Our Heroes: Rabbi Dov Ber Junik (1927-2005)

Rabbi Duber Junik, fondly referred to by Anash as Reb Berel, was born in Parluki, Russia in 1927 on the 6th of Menachem Av to Horav Naftoli and Mrs. Golda Ita Junik, descendents of the holy Rabbonim, Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditshev, Reb Pinchos of Koritz and Reb Menachem Nochum of Chernobel. Under the influence of the Rav of the city, HoRav Hillel Solozuvski, Reb Naftoli became acquainted with Chabad Chassidus. Reb Naftoli was a Yireh Shomayim and did not send his children to government schools but brought them up with mesiras nefesh in an underground cheder.

Reb Berel obtained his background in Torah and Chassidus in Communist Russia, at a time when Chassidic life and studying Torah were conducted underground and fraught with danger. His father was vigilant to give Berel and his siblings an authentic Chassidish chinuch.

At the outbreak of WWII, the family escaped to Tashkent from Moscow, and in 1944 the 17-year-old Berel went to Samarkand to study in the underground Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, receiving Torah from the elder Chassidim and Mashpi’im.

Leaving Russia

In 1946, the chance to leave Russia for Poland became a reality. The Jews from Russia traveled to Poland, under the guise of being Polish citizens who had escaped during the war and were returning to their homeland.

Polish passports generally contained the citizen’s name with a list of the individual’s children on the side, without identifying photos. The people organizing the mass exit from Russia needed to separate some families and add their children to other families in order that the number of children that appeared on the passports should be consistent with the number of children present. Reb Berel Junik merited to be listed on the passport of the Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe’s mother, and be identified as her child. This marked the beginning of an extraordinary relationship with Bais HoRav, the Rebbe’s family.

The train left Lvov, situated on the Russian-Polish border, on Rosh Chodesh Kislev 1946. Reb Berel was instructed to say that he was the Rebbetzin Chana’s son, if asked to identify himself. The Rebbetzin did not utter a word during the entire trip. Reb Berel who helped the Rebbetzin with her luggage, later recalled. “There was great fear and no one dared to mention the name ‘Schneerson’. Somehow I found out that she was the Rebbetzin Chana, the m’chutenesta of the Previous Rebbe”.

In addition to the Rebbetzin and Reb Berel, a large group of Chassidim was traveled to Poking, Germany where a refugee camp had been set up. Reb Berel continued his studies at Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Poking. The Rebbetzin was known to some of the Chassidim, who arranged a private room for her and tried to assist her in every way possible. After a short period of time, the Rebbetzin left for France in 1947, where she met the Rebbe who had come to Paris to greet her and escort her to the United States.

A shochet in Dublin, Ireland

The Previous Rebbe suggested that Reb Berel study shechita under the auspices of Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dworkin. Reb Berel then found work as a shochet in Dublin, Ireland. From there the meat was sent to Israel.

After a year, Reb Berel was instructed by the Previous Rebbe to go to Brunoy, France where he studied for the next three years.

In the winter of 1950, the Previous Rebbe advised the Yeshiva faculty that the bochurim should come to the United States. Reb Berel traveled to the U.S. with his friends, Horav Yitzchok Pewzner, who would later become his brother-in-law, Horav Sholom Morosow, and may he be live and be well, Horav Gedalia Korf. The bochurim arrived on Rosh Chodesh Shvat.

Reb Berel arrives to the Previous Rebbe

On the 4th of Shvat, the four bochurim in addition to Horav Dovid Raskin who had just arrived from Paris, merited to enter Yechidus with the Previous Rebbe,

Reb Berel recalled the Yechidus. “When we entered the Rebbe’s room, his secretary, Rabbi Rotshtein introduced us to the Rebbe. The Rebbe looked at each of us. I entered last and was introduced as Berel Junik. The Rebbe continued looking at me. Rabbi Rotshtein stated that I was Naftoli’s, referring to my father. The Rebbe acknowledged with a nod of his head that he knew who I was and greeted us with ‘Boruch Boachem Lsholom’, blessed be your arrival. He continued, ‘Today, we see each other and from time to time we will talk’. He then inquired about our learning seder. Less than a week later on Shabbos, the tenth of Shvat, the Previous Rebbe was nistalek.

