AND AVROHOM WENT TO BEER SHEVA

Beer Sheva recently lost the first shliach to begin working there, Rabbi Avrohom Cohen, a ”h. From the get-go, he drew many people to Torah, Judaism, and Chassidus. He founded the first Chabad center in Beer Sheva and had permission from the Rebbe to call it “Beis Moshiach.” * Reminiscences following the sudden passing of a shliach who planted the first Chassidic “eshel” in Beer Sheva

Photos by Meir LaviAND AVROHOM DWELLED IN BEER SHEVA

Rabbi Avrohom Cohen was born in 5714 in Yerushalayim to a religious-Zionist family. He learned in the Litvishe yeshiva Kol Torah and in the Chevron yeshiva. While learning in these yeshivos, he became interested in Chabad Chassidus through shiurim in Chassidus that took place there. He eventually decided to become a Chabad Chassid. He transferred to Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Kfar Chabad where he absorbed the ways of Chassidus from the mashpia, R’ Mendel Futerfas. In the short period that he was in the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad, he became good friends with another bachur who had also recently come to Chabad, R’ Moshe Dickstein. Since then, they remained dear friends and they worked together for decades on shlichus to Beer Sheva.

About a year after starting to learn in Tomchei T’mimim, he went on K’vutza. This was before Nissan 5734/1974. In the Rebbe’s presence he became a full-fledged Chassid and mekushar to the Rebbe.

At the end of K’vutza, the Rebbe told him to look into shidduchim. He had already started spreading Judaism and the wellsprings of Chassidus in Beer Sheva. Some time later, he became engaged to Nechama, daughter of R’ Meir Stambler a”h of Kfar Chabad.

Just two weeks after the wedding, 42 years ago, he arrived in Beer Sheva and became the first shliach in the city and one of the first shluchim in the country.

Why Beer Sheva? At that time, immigrants came from Russia who were interested in Judaism. Professor Branover, who had recently come from Russia, looked for the right Chassid to go on shlichus to Beer Sheva. He found R’ Avrohom who was doing mivtzaim in the city at the time. R’ Avrohom was not thrilled with the idea. It seemed too challenging and he had a different shlichus offer. In the end, he was convinced to send the two offers to the Rebbe, one for Teveria and one for Beer Sheva. The Rebbe chose Beer Sheva.

On 5 Teves 5736, the young couple arrived in Beer Sheva and began their work, which entailed plenty of challenges and difficulties.

His close friend, R’ Yitzchok Benshimol, director of the Chabad preschools in Beer Sheva and gabbai of the Beis Moshiach shul, tells of the early days in Beer Sheva:

“We knew one another for over 35 years. Today, it is hard to believe, but back then, Beer Sheva was a small city and living conditions were dismal. The most difficult thing was obtaining mehadrin food. To get it, it was necessary to use public transportation for several hours to get to Kfar Chabad. Despite this, R’ Avrohom threw himself into the battle with all his might and did all he could in his work for the Rebbe.”

At first, R’ Avrohom learned in kollel while doing mivtzaim. He arranged shiurim and after a while, he opened a Chabad House in the old city of Beer Sheva. Then he opened a Chabad shul which served the Ashkenazim who lived in the area. He was happy with his crowded shul at first, but then people insisted on a non-Chabad nusach. R’ Avrohom asked the Rebbe and the answer was to daven in nusach Chabad.

The beginning wasn’t at all simple or easy, so that at a certain point, he was ready to leave. When he wrote about this to the Rebbe, he quickly received an answer to continue in Beer Sheva, azkir al ha’tziyun.

After that, the shlichus continued, despite all the challenges and difficulties that persisted over the years. R’ Avrohom and his wife overcame it all and made Judaism and Chassidus flourish in Beer Sheva.

INFLUENCE THROUGH TORAH STUDY

Throughout the year, R’ Avrohom reached out to the residents of the city with: children’s rallies, holiday events for new immigrants, mivtzaim at army camps, and by running a Chabad House and Chabad shul. The most beloved and important of all to him were the shiurim. These weren’t shiurim attended by crowds of people; on the contrary, R’ Avrohom championed inner work through learning step by step, whether it was Judaism or Chassidus. He had many shiurim one-on-one with mekuravim. In this way, he succeeded in bringing back many to Judaism and Chassidus, and made many baalei teshuva.

