By COLlive reporter
A slew of vehicles and people were seen at all hours of the day arriving this week at the townhouse at 1608 Carroll Street, corner Schenectady Avenue, in Crown Heights.
The purpose of the visit of esteemed rabbis and New York City officials was to comfort the Baumgarten family and Rabbi Leibel Groner, the Rebbe‘s secretary, over the passing of their mother and his sister.
Dignitaries heard about the special character of Mrs. Nechama Baumgarten, the matriarch of a large Lubavitcher family and who influenced thousands of people over the years.
Mrs. Baumgarten was 87 when she passed away on Friday, leaving behind many who benefited from her kindness, hospitality, guidance and matchmaking.
“Mrs. Baumgartem (was) synonymous with the Chesed that Crown Heights was known for to us many of our generation of Baalei Tshuva,” a commentator named Devorah Baila wrote on COLlive.com following the passing.
Rabbi Shimon Posner, Director of Chabad of Rancho Mirage, California, credited Mrs. Baumgarten with inspiring a generation of Chabad Shluchos and women. “May your children gain solace from the thousands who have turned her hallmark Shabbos table into a global phenomenon.”
“Nechama Baumgarten opened her heart and home to everyone. And I mean everyone,” Posner wrote. “In a dining room smaller than most kitchens, occupied by a table that took up all the room, which you had to slide by to get to your seat, at that table passed hundreds over more than five decades.”
She is survived by her husband Rabbi Menachem Mendel Baumgarten, and their children Rabbi Yossel Baumgarten – Johannesburg, South Africa; Mrs. Shterna Rodal – Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Breina Popack – Tzfas, Israel; Rabbi Leibel Baumgarten – Hamptons, NY; Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten – Crown Heights; Rabbi Zalman Baumgarten – Crown Heights; Mrs. Chanale Posner – Plantation, Florida; Mrs. Tzirl Suede – Mexico; Rabbi Levi Baumgarten – Crown Heights; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Over the week, the Shiva house was filled with visitors from around the Crown Heights neighborhood and beyond coming to pay their respects to the remarkable woman who was a descendant of the founder of Chabad, the Alter Rebbe.
Among the visitors were the Bobuver Rebbe (45), Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Ungar, the Rebbe’s choizer Rabbi Yoel Kahn, Chairman of Agudas Chabad International Rabbi Avraham Shemtov, Cholon’s Chief Rabbi Yochanan Gurary and other rabbis and scholars.
Other public figures included Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, NYPD Brooklyn South Chief Steven Powers, New York philanthropist George and Pamela Rohr and others.
In paying tribute, Minnesota’s Head Shliach Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Feller described her as “one of the noblest matriarchs in the world of Chabad.” They said “the Baumgarten home was our home away from home for decades – a tremendous asset to our Shlichus.”
“Just this past Shabbos, before learning of her passing, we spoke of her legendary hospitality in a joint talk we gave to some 40 women who were participating in the summer session of our Bais Chana being held at Lubavitch House in West S. Paul,” the Fellers wrote.
mrs. baumgarten obm was an amazing person. she will be missed by alL.