A tribute to The Queen of Cleveland

TALI FEINBERG

It is a world away from sunny South Africa, where her daughter would eventually settle, bringing the elder woman’s legacy of service, fortitude, and family to the Jewish community of this country.

Kazen passed away last week in New York at the age of 96. “The shiva was attended by thousands of people, some of whom flew in simply to pay their respects,” says her son in law, Rabbi Yossy Goldman of Sydenham Shul in Johannesburg.

Known as “the Queen of Cleveland”, the rebbetzin’s life reads like the history of the Jews in the 20th century, and ends with a dynasty that stretches to every continent. With more than 500 descendants, that story has even reached us in South Africa. Kazen’s daughter, Rebbetzin Rochel Goldman and grandchildren Rabbi Nissen Goldman, Rebbetzin Sarah Feldman, Rebbetzin Zeesy Deren, Mendel Goldman, Shmuly Goldman (who just moved here from New York) and Choni Goldman (aka Choni G) all work in our Jewish communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

So, how did a story that started in Russia end here? Rebbetzin Kazen was born in Gomel, Belarus, then part of the newly-created Soviet Union. The eldest of seven children born to Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan and Maryasha (Garelik) Shagalov, her life began in difficult circumstances. Russia had been devastated by the terrible civil war that birthed the Bolshevik revolution, and thousands were dying of starvation, according to Chabad.org (the website that would eventually be started by her late son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen).

“She had a very tough childhood in Russia, and it steeled her for life”, says Rabbi Yossy Goldman. Her father was arrested for practicing Judaism illegally and for being a mohel. He was killed, although his fate was unknown to his family for decades. “As the oldest child, she became like a mother to her siblings at age 12,” he says.

Terrible times followed, including going into hiding and working in factories in Moscow. Shortly after she turned 18, Kazen was introduced to her future husband, Zalman Katzenelenbogen (later shortened to Kazen).

The couple got married in an illegal Jewish wedding, and they settled in Leningrad. They fled in 1941, and eventually landed up in France. “Some of their children were born in Russia, and some in France,” says Rebbetzin Goldman, one of their six daughters. Four months after she was born, the family headed to America.

With the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, they arrived in New York, where they hoped to settle near the Rebbe. But he asked them to go to Cleveland, Ohio, where there was no Chabad Jewish community to speak of. They had their work cut out for them, and they gladly accepted.

It was here that Kazen would thrive in her role in building the Jewish community from the ground up. “She would make everyone part of her family,” remembers her daughter, recalling how they would host Russian immigrant families in their home for months at a time.

“She changed the direction of people’s lives. For example, she met a young man on a bus who was going to India to ‘find himself’. She convinced him rather to go to yeshiva, and he is now the head of a large frum family. She changed the course of his life,” says her daughter.

Kazen also had a deep love of Israel, and raised funds for a vocational school and the Barmitzvahs of orphan boys there.

She would go on to assist, house, and feed thousands of Russian Jewish immigrants in Cleveland. She ensured their children went to Jewish schools, ran a food bank, helped the elderly get to shul, and made sure everything was kosher.

She even became an expert in arranging brit milah for boys and men of all ages who had never been brissed in Russia. “She would go in her white coat to Mount Sinai hospital, working with doctors to ensure a bris was done correctly. In all, she arranged about 500 of these brisses,” says her daughter.

On top of this, she was the mother of seven children. They all went on to serve as Chabad shlichim around the world. “My mother was so happy when we came to South Africa, even though everyone was leaving when we go here in 1976. It was not easy, but the Rebbe told us that everything would be fine here. Now this community is the envy of the world,” says Rebbetzin Goldman.

The tenacity and commitment she inherited from her mother has certainly become part of the Chabad community in South Africa.

But there was also tragedy. Kazen’s eldest and youngest children passed away in their primes. Her daughter, Esther Alpern, changed the face of Jewry in Brazil; while her son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, was a pioneer of Judaism on the internet, and the founder of Chabad.org.

“When her husband Zalman passed away about eight years ago, the local newspaper called him ‘Cleveland’s kindest man’,” says Rabbi Goldman. He describes his mother-in-law as “a legend, with a total commitment to Judaism, come what may. She really created a dynasty.”

Kazen is survived by her sisters, Rosa Marosov and Rochel Levin, both of Brooklyn and her children, Devorah Alevsky, Cleveland; Henya Laine, Brooklyn; Blumah Wineberg, Kansas City; Rivka Kotlarsky, Brooklyn; Rochel Goldman, Johannesburg; and hundreds of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren across the world.

“She now continues on her soul journey,” says Rebbetzin Goldman. “But her legacy will continue. Just this week, someone who she helped many years ago named their new daughter after her.”