“Bubby managed to free herself of the shackles of Olam Hazeh. She was so refined, so selfless; a perfected individual”

A chapter ended Shabbos, parshas Matos-Masei, with the passing of Rebbetzin Reichel Berenbaum. It was a chapter seeped both in rich history and in the Torah world of today.

Rebbetzin Berenbaum was the daughter of Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz, a man known not only for his gaonus, but also for his involvement in the klal. Rav Kalmanowitz worked tirelessly to save his brothers and sisters living in Egypt, Syria, as well as those caught in the Nazi net. It was largely due to his efforts that the Mir yeshivah was able to find refuge first in Kobe, Japan and then in Shanghai, China.

He gave that sense of achrayus, that sense of family over to his children, and Reichel was no exception.

“My mother in law’s home was open to all sorts of people, from every walk of life,” shares her daughter-in-law. “She provided like a mother for the talmidim of the yeshivah, she was heavily involved in shidduchim, and she supported her husband’s Torah in every manner possible.”

Reichel Kalmanowitz married Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, a bochur from Mir, in the ’40s, and together, they built a spiritual palace. As Reb Shmuel ran the Mir yeshivah from the helm, Rebbetzin Reichel ran it from the offices, attending to the practical needs of the bochurim with precision.

One summer, the Rebbetzin went to visit one of her sons, a rebbi in a mesivta. The bochurim surrounded her, hungry for vignettes about Reb Shmuel.

“Tell us a story,” they begged. The Rebbetzin tried to deflect them, she wasn’t one for stories, and didn’t enjoy being the center of attention. But they were persistent, talmidim thirsty to drink from waters no longer available, and finally she conceded.

“The story is Torah,” she said, as they all leaned in. “The story is Torah.”

That was her life, her essence, her purpose: Torah.

Straight to Gan Eden

At her levayah, her brother Rav Yisrael Kalmanowitz said, “For three reasons, my sister won’t have to endure Gehinnom on her way to Gan Eden.”

And then he listed: One, her chesed. In particular, the chesed she showed to an almanah with no children, who had no one to care for her as she grew older. The Rebbetzin brought her into her home, fed her, took care of her medical needs, and treated her as family.

Two, her chashivus haTorah. So much more than one mitzvah, it was the defining essence of her life. Their small home in Brooklyn was the picture of simplicity, but the trappings didn’t matter to her.