Reb Mendel Beer, z”l

BROOKLYN

Reb Mendel Beer, z”l, a noted askan and baal chessed who served for decades as gabbai of the Kopyzynitzer beis medrash, was niftar after a protracted illness. He was 79.

The niftar was remembered for his tremendous dedication to the needs of the community as well as those of individuals. He was constantly ready to do his utmost to support a Torah mosad or help a fellow Jew in need.

Reb Mendel was born in 1935 to Yehoshua and Perel Beer, and grew up in Williamsburg. He studied in Yeshivah Torah Vodaath, the central address of Torah education at the time. Young Mendel was one of a relatively small cadre of dedicated young men who fought prevailing assimilationist trends and laid the foundation of what would become today’s flourishing frum community.

Although his work on behalf of the klal won him relationships with several Gedolei Yisrael, Reb Mendel’s relationship to the Rebbes of Kopyzynitz was an inseparable bond. He was a beloved fixture of the beis medrash and the court of  the Kopyzynitzer Rebbe, Harav Avraham Yeshoshua Heschel, zy”a, as well as his son and successor, Harav Moshe Mordechai, zy”a, both of whom held him in very high regard.

The niftar worked tirelessly for the benefit of various mosdos, and was a singular pillar of Yeshivah of Telshe Alumni in Riverdale, Beer Hagolah Institutes (a school geared for immigrants from the FSU), the Yitti Leibel Helpline and Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, spearheading their fundraising efforts. Additionally, Reb Mendel’s insurance sales office was a reliable address for countless people who had fallen on hard times.

Harav Avrohom Ausband, Rosh Yeshivah, Telshe Riverdale, repeated in his hesped a piece of advice that he had given to a fellow Rosh Yeshivah years earlier: “you don’t need people with a lot of money, what you need are baalei baatim with ‘hartz’ who will be totally committed to your yeshivah — like Mendel Beer.”

He is survived by, ybl”c, his wife, Mrs. Bracha Beer; sons Rabbis Yerachmiel and Avrohom ; and daughters, Mrs. Malky Rapps and Mrs. Faigie Kobre.

Yehi zichro baruch.

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