Mkushar to the Rebbe

Reb Berel became very mkushar to the Rebbe and on the 7th of Iyar for the first time entered into Yechidus with him. The Rebbe put on his gartel and accepted Reb Berel in Yechidus. Reb Berel asked the Rebbe to write the details of the Yechidus for him. The Rebbe suggested that Reb Berel write the Yechidus and that he would edit it. After the Rebbe assumed the nsius, and started wearing a kapota instead of a suit, the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka gave the Rebbe’s suit to Reb Berel as a gift.

When the Rebbetzin Chana learned that Reb Berel had arrived in the United States she invited him to her house. After that first visit the Rebbetzin asked that Reb Berel continue visiting her. At times, when the Rebbe would leave the shul on Friday night after Maariv, he would ask Reb Berel to visit his mother. Reb Berel continued this tradition and visited the Rebbetzin every Friday night.

A Ben Bayis by the Rebbe

From then on, Reb Berel became a ben bayis, a member of Rebbetzin Chana’s household and also that of the Rebbe’s. Prior to the Rebbe’s nsius, the Rebbe told Reb Berel, “I know you are one of my people”, and from that moment he merited to serve the Rebbe. The Rebbetzin once made a comment to Reb Berel’s children that she considered them trustworthy, in the merit of the trust in Reb Berel. On other occasions, the Rebbe told the Rebbetzin, “If Berel Junik said that you can do it, you may rely on him”.

During one summer in the early years of the Rebbe’s nisus, Reb Berel was invited by the Rebbetzin to eat supper every night at the Rebbe’s house. One evening when he came for the meal he overheard the Rebbe say, “I will go to my room and you give him to eat. If he knows that I am here he will not want to eat”. After his marriage Reb Berel visited the Rebbetzin, on Shabbos with his family, on a steady basis. His children visited the Rebbetzin as well, and were in contact with her by phone.

In the beginning of the Rebbe’s nisus, the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka requested that Reb Berel set up the Rebbe’s table for the Farbrengen. Over the course of the following decades, Reb Berel fulfilled this responsibility faithfully. Prior to every Farbrengen he would enter the Rebbe’s room, and the Rebbe would give him the kos, on which the Rebbe would later make kiddush and say L’chaim. Reb Berel merited to be the Rebbe’s Saar Hamashkim, the butler who poured the wine for the Rebbe, at the Farbrengen. In later years, he passed this honor to Horav Mentlik, the Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in 770. In 1988 when Horav Mentlik was nifter, Reb Berel resumed this function.

Kiruvim from the Rebbe

Reb Berel merited many private and rare kiruvim from the Rebbe. The Rebbe once told him, “My father-in-law took you on his shoulders, and all the bochurim could be envious of you”.

During the famous Farbrengen of Parshas Shmini in 1952, which Chassidim refer to it as the “Shabbos Hagodol Farbrengen”, the Rebbe Farbrenged the whole afternoon and spoke to many people privately. The Rebbe also spoke to Reb Berel for about fifteen minutes. Reportedly, the Rebbe called Reb Berel over and held onto his beard as he spoke to him. The Rebbe then said about him, “Such yungeleit will bring Moshiach.”

The Rebbe asked Reb Berel how long it had been since he had seen his parents. Reb Berel said he hadn’t seen them in five years. The Rebbe stated that the time had come to visit them. The Rebbe arranged the travel documents to Montreal, where they were living, and asked if Reb Berel had bought a gift for his parents. He hadn’t and the Rebbe commented, “Such a batlonus I didn’t expect from you”. The Rebbe gave Reb Berel money for the trip and for the gifts, and stressed that the gifts should be purchased before he reached his parents. He added, “You are probably traveling at night, make sure that you book a sleeper on the train, in order to rest during the trip.”