“R’ Avrohom’s shiurim were exceptionally well developed,” explains R’ Yitzchok Benshimol. “He broke things down with learned explanations and conveyed them, whether to an audience or a single student, with clarity. I remember in particular a shiur that he gave in the Rebbe’s sichos every Shabbos. I would tell him that he could be a maggid shiur in a yeshiva.”

When the mass emigration from Russia began at the beginning of the 90s, R’ Avrohom oversaw a broad range of expanded activities aimed toward the new immigrants who arrived en masse in Beer Sheva. He worked to draw them to Judaism through every means possible. His wife Nechama worked along with him. She herself had come from Russia in her youth and knew the language. Together, they brought Judaism to the new immigrants.

FROM SCHOOL TO BEIS MOSHIACH

R’ Moshe Dickstein and R’ Avrohom worked together on mivtzaim, on building Torah study networks and more. With tears in his eyes, R’ Moshe told us about his close friend:

“I was very close with R’ Avrohom. Together we learned Chassidus under R’ Mendel Futerfas’ guidance, when we were taking our first steps in yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. R’ Avrohom preceded me on K’vutza. When I arrived later, he welcomed me and helped me in every way. When I went to Beer Sheva after I married, what can I tell you … for days he stuck to me and helped me find an apartment and guided me in everything I needed to know in my new location. Since then, we were always together.

“We did a lot of work together and one of the important activities, no doubt, was starting a Chabad school. We worked together to register students and we opened clubs for students of the school and for the youth of the city. R’ Avrohom worked in every possible place with tremendous energy so as to give nachas to the Rebbe.

“It is hard to describe in detail, it’s all still fresh … I’ll just say that he had a heart of gold. He helped everyone, at all times. Even when he couldn’t help, he always helped.”

Regarding his help in starting the school and expanding it, R’ Avrohom himself in an interview he gave us in the past, said, “After a school in our neighborhood was miraculously approved, it turned out that most of the students were not religious. In order to properly influence them, Rabbi Moshe Slonim, director of the Reshet, decided to make afternoon clubs for youth in which they would get a nice dose of Judaism in a Lubavitcher atmosphere. He appointed me to start the clubs. Within a short time, we opened a club in the neighborhood. Thanks to the school and the club, the number of mekuravim to Chabad grew. The number of people who davened at the Chabad shul also grew significantly.”

The years passed and the clubs that were opened throughout Beer Sheva were known as “Beit Sefer L’Yahadus” in which 1500 children learned Torah!

In the meantime, the school moved to a different neighborhood, but R’ Avrohom’s work in his neighborhood continued and grew. The place where he worked until that point was too small for all his activities. The city, acknowledging this, allotted land for construction of a Chabad House in the neighborhood. In the “Shnas HaBinyan” of 5748, the cornerstone was laid. The plan was to build a beautiful, three-story structure.

To accomplish this, lots of money was needed. But R’ Avrohom did not despair and began construction, which took a number of years.

At the Kinus HaShluchim of 5753, R’ Avrohom, like all the shluchim and chassidim, saw the Rebbe strongly encouraging the singing of Yechi. This gave him an idea, to call the new building “Beis Moshiach.” He asked the hanhala of Tzeirei Chabad in Eretz Yisroel about this. They said this was not under their authority and he should ask the Rebbe. The suggestion was submitted to the Rebbe and in Teves 5753, the answer he got was “consent and blessing.”

Along with the great joy over this answer, R’ Cohen considered it a great responsibility. “For months, I did not dare hang the sign, ‘Beis Moshiach,’” he later recounted. “I couldn’t hang a ‘Beis Moshiach’ sign outside when the activities inside did not justify the name. It was only after we got established and seriously began our programming that I said it was time to hang the ‘Beis Moshiach’ sign.

“This sign has real power. I hear people stop near the sign, read it out loud, and then a conversation ensues. What is Moshiach, who is he, why is he said to be coming now. Sometimes they decide to walk in and ask. The name arouses the ‘spark of Moshiach’ in an unprecedented way; nobody remains apathetic about it.”

A BIG HEART AND FOCUSED ON THE GOAL

During the Shiva, numerous people came to console the family. To many people, R’ Cohen was an inseparable part of their Jewish lives. His smile, warmth, the attentiveness as well as the seriousness, these were all missing now.

