Kaliver Rebbe Passes Away at 96 Was a Holocaust Survivor

ברוך דיין האמת

 האדמו"ר רבי מנחם מנדל מקאליב זצוק"ל

The Rebbe passed on in his Yerushalyim home surrounded by his chassidim.

Rav Menachem Mendel Taub was the son of Rabbi Yehuda Yechiel Taub, the Rozler Rov, and son-in-law of Grand Rabbi Pinchos Shapiro, the Kechneyer Rebbe, scion of the Nadvorna dynasty. 

He had six brothers and sisters. He married his first wife, Chana Sara Shapiro, before the start of World War II.

In 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving there three days before Shavuot. While in Auschwitz, he was experimented upon by Josef Mengele. 

Because of "chemical burning experiments", he was unable to grow facial hair; he was also unable to have children.

He was transferred from Auschwitz to the Warsaw Ghetto and the Breslau concentration camp, and later to Bergen-Belsen. Six months after the war ended, he reunited with his wife in Sweden. In 1947 they immigrated to the United States and settled in Cleveland, Ohio.

He and his wife immigrated to Israel in 1962. The following year he founded Kiryas Kaliv in Rishon LeZion.

 The foundation stone was laid on 7 Adar 5723 (3 March 1963), the day of the yahrtzeit of the founder of the dynasty, Grand Rabbi Yitzchak Isak Taub. Several years later he moved his headquarters to Bnei Brak.

 In 2004, the rebbe's court moved to Jerusalem.where he passed on.

Since World War II, the Rebbe has actively spoken about the Holocaust and frequently invokes the memory of the Jewish martyrs. 

He has encouraged the recital of "Shema Yisrael" to memorialize Holocaust victims at the conclusion of religious events in Israel. He has also traveled to interact with millions of Jews by telling his story and encouraging the saying of "Shema Yisrael". 

He is also active in Jewish outreach and conducts regular lectures for groups of professionals, including doctors and police officers. In addition, a network of kollels, an encyclopedia project, and several other divisions of Kaliv have been founded.

In March 2014 he participated in the annual conference of the Rabbinical Congress of Europe, which met in Budapest to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the destruction of Hungarian Jewry.

 He delivered an emotion-laden speech in Hebrew, and switched to English to direct remarks to US President Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In December 2017, the Rebbe Sent a message in English to the newly elected President.