Profile of a modest Chassid who devoted himself to communal matters and chinuch, R’ Ur Ezra Lifsh a”h.
R’ Lifsh on mivtza t’fillinRabbi Ezra Lifsh a”h was born in Swarosh in Poland, a few years before the outbreak of World War II. His parents were R’ Yosef Yehuda, a distinguished Radziner Chassid, and Ettel (Katz).
His mother died when he was five. At that time, World War II was raging and the Nazis were wreaking havoc everywhere. During the war years, the father and young orphans wandered from place to place. After the war, they spent some time at the DP camp in Poking, Germany. That is where R’ Ezra first experienced Chabad chinuch in the school started by Anash who had just left Russia.
In 1949, the family moved to Eretz Yisroel with the blessing of the Rebbe Rayatz. They settled in Kfar Chabad and were among the founders of the town.
R’ Ezra, a young bachur, went to Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in Lud where the chinuch he received there of humility and modesty, yiras Shamayim, and Torah study with hiskashrus to the Rebbe, left an imprint that lasted all his life.
After he married in 5726 he taught, and at the request of his friend, R’ Moshe Slonim a”h, who was the director of Reshet Oholei Yosef Yitzchok, he joined him in running the Reshet. He later served as treasurer for Tzeirei Agudas Chabad in Kfar Chabad. R’ Eliyahu Yochanan Gurary, Chief Rabbi of Cholon, relates:
“I worked with him for a few years in Tzach. I loved him for his honesty and uprightness. R’ Ezra was a man of truth. He took care of money matters in a punctilious and transparent way, being careful with every cent. I often saw him counting and recounting the money to make sure everything was as it should be.
“We would talk a lot about our Rebbeim and I always saw him as a Chassid who was mekushar to the Rebbe with great love.”
The director of Tzach at that time, R’ Meir Friedman, spoke similarly:
“When I was absent from Tzach for several weeks because of a trip to the Rebbe or the like, I would hand over the reins to him and could relax. I knew that because of his devotion and hiskashrus to the Rebbe he would not rest until everything was taken care of in the best possible way.”
R’ Ezra was in 770 on Simchas Torah 5738, and upon his return he said that the doctors asked the Rebbe to make kiddush and Havdala on grape juice and not on wine, but the Rebbe refused. Since then, R’ Ezra did not make kiddush or Havdala on grape juice, only on wine. Even when his health wasn’t the best, he was particular about using wine and did not consider this mesirus nefesh on his part.
RY relates: “I once met him in 770 with his three children and was surprised since I knew that his financial situation wasn’t good. I asked him how he had the money for the plane tickets. He said, in his matter-of-fact way, that he was given a bonus and he did not know whether he would be able to take his children in the future, so he used the money right away.”
When he lived in B’nei Brak there was no Chabad school there yet. R’ Ezra and other families maintained an elementary school founded on Chabad chinuch even though it was very hard to do financially.
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He was one of the first to settle in Kfar Chabad Beis and his neighbors and acquaintances remember that he would walk every Shabbos to Kfar Chabad to immerse in the mikva before davening, and then he would immediately return for Shacharis to the shul in Kfar Chabad Beis. He would daven at length and yet, would not hurry home when he finished davening, but would join a Chassidishe farbrengen.
R’ Yosef Yitzchok Liberow, his neighbor, relates:
“R’ Ezra was a modest person and not a talker. He avoided honor even though he was the eldest of the group who lived there. I am sure that even saying this about him is not to his liking but it is said in the spirit of ‘the living shall take it to heart.’ We cannot forget his farbrengens on Shabbos after davening, which supplied us with strength and chayus for the rest of the week. He would spout Chassidic sayings which usually revolved around hiskashrus and devotion to the Rebbe’s inyanim. He also expressed great interest in every story and practice of the Rebbe and had a terrific memory when it came to these things.”
