106-year-old survivor of czarist pogroms, Nazis dies in New York
Born in Czarist Russia, "Bubbe" Maryasha Garelik emigrated to the U.S. in wake of WWII.
By AP"Bubbe" Maryasha Garelik, who lived through the entire 20th century, surviving the pogroms of czarist Russia, Soviet anti-Semitism and Nazi terror and then dispensing her wisdom to thousands of Lubavitch Jews, has died. She was 106.
She died Wednesday night in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood and was buried Thursday at the Old Montefiore Cemetery near the grave of the ultra Orthodox sect's revered "rebbe," Rabbi Menachem Schneerson.
"She was small in size - less than 5 feet tall - but a giant in stature," Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky said.
For decades, the bubbe (grandmother in Yiddish) dispensed wisdom to thousands in her Brooklyn neighborhood who came seeking her guidance. Her advice came from decades of trial by fire.
According to a Lubavitch biography of Bubbe Maryasha, her father was killed in a pogrom, or organized massacre, in Czarist Russia when she was 5, and her grandparents, with whom she and her mother lived, were subsequently executed.
Years later, under Soviet rule, Garelik, her husband and their small children were evicted from their apartment into the deep snow because he refused to do factory work on the Jewish Sabbath. As a Jewish undergroundoperative, he was arrested in the 1930s during Stalin's rule, then shot. (His wife did not know exactly what happened to him until 1998, when his fate was revealed in an unsealed Soviet secret police file).
"She was a lone person who stood up to a regime that shot her husband in cold blood in a field," Kotlarsky said. "She was left with six children, ages 1 to 14, and she persevered and raised them by herself, with ethical and moral integrity."
When authorities warned her against lighting the Sabbath candles, Garelik fled with her children. The family moved six times in three years due to harassment from Soviet authorities; one home was a stable.
But she was resourceful, growing potatoes in back of a synagogue to feed her family - with enough left over to pay for the dilapidated synagogue to be fixed.
When an acquaintance tried to persuade her to send her children to the Communist public school, she said emphatically: "Stalin will be torn down before my children are indoctrinated that way," as quoted by her granddaughter Henya Laine, who is now herself a grandmother in Brooklyn.
By 1941, when the Germans advanced onto Soviet soil, Garelik and her brood escaped to Uzbekistan, where she made and sold socks to survive. In 1946, they ended up in a detention camp in Germany.
After the war, she moved to Paris, where she established a Lubavitch Jewish girls' school that still exists. She immigrated to the United States in 1953, helping to start a Brooklyn organization whose members visited the sick, and a boys' school for which she collected money into old age.
God gave her "two healthy feet," she would say. "I can walk, I can take care of myself and help others."
The Lubavitch Hasidic movement follows the teachings of Eastern European rabbis, emphasizing the study of Hebrew scriptures while spreading its faithful worldwide. Some of Garelik's more than 500 descendants are Lubavitch emissaries in Australia, China, England, France, Panama, Poland and South Africa.
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Her husband was an operative in the Jewish underground in Russia. What is that? Reason sufficient to be killed in cold blood in a snowy field, yes? Or beside a wall in Palestine? And she was his wife, mother of his nine children An icon. right
Sg, it says the lady has 500 descendents. How can she represent those who have lost everything? I am 57 with no descendents. By the way, all of Europe is failing to maintain birth rates sufficient to maintain their numbers. And millions of Russians of all faiths were killed in the war. Why not be even handed and mention them too? Respect others, yes please do.
Now you need to do a piece on a few old people who survived Soviet anti-Christianism. There must be at least one or two gulag survivors among those 60 million plus.
G-d bless you!
George, have you conveniently forgotten about the bombing of the Jewish Center in Buenos Aires? The one that the Argentian authorities have been very loath to investigate? The one that was most likely carried out by locals with the assistance and guidance from Iran? Jews have been prosecuted in your country, and this si the fact.
Settling in israel is NOT required in the Jewish religion.It is considered a good thing to do but not essential.Stop with the Israel hatred at every opportunity.here you take a simple human intrest story and turn into anti jewish propaganda, you israel haters like you are like jackels running to the first jewish corpse you can find to gorge yourselves.How revolting you and your ilk are.
This little woman is an avatar for all of us, for our culture, for the millions yet alive who have no living families, for the millions who keep trying to create and be good people, make things and build instead of destroying, regardless of the destruction of our families, lives and homes. Does it matter if she lives in America? Our family, the big family of Israel and the Jewish people, is still two million short of our 1930's numbers - just the latest disaster unless of course you count all the wars and intifadas in Israel. But yet, we want to keep living, keep building and keep loving. Allow us to celebrate this one precious life. A lot of her contemporaries never made it out of Russia. I know. Where my family should be there is nothing, except for those few who made it here, bless their hearts. Because we celebrate HER life doesn't mean we can't respect others, quite the opposite in fact. Can we all reach out to each other now? Someday?
