In tribute to the legacy of Leibel Zisman, a”h

Leibel Zisman was a survivor, of Kovno, of Auschwitz, of slave labor. He was a refugee from murder, genocide, and unbridled anti-Semitism. He was a Chabad chasid who was destined to survive all the difficulties of life to arrive at these blessed shores, learn English, receive a college degree, teach math, go into business, marry, establish a family, and spend the rest of his life helping others and making the giving of charity the hallmark of his life’s work.

Toward the end of his life, in Cedarhurst, Zisman penned an informal auto-biography, “I Believe: The Story of One Jewish Life,” wherein he detailed many of his life’s experiences. Much of what he wrote reflects a modest personality, a deeply religious demeanor that was to serve him, his family and his people well for the 82 years that he was among us.

Let me list below several examples of his observations on his life’s experiences that will have meaning to many among us.

“When I began learning at the 770 Yeshiva, Rav Yisroel Gustman was still the rosh yeshiva. He was not a Lubavitcher; he was not even a chasid; he was a misnagid. How did he ever become a rosh yeshiva of an advanced Chasidic yeshiva? Well, for one thing, he was a genius, a gaon in Gemara,

and the Rebbe Rayatz wanted a high standard of scholarship when he set up this yeshiva upon arriving in the U.S. in 1940.

“During the war years, so many Chabad teachers were trapped in Eastern Europe and most of them never made it out. So, Rav Gustman was the best the Rebbe could get.”

The Zismans were to live in Brooklyn for many years, raising their family, earning a living and becoming prominent in both religious and political affairs. However, with the passage of time, much of the family started to leave Brooklyn for points east, to Long Island.

“After living a few years in East Flatbush, we moved to Canarsie and then back to Flatbush again. Now we are in Long Island because this is where the kids live. We moved there because my wife said, ‘You know, all the children are there, the grandchildren are there, and they’re starting to grow up, they’re teenagers. We hardly know them, and they hardly know us.’ So we moved.”

The Five Towns, and the local Chabad, were to be exceptionally served well with their presence.

Two very special tributes are bookended at the beginning and at the end of this book. I completely share their sentiments and, due to the distinction of their authors, I share them with you.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson makes these

observations:

“I discovered that Leibel is a complex man, full of paradoxes. He is a person who is both a survivor of the harshest possible circumstances, which must have hardened him in so many ways, as well as a very warm, gentle and kind human being. … My sincere hope is that all those who pick up this book will come away with deep inspiration and a newfound hope and faith in G-d, as they read about Leibel’s idyllic childhood in a Jewish haven, about the dark day when he was taken to the camps, about his harrowing escapes from death, about his liberation and his new life in America. For his every dramatic step is a lesson in G-d’s miracles that constitute all our lives.”

Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, the Zisman family’s personal rabbi and spiritual guide since arriving here in Cedarhurst a decade ago, contributed this afterword:

“I have seen firsthand the tremendous influence he exerts on so many on a daily basis. To all who know him, at our Chabad Center of the Five Towns, he is truly a hero. Having witnessed and lived through the most horrific of times – the Holocaust – he never gave up, not even for a moment.

“I have seen Leibel uplift other Holocaust survivors – who, because of their traumatic experiences, eschewed Judaism – and how he slowly, patiently brought them around. … In short, Leibel is a beacon of life for all in our community. It is people like him who make the world a better place, through their tireless acts of goodness and kindness, and through their example of honesty and integrity.”

With the untimely passing of Leibel Zisman, of blessed memory, we now speak of him in the past tense, however, his legacy will forever be in the future tense. His deeds and his legacy are to be everlasting in the souls of the people he helped to nurture and in the bricks and mortar of the institutions he helped to build both here and in Israel.

I conclude this tribute with the following words from the distinguished community attorney and friend of the Zisman family, Suri Davis-Stern:

“It was much later in life, several years ago, that Leibel decided to record his Holocaust experience.

“First he wrote a book, ‘I Remember,’ then he decided to lecture about his experiences, and he had a second very active life, lecturing to Ivy League students, flying around the world to share his Holocaust experiences as well as his participation in the March of the Living. It was about a year ago that a movie was released entitled ‘The Lion of Judah,’ following Leibel on one of those marches.

“Leibel will be missed by the communities worldwide that he touched and by all here who he knew and were helped by him.”

The Chabad Website COLLIVE.com reports that Zisman passed away on Shabbat morning, 14 Tammuz and that the levaya was held on Sunday at Shomrei Hadas Chapels in Boro Park, with the procession passing 770 Eastern Parkway.
Shiva is being observed at the Zisman Residence, 40 Maple Ave., Cedarhurst, until Friday afternoon, June 28.