Obituaries
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A Man Of Scholarship, Spirit And Kindness
Julie Edgar
Special to the Jewish News
D
uring a typhoid outbreak in
Tashkent, Russia, where Rabbi
Yechezkel Grubner had gone
after a Siberian exile during World War II,
he helped to collect and wash the count-
less dead to prepare them for a Jewish
burial — defying a government ban
against touching the bodies and putting
himself at risk of contracting the deadly
disease himself.
Rabbi Grubner survived for many more
years — until age 91 — and was known
until the end of his life not only as a tow-
ering Torah scholar, but also as a deeply
kind and spirited man.
Rabbi Grubner died on July 6, 2009, in
Lakewood, N.J., where he moved 2 1/2 years
ago to be near family He was buried in
Israel.
Rabbi Grubner had served as longtime
executive director of the Southfield-based
Vaad Harabonim of Metropolitan Detroit
(the Orthodox rabbis council). He also
was spiritual leader of Dovid Ben Nuchim
— a congregation that began in Detroit
as Agudas Yisroel, moving to Oak Park in
the 1960s.
Rabbi Grubner was a "big-time schol-
ar," said Rabbi Ari Kostelitz, a grandson-
in-law who took over the helm at Dovid
Ben Nuchim a few years ago.
DR. GEORGE BARAHAL, 92, of
Southfield, died July 11, 2009.
He was a clinical psychologist and pro-
fessor emeritus at Wayne State University,
who continued to practice and teach until
the time of his passing.
He served honorably during World War
"He had such a charm and communicat-
"When he would meet someone, he
ed it to people of all walks of life,' she said.
would always present a humble smile and
David Parker, a good friend, would
within 30 seconds, he would ask what he
often spend Shabbat at Rabbi Grubner's
was learning. He was a genius. He knew
home, even though he lived only a few
the Talmud by heart:' he said.
blocks away in Southfield. At other times,
Rabbi Grubner was the author of
Parker would help him dig up a volume
responsa, or questions and answers to
in the rabbi's vast personal library, shop
matters of law, called Knesses Yechezkel,
for him or attend social
the first two volumes of
affairs at his side. Parker
which came out in 1996
considers it an honor to
and 2006, respectively.
have done so.
The third volume is
"Just because of his
being published.
greatness, a lot of people
Rabbi Grubner's
came over to see him
character was an inspi-
or ask him questions,"
ration as well. Rabbi
Parker said. "I'd learn
Kostelitz said he was
from
watching him how
"always young in spirit,
a
person
conducts him-
even when things were
self,
how
a person should
hard for him. He always
really
behave."
taught us to never give
Rabbi Grubner was
up." Rabbi Grubner
born
in 1918 in Kshanov
also liked to say he was
I
Grubner
in
Poland,
the son of
Rabbi
Yechezke
merely twice a young
a
Radomsker
chasid,
man, not an old one,
and
devoted
himself
to
and danced at weddings
learning.
After
the
war,
in
1950,
he
came
like he was 20.
to Detroit to found the former Yeshivas
Rabbi Grubner's wife, Roizel (Rose),
Chachmei Lublin and joined the Vaad
died last year.
Harabonim, the Orthodox rabbinic
Kriendy Sorotzkin, the eldest of the
authority on kashrut, marriage, divorce,
Grubners' four daughters, said her father
mikvahs, conversions, adoptions and
never mastered the English language, but
his words entered the hearts of the people yeshivot in the greater Detroit area.
Rabbi Grubner became the Vaad's
with whom he came in contact.
II as a U.S. Navy Officer.
Dr. Barahal is survived by his sons and
daughters-in-law, Dr. Robert and Sheila
Barahal of Middleton, Wis., Dr. James
Barahal and Helena of Kailua, Hawaii;
daughter and son-in-law, Dr. Ellen Barahal
Taylor and Stephen Taylor of Ann Arbor;
sister and brother-in-law, Pauline and
William Schwartz of Southfield; many lov-
ing grandchildren, great-grandchildren,
nephews and nieces; longtime companion,
Shirley Faust.
He was the beloved husband of the late
Frieda Reich Baharal; dear son of the late
director in 1992, transforming it into an
organization with greater reach in both
the Orthodox and non-Orthodox world in
Detroit.
"I will remember him as a brilliant
scholar and a gentle person who felt it
was the job of the Vaad to see to it that
kashrus should be available in all circles
of Jews and Jewish institutions; he devot-
ed his life to see that that would happen,
and he succeeded," said Rabbi Elimelech
Silberberg of the Sarah & Morris Tugman
Bais Chabad Torah Center in West
Bloomfield.
"For more than 50 years, one of the
main addresses for clarifying complicated
halachic [Jewish law] questions was at the
desk of Rav Grubner," said Rabbi Chaim
Bergstein of Bais Chabad of Farmington
Hills. "His clarity in expressing the final
verdict and details of the law was, in my
opinion, better than any of the authors of
last century.
"His memory is a blessing for all of us
who learned with and loved him."
Besides Kriendy, whose husband is
Rabbi Yitzchok Sorotzkin of Lakewood,
survivors include Rabbi Grubner's three
other daughters: Chavie (Rabbi Yehoshua)
Nacham of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Surie (Rabbi
Moshe Mordechai) Lowy of Toronto;
and Estee (Rabbi Aryeh) Rubinstein of
Lakewood; 40 grandchildren and more
than 100 great-grandchildren. ❑
Oscar and the late Pearl Barahal.
Contributions may be made to
Hadassah, 5030 Orchard Lake Road, West
Bloomfield, MI 48323 or to a charity of
one's choice. Interment at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery in Birmingham. Arrangements
by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.
Obituaries on page C36
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