Therefore she didn't fulfill the obligations of her faith, which was to make Aliah to Israel. She is lucky to have survived and as a consequence lead a good life. Simon Wiesenthal said he couldn't understand why he survived the Shoah, he put it down to luck. There are many muslims and Christians who do the same. Christian Barnard conducted the first Heart transplant he was a Christian by the way. Penecillin was invented by a Scotsman, we all have our heroes.
Such hardened hearts. Blinded by hatred, you refuse to even acknowledge what this woman went through, and was able to do. This is a sign of inner illness. The only state you could ever have, is the one you have already created within yourselves- a state of insanity.
...great comment about Sammy Davis Jr Omran! plus George is absolutly right: in the "third world" like in southamerica ( i happened to have lived in chile ) jews and muslims are much more civilized than in much of the "first world" ...they live in peace and often run business together. As for the jews in history...uff...sometimes you jews come up with such a racist comments that i can help but thinking that the only difference between extremist israelists and the nazis from germany is the color of their skin...
it doesn't matter if she settled in north america or anywhere else. (the meaning is spiritual or encompassing conviction) When one reads the trials and tribulations of the character, one takes a leap of faith with them, no one is saying Omran (13) that others have not or do not suffer. The story is an analogy of the bittersweet that leads to inspiration.
Sounds just like my family history. If the Lubavich are looking for a replacement I can offer my services . I am not quite 106 but Iam sure i would feel it If I recounted the horrors that I know happened to my Gparents g-d rest their souls.
Your comment about the third world is unwarranted. I am born in Argentina and there the 300000 Arabs and 300000 jews are friends, live close and let live. There is nothing like the Holocaust that happened in Europe. There are anti this and anti that everywhere. I should know. I am jew and had the honor to have an arab, christian, as partner in our business for many years. It's time to expand the tunnel vision.
What difference if the scientist is Jewish, Christian, Atheist, Moslem or Hindu? I'll buy your assertation if polio was cured by an Israeli, but Jews are everywhere and some are good scientists. Religion means nothing, it's good hard work. Stop claiming accolades you don't deserve. Sammy Davis Jr is a Jew too - he invented humor.
She's American. Not Israeli. If she was such a saint to you she shold have returned to Israel and her ancestry instead of hiding in the safety of America. Then you can cite her as an inspiration if you need to. A lot of old people have survived wars, some of them are even gentiles and Arabs. She had a hard life for a while and then a soft life for a while. She was a lucky one.
An inspiration to us all, this remarkable woman. Not only because she was a Jew, also because she was a woman, also because she was a religious person. A mensch as good as it gets. Today people complain too much about religion being the source of evil in the world. By living the courageous life she lived and by her words and actions, Bubbe Maryasha Garelik proved them all wrong: religion is a source of beautiful and human dignity. One woman can destroy bitterness and cynicism around the entire world, she can bring shivers of hope to us all. One one woman is needed to make us forget about our differences and to inspire us to fight more for justice, human dignity and to care for our loved ones and neighbours. Kol hakavod! Kol! (Nik Miller, thanks for the link)
Truly impressive life and great courageous woman.
jose marcio If you apply yourself and read, you will find that Jews helped other people in the american revolution, the varied Polish revolts, and other revolutions. You are safe from polio and other diseases because of Jewish scientists. In the third world, bigotry reigns unchallenged. BE a mensch, learn and challenge it!
excellent story!
refreshing read especially after reading repetitive inept actions from today's soft elected leaders.
I can imagine such a political violence against Mrs.Garelik and to the Jewish communities.It is humanely understandable why it`s characteristic of Jews to protect only themselves.
This remarkable lady's full obituary and life story can be found here: http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=466263 It is worth the time it will take to read it.
People like Yaakov Sulivan, Stephen Murray and all the rest of the Israel-haters who spend lots of words on other articles, but rarely on one like this, need to read this to understand Israel and the Jewish people. This woman was in czarist Russia only because centuries before, her family was kicked out of Israel by either Persians or Romans and no matter what it took, surviving the Nazis and their Arab and Palestinian allies, she lived long and kept the flame alive. The Jews have been oppressed and forced to double standards for too long. This woman came home to stay and she's the standard for the rest of us. Someone tell Solana and all the insistent interfering do-gooders to understand that. Someone tell Hamas and Hizballah and the little hater in Tehran, that's how it is. Compromise with the people of Israel and peace will come. Refuse and reject and who do you think will outlast whom?
An inspiration to us all, that someone can go through so much and still be so positive and beneficial to the society around them. I am sure she will be greatly missed, she is a true light gone from the world. Although before today I had never heard of her after reading her story I can feel her loss. There are not enough like her in the world. My heartfelt condolences to all of her friends, relatives and family and I wish you all long lives.
god bless her and her entire family my grandmother is 85 and also fled Soviet rule to reach israel to all who have gone through this and are still going through stay strong and may all good fortune come to you
Breathtaking story of a woman, who has been through so much hardship, yet perceveared. Makes my own "troubles" real petty and pale in comparison. She is encouraging! She is BEAUTIFUL Thank you. - Alicia.