Tribute to Aunt Musya Levin

My late father's dear aunt Musya Levin passed away yesterday in New York City at the age of 90. In June 1941 she essentially saved my grandfather Aron's family by rushing to Vitebsk from the burning Minsk and putting her sister Berta, brother Aron, Aron's wife Hannah and their small children Moisei (my father) and Polina on one of the last trains to the East.

Within a few days all of the present-day Belarus was flooded by the Nazis. Almost none of the remaining Jews survived the war. Among the victims were many dear members of our family, including Musya and Aron's parents Simche and Chaya, their brother Moisei, his wife Fanya and their 2 little children, their sister Dasha and her 3 small children.

Musya, Berta and Aron's family settled in a small village of Yurgamysh, Kurgan region, east of the Ural mountains. Aron drafted into the army and was killed in action in 1942 at the Volkhov/Leningrad Front. When they returned to Minsk in 1944, Musya and her late husband Zalman Lelchuk (as well as her sister Berta and brother Samuil) took good care of Aron's family. She was a unifying force in the family, a warm, caring person, always ready to help. In the early 2000's she emigrated to the US, where she died yesterday.

Deep gratitude and respect. And may she rest in peace.

To read more about those events, please visit http://www.levins.info

Musya Levin and her husband Zalman Lelchuk
Minsk, 1969

Levin-Lelchuk family, Minsk, 1987
Musya Levin is 3rd from the right

Here follows in Russian a tribute to Musya's life from her children Anna and Arkady and from her niece Sofa Kozlova, daughter of Berta Levin:

Дорогие родные !

С глубокой печалью сообщаем, что  любимая  всеми Муся Симховна Левина закончила свой жизненный путь 5 мая 2012 года  в Нью Йорке не дожив  месяца до  91 года.

Трудно найти слова, чтобы отдать дань  глубокого уважения этой энергичной,красивой, жизнерадостной женщине, преданной матери и жене,  труженице, лидеру большой и дружной мишпохи Левиных и Лельчуков.

Ее готовность  помочь  близким и неблизким людям являет редкий образец  доброты.

Она  в 20 лет ушла из горящего Минска и добралась до Витебска, где жила семья брата Арона и сестра Берта, и заставила их эвакуироваться.

Она вместе с мужем помогала встать на ноги Мише и Полине, была всегда рядом с сестрой Бертой , Софой, Максимом и Любой.

Вместе с Залманом Ароновичем  вырастили отзывчивых, дружных детей,радовались внукам.

 У каждого из нас в памяти много примеров ее заботы, добра и  отзывчивости.

Светлая память !

Аркадий Лельчук

Aннa Лельчук

София Козлова