Rabbi Yaacov Schwei, 86, OBM

By COLlive reporter

Rabbi Aharon Yaacov Schwei, a senior rabbinical and educational figure in the Jewish community of Crown Heights, passed away on Friday, 30 Nissan 5780.

He was 86.

He was born to his parents Mrs. Bunia and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu Schwei who was sent by the Rebbe Rayatz OBM to serve Jewish communities in Southwest Finland and later Estonia.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the parents and their children Aizik, Yaacov and Boruch Sholom fled to a small village near Bukhara, an ancient city in Uzbekistan.

The hardships of the war led the father to pass away, leaving a widow and orphans. Yaacov was sent to learn in Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Samarkand, where despite living in poverty he excelled in his learning.

When he was sent off by his mother to Yeshiva, she promised him she would visit. A year later when she arrived by train unannounced, she found him waiting at the station. “How did you know I’m coming?” she asked. “You promised to come, so every day when the train arrived I stood here and waited…”

Being that Samarkand had a sizable concentration of Chassidim during the war, the young Yaacov was deeply influenced by their piety and behaviors shaping his own character as a Chassidishe Rov years later.

He left the Soviet Union as part of the “great escape” of 350 Chabad families using forged Police documents in 1946 and 1947. He continued his studies in the Yeshiva that opened in Pocking, a German town housing the second-largest DP camp (“displaced persons”).

He later learned in the Chabad Yeshivos of Paris and Brunoy in France, and Montreal during which he received rare instructions from the Rebbe. One was to daven b’avoda and b’arichus (with concentration and length). When he once commented that it was difficult for him to do so every Shabbos, the Rebbe suggested he take a break between Shachris and Musaf, and continue with it.

A great Talmid Chacham, Rabbi Schwei served as a “ram” in the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva – Tomchei Tmimim in Crown Heights. He edited the seforim of his known brother Rabbi Aizik Schwei OBM of Montreal, as well as the seforim of Rabbi Yitzchok Raitport of Boro Park.

For many years, he served as the rabbi of Camp Gan Israel in Parksville, New York, the oldest Chabad overnight camp for boys that was visited by the Rebbe on 3 occasions. Rabbi Schwei even drew one of their early logos.

After the passing of Rabbi Yehuda Kalmen Marlow, Rabbi Schwei was elected by the community in Crown Heights as a second member of the Crown Heights Beis Din (Badatz CHK) in 5763 (2003) to serve alongside Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba. In a later election, Rabbi Yosef Braun joined as the third member of the Beis Din.

In his new role, Rabbi Schwei was a regular speaker at community events and celebrations, took an active role in settling marital disputes and issued halachic rulings such as not drinking faucet water in New York or eating strawberries because of the bugs they may be found in them.

“Rabbi Schwei passed away accompanied by so much tehillim and good deeds,” the family wrote to COLlive.com. “May we be reunited with Moshiach now.”

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Rochel Schwei and children Mrs. Rivkah Max – Tzfat, Israel; Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schwei – Luton, UK; Mrs. Chana Eta Turk – Cordova, Argentina; R’ Mordechai Eliyahu Schwei – Crown Heights; Mrs. Nechama Dina Rappaport – Crown Heights; Mrs. Shterna Sara Ginsburg – Boro Park; Mrs. Devorah Schwei (Baumgarten) – Crown Heights; R’ Boruch Sholom Schwei – Crown Heights; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The family is requesting that anyone with memories or stories about Rabbi Schwei should send them to this email: [email protected] .

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes: Aharon Yaacov ben Mordechai Eliyahu.