(Call-in # 605-562-3000. Pin 415450#. Please MUTE phone. )
We regret to inform you of the passing of Yosef Ben Mordechai- Rabbi Yosef Fabian. He was 99 years old when hit by a car in Los Angeles earlier this week. He was the beloved father of Mrs. Chaya Lebovics (Los Angeles) and Mrs. Alliza Thav (Baltimore), and grandfather to Rabbi Aharon Dovid Lebovics (Cleveland Heights) as well as to many other grandchilren . He as a Rabbi to countless students, young and old. There will be a levayah in Cleveland, Thursday night, Jan 9th, 9pm at Young Israel of Greater Cleveland (Beachwood). There will be/ was a funeral Wednesday evening, January 8th in Los Angeles at 8:15pm PST at the JLE, 512 N. La Brea Ave. Shiva will be at the home of Rabbi Aharon Dovid Lebovics, 3485 Shannon Rd. Cleveland Heights, OH.
May the family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Ha’Makom yenachem eschem b’soch she’ar avay’lay Tzion v’Yerushalayim
Paul Koret says
Rabbi Fabian was my Rabbi and the dearest and kindest man I ever knew. Baruch dayan emet.
Paul Koret
Loving Talmid says
Rebbe of multitudes representing the end of an era of talmidim of the Mir Yeshiva and others who fled to Shanghai during the war.
Iris Moskovitz says
May his neshama have a lichtiga Gan Eden. He will be sorely missed. May his family be comforted.
Williard Von Fork says
Rabbi Fabian was a man who died young at a very old age. He was walking miles until a few days before he died. Who else do you know who at 99 years old can shoot over to Los Angeles from Cleveland on his/her own volition and get hit by a car there. He made all is own choices until almost his last day. This man’s life was beautiful until almost the last day. Fortunate is anyone who saw this man walking in the freezing cold and boiling heat. We should all learn from him at least the value of exercise. Rabbi Fabian is someone that I will tell my grandchildren about.
TNTB”H
Ephraim Cheron says
Rabbi Joseph Fabian passed away this afternoon in Los Angeles at age 99. The funeral will be tomorrow (Thursday) night at 9 p.m. at the Young Israel of Beachwood. Burial will be in Eretz Yisroel.
In the rest of the world, they talk about how Rabbi Fabian traveled with the Mir Yeshiva across Siberia to Shanghai and spent the rest of World War II there.
In Cleveland we talk about how he was the “Zaken HaIr,” the senior Talmud Chochom in the city. He taught three generations — four, if you count his great grandsons–their Bar Mitzvah portions. It didn’t matter if the boys were from Orthodox or non-Orthodox families. They all came to YABI to learn with him.
And Rabbi Fabian was known for walking everywhere. Every Shabbos from Cleveland Heights to YABI, over two miles, no matter what the weather. And during the week also. His gentle spirit helped guide us all.
Elizabeth Whitmore Gloger says
Baruch dayan ha’emes. Rabbi Fabian was truly a Talmud Chochem and one of the kindest men I have ever known. I was a student at Yabi in the late 70s and to this day I remember sitting in his office, for some infraction, and how gently he spoke to me, it made me want to be a better student. He was the epitome to me of what a Rabbi should be–a teacher, a gentleman, and someone who emanated goodness in everything he did. I’m in my mid 40s now and I can picture him as if I was still 9 years old, he’s never left my memory. The world has lost a gentle, wonderful soul indeed.
Eric says
If anyone reading this has information on the kevura here in Israel, please post to LJN.
Chaya Wolf says
Rabbi Fabian was one of the rare individuals who taught by example. Among many of his other traits , his honesty and “ehrelechkeit” is a legacy that he left behind.
May Hashem comfort his wonderful family and may he be a “Maylitz osher ” for all of Klall Yisroel
OYVEY FOGEL says
Does anyone know if there will be a phone hook up?
If so please list the number Thannk you from California
Eric Gross says
Heartbreaking news. I vividly remember Rabbi Fabian from the early to mid seventies at YABI (1971-76 or so). I recall spending time (much too often) in his office for some infraction or another. I have often thought about him since as he had made an indelible impression on me with his kindness, poise, and understanding, – a true Tzadik.
chayaiscute says
phone hook up for cleveland levaya 605-562-3000 then code 415450 bsuros tovos
Mitchell Rose says
Rabbi Joseph Fabian passed away last week at the age of 99. He was assistant principle of YABI Hebrew School starting in the 1950s through the 1980s. He was a perfect gentlemen, in dress, grooming and behavior and speech. He was consistently kind to the students and congregants and never angered. When misbehaving students didn’t mind being sent to the principal’s office if Rabbi Fabian was one manning it. His most notable characteristic was his tireless devotion to YABI school and its Shabbat minyan and doing much of the work himself, not resting on his title as rabbi. Some examples are the following: He did much of the office work himself. Every Succot, he himself decorated the succah and invited students to join him. When a toilet was clogged and the janitor was gone, he plunged it out himself. He supervised the students boarding the bus at the end of the school day. He taught the students how to lead the service and read Torah and Haftarah. He himself had read every parsha in the Torah. For many years, each Friday he personally picked up food from the bakery for the next day’s shul kidush. Each Shabbat, he walked 2 miles to YABI’s youth minyan, guided the children in leading the prayers and reading the Torah and Haftarah or did it himself if they couldn’t, worked with the children in setting up the kiddush and cleaning up afterward, washed the serving utensils, and then walked 2 miles back home. Over the course of many years that I attended YABI’s Shabbat minyan, Rabbi Fabian never took a vacation off, and was out sick only once. I was told that he even visited childrens’ homes to encourage them to attend YABI. He was fond of recounting what it was like attending Mir Yeshivah in Poland in the 1930.
SE says
Rabbi Fabian was a 99.5 year old adam gadol. He was from the old world recalling vortlach and nigunnim of rabanomim of the Dor that is no more.
He survived due to miracle after miracle, but always kept his composure whether standing up to a Japanese war criminal in Shangahai (about shmiras Shabbos) or losing papers that somehow were tied to his safety.
He was a humble man with a dignified bearing. He was the very definition of a mentch. A kind, aidel man.
He was part of the generation that rebuilt America, nay Cleveland, by starting the only(?) successful Frum Talmud Torah in YABI that ran for years and years teaching public school children by teachers like Rebbetzin Gifter, Kraindy Sorotzkin, Reb, Sora Ita Katz etc….before it morphed into the award winning preschool/daycare it is today.
But if you ever asked him about what he did, he’d say, “I was involved in this. I was involved with that” and then you find out he founded them and/or ran them. He always thought before he spoke and it is said that his diyuk in keeping the laws of shmiras halashon were perfected.
bsl says
I remember the first day Rabbi Fabian walked into my after school talmud torah classroom (we had already ‘retired’ two other teachers before him with our unruliness and etc ) The minute he walked in, absolute silence descended on this bunch overtired, undisciplind pack of 9year olds. The sweetness of his appearance of pure white hair and gentle voice won over the class in less than 5 minutes. He has been my hero and the most ehrliche mentch I knew t o this day.
May Hashem comfort his entire family and may Rabbi Fabian’s legacy of mentchilikeiie live on thru them.
Shabbsi Nacht says
I attended YABI. I knew Rabbi Fabian, but I really didn’t know him. I didn’t know of his travails in Shanghai. Or how hard it probably was to start a new life in a new country with hardly any yiddishkeit. It’s a shame that we learn about someone when he or she leaves this world.Rabbi Fabian leaves children that he had an hashpoa on, who became frum and now have not only their children but grandchildren.
May Hashem console you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Shabbsi (James) Nacht