person who is going up to Hashem and being judged by Hashem.
I feel a zechus when I get called to do a tahara. I am glad that you had the mitzvah attending his funeral.I am very proud of you
Post a Comment
<< Home