Emil Sassover, 98, OBM

Emil (Emmanuel) Sassover, a father and grandfather from Los Angeles who survived the Holocaust and built a proud Jewish family, passed away on Thursday 23 Adar 1, 5782.

He was 98.

Saba, as he was loving referred to, was a decorated officer of the Russian army, who later used his expertise and grit to assist in establishing the fledgling Israeli Defence Forces. He and his wife, aka Savta, met and married after the Holocaust, in which they had both lost many family members. They lived in Israel for many years before moving to Milwaukee, where they contributed greatly to growing the Jewish community.

They subsequently relocated to Los Angeles, where they remained actively involved in community work. Already in his eighties, Saba, would collect elderly men for the morning minyan and would be the one to open the Shul each morning. Saba’s abiding patience and genuine concern for all people earned him the respect and love of all he met.

When he became too frail to attend Shul daily, he surrounded himself with seforim and would read Tehillim for hours each day.

As a teen in Stalingrad, he never believed that he would survive to marry and start a family, yet he was recently blessed with the birth of a great-great-granddaughter. Each time a baby would be born into the family, he would smile warmly and say that “the army is growing stronger.” It was his revenge against the Nazis.

He is survived by his dear wife Lola, daughter Ayala Hoch and son Moshe Sassover, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a great-great-granddaughter.

Boruch Dayan Ha’Emes- Emmanuel ben Yonah Halevi