The Elbogen Family DATA Far North Center
16818 Thomas Chapel Drive
Dallas, TX 75248
Dedicated in memory of Rabbi Shaya and Gitel Elbogen by Mr. Yankie and Suri Elbogen.
Rabbi Shaya and Gitel Elbogen: A Tribute
Rabbi Shaya Elbogen was born in 1909 in Hungary. In his teenage years he studied in the Yeshiva in Edeleny, Hungary. At the tender age of sixteen, he was granted the title of “Moreinu,” “Our Rabbi,” in recognition of his advanced level of Torah study. He was also well known for his sweet and melodic voice. He started teaching Torah classes and was pious and holy in all his ways.
Gitel Elbogen Rosenberg was born in 1919 in Hungary. Her parents operated a small department store near the train station. This locale benefited the store and the Rosenberg family prospered and became known throughout the community for their chessed, kindness. The Rosenbergs would provide clothing and fabrics for the trousseaus of poor brides and would lend money, even when they knew there was no chance of the loan being repaid. The Rosenbergs also provided the traditional “teg,” a system of daily meals for students studying in the local yeshiva (one of the boys was Shaya Elbogen!).
Gitel Elbogen survived two trips to Auschwitz (including a miraculous rescue from inside the gas chambers) and a death march. She was liberated from Theresienstadt, the very last concentration camp to be liberated, by the Russian army on May 8, 1945. Upon liberation she returned home. Through the recommendation of friends shortly thereafter, she became engaged to Rabbi Shaya Elbogen, who had lost his first wife and five children in the Holocaust. They married and settled in Hungary where their first two children were born. In 1949, upon the rise of the Communist party, they escaped to Munich and then sailed to America aboard the USNS General C.C. Ballou in January of 1951.
THE UNITED STATES
The young Elbogens and their three oldest children settled in New York, where Rabbi Shaya served as Rabbi and chazan of a shul in Rockaway. As the family grew and the neighborhood changed, the Elbogens moved to several locations before settling in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. Rabbi Shaya formed a close relationship with many of the revered sages of the era and was respected for his Torah thoughts and insights.
For Gitel, life was devoted to the children and grandchildren. Her focus was on the details, big or small, that surrounded their lives. In later years she would sit by the window near the street and watch the kinderlach, children, running and playing. She knew that her miraculous survival was Divinely orchestrated and as the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends played in the streets below, she understood why.
Recent Comments