Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, 86, OBM

By COLlive reporter

Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, long time director of Chabad activities in Bnei Brak and patriarch of one of the largest Chabad families in the world, passed away Tuesday, 10 Tammuz 5773.

He was 86.

Born in Kishinev in Moldova, he secretly learned Torah with his father until the age of 14 when he was sent to the Tomchei Tmimim Yeshiva in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

In Yeshiva, while studying with passion, he first heard about the Frierdiker Rebbe and his heroic self-sacrifice to sustain Judaism in Russia under Communist rule.

“I was captured by it and turned into a Chabad chossid with all my heart,” he said. The same spirit helped him head the Lubavitch Youth Organization (Tzach) in Bnei Brak while being subject to criticism and harassment from Chabad opposers.

At the end of the Second World War, he and a few friend were caught smuggling into Poland and were sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was constantly sent to solitary confinement for not working on Shabbos.

After 2 years of suffering and eating the very little available kosher food (bread, sugar and herring), he became ill and was hospitalized. Local Jews bribed the commanding officer to leave him be on Shabbos.

He spent 6 and a half years in prison and was freed thanks to general amnesty following the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. He went on to marry the daughter of Rabbi Aaron Chazan OBM, a legendary chassid and activist in Russia.

Miraculously he was able to emigrate to Israel and settled in the frum city of Bnei Brak where he and his wife raised 17 children in a simple apartment, while running the large Chabad center on Rashi Street and its many activities.

His family, one of the largest in Chabad today, is often the subject of media coverage for its size and scope as many of his children serve as Shluchim and community leaders across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Israel.

Soft-spoken, yet sharp-minded with an affable demeanor, he was dedicated to the Rebbe’s directives and religiously came to 770 Eastern Parkway, even in his later years.

He is survived by his wife Mrs. Devora Greenberg, their children Rabbi Naftali Greenberg – Lod, Israel; Mrs. Rochel Levertov – Austin, TX; Rabbi Yisroel Greenberg – El Paso, TX; Mrs. Esther Sheikevitz – Kfar Chabad, Israel; Rabbi Yosef Greenberg – Anchorage, AK; Rabbi Zusha Greenberg – Cleveland, OH; Rabbi Chaim Greenberg – Beitar Illit, Israel; Mrs. Bassie Shemtov – Crown Heights; Rabbi Sholom Greenberg – Shanghai, China; Mrs. Chaya Wolf – Odessa, Ukraine; Mrs. Rivka Azimov – Paris, France; Rabbi Schneur Greenberg – Commerce, MI; Rabbi Shmuel Greenberg – Clark County, WA; Mrs. Shterni Wolff – Hannover, Germany; Rabbi Baruch Greenberg – Vista, CA; Rabbi Avraham Greenberg – Shanghai, China; Mrs. Chava Kastel – Bnei Brak, Israel; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Baruch dayan haemes.