The Duchman family marked the second yartzeit of their mother Mrs. Rochel Duchman OBM with a hot breakfast spread for Crown Heights residents on Monday.
The large crowd of Chassidim and bochurim at the Main Shul of 770 Eastern Parkway were greeted after Shacharis with stations of hot soups and breads after davening.
At the Ohel in Queens, one of the trailers was turned into a welcome dining room with food spread out throughout the day for the Shluchim who just completed their annual International Kinus Hashluchim.
Mrs. Duchman, the beloved matriarch of a large Chabad family, was born in the Russian town of Nevel in the winter of 1932. Her formative years were in the presence of the great famous Nevler Chassidim where she absorbed their love for the Rebbe, love for everything Chassidus and Chassidim.
On the morning after Yud Beis Tammuz 1941, Rochel and her family headed out on foot, walking north through the forest. Several days later, Germany occupied Nevel and murdered all remaining Yiddin Hy”d.
Miraculously, Rochel and her family made it to Samarkand and later across the border to Western Europe where she married Reb Yisroel Duchman. In 1953, they arrived in the United States of America and settled in Crown Heights, to be near the Rebbe.
The Duchman household served as a hub for Farbrengens and a place for the many guests that came from around the world to spend time by the Rebbe to eat and sleep. Like Chassidim of yesteryear, she lived the saying “The piece of bread that I have is yours just as it is mine.” And they would say the word “yours” first, “…yours just as it is mine.”
Her steadfast strength and resolve for Derech hachasidim vhachasidus is reflected in her children.
She passed away on Friday, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, 5783.
May her Neshama have an Aliya and may she be a gute beter for her family and all of Am Yisroel. Geulah NOW!
She raised a generation, and more generations of askanim doing the Rebbe’s and of course the Aibershter’s work.