Published: 13 August 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
NOMI KALTMANN sits down to talk to her Caulfield neighbour, Berysz Aurbach, about the dramatic life’s journey he has led, from Warsaw to Melbourne
THIS PAST DECEMBER, a clip did the rounds on social media showing 100-year-old Holocaust survivor Berysz Aurbach standing at the lectern of Melbourne’s Caulfield Bet Hamedrash Synagogue reciting Kaddish for his late mother, Rivka, on the 100th anniversary of her death.
This moment was especially poignant as it almost did not happen. Synagogues in Melbourne had only reopened a few weeks prior following extensive Covid lockdowns which had shuttered all places of worship for many months during 2020.
I found the video particularly moving because Berysz Aurbach is my neighbour. When my husband and I moved to Caulfield a few years ago, every Saturday morning at 9.30am we would see our new neighbour in his wheelchair, being pushed to synagogue by his son Moshe.
This month is a cause for big celebration in our street: next Tuesday, on August 17, Berysz will be celebrating his 101st birthday.
To this day he can recite the prayers and Torah that he learnt as a youth in his local Polish Talmud Torah school.
His good health, despite his age, demonstrate the massive changes in healthcare and technology that have taken place since his mother died of typhus when he was a small baby, more than 100 years ago.
Born in 1920, Berysz comes from a long line of Hasidic rabbis. His family had lived in the Polish town of Biala Podlaska for hundreds of years, which is known for its connection to the Ger Hasidic sect.