His son, Meir, spoke emotionally about his father’s Ahavas Yisroel:

“My father was a role model of Ahavas Yisroel. It’s what he was about. He taught me to love every Jew, he smiled at everyone, said ‘good morning’ to everyone, and wished ‘Shabbat shalom’ to everyone with a smile. When anyone entered our home or the Chabad House, it immediately seemed as though my father knew him for decades. That’s the way he was …”

In recent years, the son Shneur was his father’s right-hand man. Shneur’s pain is an open wound. He tried to talk but was more quiet than forthcoming. He also spoke about his father’s big heart. “My father helped countless people in any way that he thought proper, and it was done with real, inner, Ahavas Yisroel.

“Half a year ago, a woman came into the Chabad House and wanted to buy some Jewish items. It seemed that no matter what price I would say, she would agree to the purchase without trying to bargain. This happened a few times. One day, I asked her about it and she said, ‘A few years ago, I came into the Chabad House without your father knowing me. The tough financial situation I was in at the time left me no choice. I told him I needed financial help. Your father looked into the matter and gave me 2000 shekels. At the time, that was a nice sum, so Beis Moshiach is something special to me.’ That was my father. He gave money to a stranger and it was all coming from genuine Ahavas Yisroel.

“Although as mentioned he had a generous heart, in my opinion, the true essence of where he was at was the emuna that he had. He always put himself on the side, forgoing titles and honor, and thought of one thing only – what is the right thing to do to advance the Rebbe’s horaos.”

In connection with that, one of his friends related that during the period after he opened the Chabad shul, some of the people addressed him as “HaRav.” He couldn’t stand it. He himself mentioned this in the interview he gave us in 5756.

“I am not a rav and could not accept a title like this. I decided I couldn’t take it anymore and wrote a letter to the Rebbe and asked whether I should bring an actual rav to bear the title, or continue in the shlichus on my own and accept the title against my will. The Rebbe’s answer was, ‘Continue with all the activities (the roles you write about), I will mention it at the tziyun.’ Thus, the Rebbe ‘crowned’ me as a rav in Beer Sheva.”

R’ Zalman Garelik, shliach and menahel of the central Chabad House in Beer Sheva, characterized the nature of R’ Avrohom’s work like this:

“Focus. He was focused on the goal and always did the right thing, without excuses, even when there were many obstacles. One of the mivtzaim that was important to him was Mivtza Torah. For a long time, he brought the mashpia, Rav Mendel Wechter, on a weekly basis. At a different period, he brought R’ Yair Calev every week. Those who are familiar with what this entails, bringing a big-name speaker from the center of the country to the south every week, know it is very complicated, but R’ Avrohom stuck to the goal, which is why he was successful.

“There are many shluchim and Chabad mosdos in Beer Sheva, but he was the first to build a Chabad House. It took him a number of years; his incredible persistence was successful. Beis Moshiach is packed with activities.”

ALL OF A SUDDEN

Recently, as always, R’ Cohen was busy with numerous things. None of his family or friends suspected anything untoward was about to take place. His friends, looking back, concluded that his soul must have sensed that the end was near.

On Yud-Tes Kislev, he farbrenged at Beis Moshiach along with some shluchim from the city. For no apparent reason, he began telling his history since he was a young bachur.

Two weeks later, on the last Shabbos of his life, Shabbos Chanuka, when he was also celebrating the sheva brachos of his daughter, he was the chazan for Shacharis. He davened with great emotion.

Then he farbrenged at length and spoke again about how he became involved with Chabad. In his final days, he blessed every neighbor or acquaintance he saw.

On 3 Teves, while at home, he suddenly collapsed. His wife called for help and his close friends, Yitzchok Benshimol and Moshe Dickstein, who are trained in life saving medical care, arrived on the scene. Despite intensive efforts, he was gone. He was only 64.

Rabbi Yehuda Deri, rav of Beer Sheva, parted from him in a voice choked with tears. “Rabbi Avrohom Cohen was the first in anything having to do with holiness. He came here at a very young age and was the Rebbe’s first shliach here. He opened the first Chabad House and raised the money with mesirus nefesh. From when he was a young man until now, he devoted his entire life to others and to bring merit to others. He opened the first youth clubs and laid the foundation for the Chabad school.”

He is survived by generations who follow in the way of Torah and Chassidus, six sons and four daughters and grandchildren.