In 1953 before Shvuos, the Rebbe asked Reb Berel if he was buying a suit for Yom Tov. Reb Berel answered that he was not planning to. The Rebbe told him that it is was worthwhile to do so and gave him money for a suit. After purchasing the suit, he returned to the Rebbe, who asked if he was wearing the new suit. The Rebbe wanted to see how the suit looked on him and asked him to turn around and then commented, “It seems to me that it is slightly short.”

The kiruvim that Reb Berel experienced were expressed more strongly when he reached the time for shidduchim. The Rebbe acted as a father to a son and became involved and concerned in every detail. On one occasion the Rebbe said “We need to take in consideration that the bochurim, Berel Junik, Sholom Morosow and may he live and be well, Dovid Raskin were born and brought up in Russia and cannot adjust to the American lifestyle.” It was clear that the Rebbe intended to represent their parents and involve himself in their shidduchim. In Yechidusen the Rebbe urged and encouraged Reb Berel to become actively involved in shidduchim. During one of the Yechidusen, the Rebbe told him, “Hashem makes miracles, but it is expected that one also needs to act in the natural way. Do you want to get up one morning and immediately stand under the chupa? You are looking at me with terrified eyes. Your parents are in Canada and you are not doing anything. Think about this. If you will not do anything, I will write to your parents.”

Engagement and Wedding

Before Pesach 1954, Reb Berel became engaged to Ms. Fruma Pewzner, the daughter of the Gaon, Chossid, and man of self-sacrifice Reb Avrohom Boruch. The Rebbe blessed the chosson and kallah with many blessings, and instructed that the chosson and his father both receive aliyos to the Torah. When the gabai informed them that no openings for two aliyos were available, the Rebbe suggested that they be called up to the Torah at Mincha.

The wedding was set for the 9th of Sivan. The Rebbe was the msader kiddushin, and officiated at the chupa. Rebbetzin Chana attended the wedding and sat at the Kallah’s head table.

Reb Berel recalled, “When I became engaged, the Rebbetzin told me that she knew the kallah. I later verified that in 1947 my wife was in France and studied at a school there. When the Rebbetzin was leaving for the United States, the school prepared a long speech and asked my wife to deliver this farewell address in honor of the Rebbetzin at a gathering in the Butman family home. Rebbetzin Chana participated at my tenoim and the wedding. When she arrived at the wedding, she asked to be photographed together with the Kallah and then by herself. This is the famous picture that we have today of the Rebbetzin. In one of my chupa pictures, the Rebbe is standing and listening to the reading of the Kesuba. I placed this picture in a frame and gave it to the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and she placed it in the Rebbe’s study in the house.

The Rebbe gave me a gift of eight handkerchiefs as a ‘preparation for the wedding’.” In the following years, Reb Berel had eight children. Prior to their weddings, each one of them received one of the handkerchiefs as “a preparation for the wedding”.

After the wedding, Reb Berel worked as a shochet for a year. He was offered a position in another state, but turned it down because he did not want to leave the Rebbe.

Reb Berel recalled, “At one point, we were having difficulty with parnossa. I already had three children. The Rebbe advised me to consult a wealthy individual. He also asked how long I had been out of work. I answered that it had been three weeks. The Rebbe wanted to know what I earned each week. He then gave me a sum of money equal to three weeks of work. After that the situation improved.”

Entrusted with situations in the Rebbe’s household

13th of Iyar 1952

On the 13th of Iyar, the bitter news was relayed to the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka that the Rebbe’s brother Reb Yisroel Arye Leib had been nifter. The Rebbetzin asked Reb Berel to have Reb Shmuel Levitin come and speak to her. The Rebbetzin Chana was not told and the Rebbe requested that no one should share the news with her. During the course of the shiva, the Rebbe mentioned to Reb Berel that he did not want his mother to realize that he was wearing sneakers instead of shoes. Reb Berel covered the Rebbe’s sneakers with black shoe polish to disguise them. Reb Berel was also given additional tasks by the Rebbe to help him keep the sad news from his mother, the Rebbetzin.