R’ Alperowitz adds: “His love for his fellow was a true and deep love. I recall the following interesting anecdote. We were once sitting at a farbrengen and after he drank a lot of mashke, he got up and began emotionally talking about one of the people sitting at the farbrengen who needed a big yeshua in a particular area. R’ Ezra exclaimed that what a Chassidishe farbrengen can accomplish, even the Angel Michoel cannot accomplish, and therefore everyone should bless this person. He showered the man with brachos. A short while later, the man had his yeshua and it was quite remarkable.”
R’ Yaakov Kenig related: “For many years he went with us on mivtza t’fillin on Fridays. He did this with notable determination, diligence, and consistence. Even on days when it was hard to go, like on Erev yom tov or short winter Fridays, he would go, no matter the weather, no matter how his health was. It reached the point that on the last Friday of his life, when he wasn’t feeling well and could not go, he asked his son-in-law, the shliach R’ Nachshon Rubin, to replace him (even though he had just arrived a few hours earlier with his family from Zhitomir in the Ukraine).”
His friend, R’ Elozor Gorelik said: “For eight years we had a shiur in Gemara every night. R’ Ezra was very particular not to miss it. It was a pleasure to learn with him. He had a clear way of thinking that left no doubts in the minds of the listeners.
“Not long before he passed away, he suddenly asked that we add fifteen minutes to our shiur and he said he wanted to learn the Shaar HaYichud V’HaEmuna in Tanya. He did not explain why but we accepted it and we finished the last chapter shortly before he passed away.
“He was knowledgeable in the sichos and practices and horaos of the Rebbe. When it was necessary to look up a sicha, horaa or hanhaga, we went to R’ Ezra. He modestly, and without making a big deal about it, immediately found the information we needed.”
R’ Ezra Lifsh was also modest when it came to tz’daka and chesed. R’ MS relates:
“Once, as we were learning the daily Rambam in depth, a distinguished rabbinic person came to ask for financial help for one of Anash who went bankrupt. This rav did not bother to go over to R’ Ezra because he knew him and thought he would not be able to help raise the money. The next morning, R’ Ezra gave me an envelope with a nice amount of money in it and asked me to give it to that rav but without mentioning his name.”
R’ Ezra was genuine, honest, straight; Chassidish in the fullest sense of the term, with a fervent emuna, consistent in his belief in the Geula and Moshiach. He did not conceal his fervent belief in the Rebbe as Moshiach, in Yechi etc., from his friends who vehemently espoused a different ideology, and yet he remained a good friend of theirs. Many of his friends who came to console the family during the Shiva said that he was a strong influence on them when it came to hiskashrus to the Rebbe, especially after 3 Tammuz, including in very important matters for which they needed an urgent answer. R’ Ezra convinced them to write to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh and they testified that they saw miracles.
In his youth, when he served in the army for three years, as the Rebbe told him to do, he was very particular about kashrus and sometimes he only ate scalded eggs, not boiled in a pot, or fruits and sardines that were sent from home. Friends say that he and some religious soldiers who served with him made a commotion at the military rabbinate about the necessity of providing basic kosher food. The results of their protest benefit many soldiers today.
His son Yisroel relates: “For a long time, my father kept in touch with soldiers who served with him in the army. He would call them before every yom tov and wish them a chag sameiach. Erev Rosh HaShana he would send them New Years cards with blessings for the new year.
“Three months before he passed away, one of the soldiers he served with called and spoke nostalgically about those days. He remembered how my father would look out for them spiritually and bring them siddurim and t’fillin. He convinced one to keep Shabbos, another to keep kosher and a third to keep family purity. In this phone conversation my father asked him where he was living. The person said he lived in Germany and was married to a gentile woman and even had children with her. For a long time, my father spoke to him brokenheartedly about the significance of what he had done and how he had cut himself off from the Jewish people and his past. The man tearfully promised to do all he could to leave them.”
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R’ Ezra was brought to the hospital on 16 Tammuz 5762 upon suffering respiratory problems and passed away soon afterward. He left behind his wife, brothers, children and grandchildren who go in the way of Hashem and Chassidus and many of whom serve as the Rebbe’s shluchim.