Mrs. Mina Rivkin, 92, OBM

Mrs. Mina Rivkin, matriarch of a Chabad family who survived World War II and became one of the founding members of the Kfar Chabad village in Israel, passed away on Tuesday, 7 Adar, 5783.

She was 92.

Mina was born in Babruysk, Belarus to her parents, R’ Zushe and Nechama Gisa Margolin in Sivan 1930.

In 1941, when Mina was eleven years old, the war reached Babruysk, and the Margolin family, together with Mina and her sister Toba Gittel, fled the city. Fleeing by foot, as they crossed the bridge over the river and ran from the city, they were able to see parts of the city rising in flames, she later told.

They continued to wander from village to village, as the Germans advanced, and the Russian army retreated. When they arrived in the town of Kussenpole, her father R’ Zushe was drafted into the Russian Army.

The women and children were left to escape alone, and spent weeks running from village to village, during which time her mother gave birth to her younger brother Shmaryahu. Finally, they boarded a train to Tashkent.

In Tashkent, her mother became ill and passed away, and Mina was left to care for her two young siblings. Her brother too became ill and passed away, and the two sisters were sent to an orphanage.

Years later, when Mina wanted to reunite with her long-lost family, she was finally rescued by her mother’s relative, the known “Mumeh Sarah,” Mrs. Sarah Katzenellenbogen, an activist who helped many Jews escape from Russia, who helped her escape to Samarkand, to be reunited with her relatives.

Together with other Chabad Chassidim, they left Russia towards Poland, and from there to Poking, Germany. She later immigrated to Israel and settled in Kfar Chabad.

She married R’ Yitzchak Rivkin obm, one of the founding members of Kfar Chabad. They were the fourth couple to get married in the new village. Mina worked as a cook in the kitchen at Bais Rivkah in Kfar Chabad, and afterwards, when the kitchen closed, she sold the school uniforms.

Mina was always happy, and was known to greet others with a smile. A kind person, she always had a nice thing to say about everyone she met. The matriarch of a large family who follow in her ways, she was a devoted grandmother to her grandchildren.

She is survived by her children, Shmaryahu Rivkin – Kfar Chabad, Israel, Nechama Lipskier – Crown Heights, Zalman Rivkin – Kfar Chabad, Israel, Rochel Garelik – Kfar Chabad, Israel, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The Levaya took place in Kfar Chabad, Israel.

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.