Shoah survivor blesses family on 100th birthday

When Jakub Rybsztajn celebrated his 100th birthday last week, he raised his hands and offered a blessing to everyone in the room, paying that G-d continue to extend His graciousness to each of them.

Rybsztain knows something about G-d’s graciousness. He and his wife Bonnie (who passed away two years ago at age 98, after 76 years of marriage) survived the Nazi death camps — she was the sole survivor of nine children; his parents and two of five siblings perished. As Allied troops approached and his camp was closed, he was sent on a death march, surviving that as well.

“Why am I so devoted to G-d, despite so much hell, so much torture? Why did so many millions die from hunger, from beatings? I don’t know why,” he said during a expansive interview published in The Jewish Star in 2017.

“I am telling this story for the sake of the world, to heal the world, to live and let live with respect. So the world should be a better place. People should not forget what happened.”

Rybsztajn’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren traveled from around the county to the Grandell Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Long Beach to participate in the centenarian’s celebration. He moved there from his Woodmere home in January, after treatment at South Nassau.

The occasion was marked by the presentation of official citations and proclamations — by Deputy Commissioner Debbie Pugliese on behalf of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, and from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams.

In his 2017 interview (online at bit.ly/3LBjyYU) and a sub-sequent video interview by the Wagner College Holocaust Center (bit.ly/3zW65s3), Rybsztajn recounted his childhood in Poland, existence in the camps, liberation, meeting his wife and ultimately building and new life and family in the United States.