Vov Yishrei 5725 (October 1964),

On Shabbos Shuva, the 6th of Tishrei (October 1964), the Rebbetzin Chana became ill. The Rebbe’s visited his mother that morning. He instructed Reb Berel to keep a constant watch on the Rebbetzin and to update him regularly on her condition. The Rebbe also instructed Reb Berel to stay in contact with Dr. Seligson, the Rebbe’s personal physician and that of his household. After the histalkus of the Rebbetzin Chana, the Rebbe entrusted Reb Berel with the task of securing his father’s sforim and bringing them to the Rebbe’s house. Some time after the shiva, the Rebbe gave Reb Berel specific items of furniture which the Rebbetzin had used, adding, “Why should a Yid not use this, especially someone who merited serving my mother. She surely will have a nachas ruach that you are using it”.

During the passage of many years, Reb Berel made his parnossa in the jewelry business and in his free time studied Nigleh and Chassidus in public shiurim. This was in addition to conducting a Tanya shiur during the work day. Reb Berel was always available to give his time and energy for any sacred matter.

This is how he came to teach the bochurim shechita in a special course under the auspices of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch in 1956. Many shluchim were trained in this class over the next forty years. In the evenings, after a long and full work day, he stood with complete patience and commitment, and trained groups of students to be come shochtim and bodkim. In addition to this, he served as a member of the Gemilas Chesed Shomrei Shabbos. In the early 1960’s, Reb Berel and Rabbi Elye Gross spent their afternoons on the first days Sukkos at 770, dispatching and directing yungeleit and bochurim doing Mivtza Lulav. They tried to reach as many people as possible and bring them the mitzva of making the brocho on the lulav and esrog.

In 1967, when the Rebbe initiated the Tefillin campaign, Reb Berel would travel to a hospital every Sunday to put on Tefillin with the patients there. In 1982, Reb Berel was asked by Rabbi Hodakov to involve himself with the bochurim who were not studying in yeshiva any longer, set up a learning time with them, and mkarev them. Reb Berel was B”H successful and this shiur is still bearing fruit today. The Rebbe also assigned Reb Berel private, as well as more publicly known missions. In his work attending to the Rebbe’s practical requirements, he participated in the construction of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin’s living quarters in the library, built a sukka near the Rebbe’s room and more.

In 1990, the Rebbe appointed Reb Berel a member of the board of Machne Israel and of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch.

It is noteworthy to mention that although Reb Berel merited being close to Bais HoRav and serving there, it did not in any way affect his Chassidishkeit. Reb Berel never stood out more than other Chassidim and Tmimim. He remained a discrete person of utmost humility, who never utilized his position for himself in any way.

In 2005, on the 9th of Iyar, after suffering an illness, with his family members at his side, Reb Berel retuned his soul to her creator. He was buried near the Holy Ohel facing the resting place of the Rebbetzin Chana.

Reb Berel and his wife, may she live and be well, Mrs. Fruma Junik, a woman of valor and a communal person in her own right, merited to build a beautiful family of Chassidish sons and daughters, who are following the ways of their ancestors and involved in the Rebbe’s matters.

Reb Berel left behind his wife, Mrs. Fruma Junik; his sons, HoRabbonim Hatmimim: Reb Yosef Yitzchok and Reb Avrohom Boruch, of Crown Heights; his daughter, Mrs. Nechama Itkin and her husband, Reb Yosef Yitzchok, shluchim in Pittsburgh, PA; his sons, Reb Shimshon and Reb Meir Shlomo of Crown Heights; his son, Reb Menachem, shliach in England; his son, Reb Dovid, of Crown Heights; his daughter Mrs. Chana Spielman, the wife of Reb Sholom Ber of Crown Heights; and their children, among whom are Shluchim, and grandchildren.

Yehi Zichro Boruch! May Reb Berel, a legendary chossid known for his total commitment to the Rebbe’s needs, without any expression of self-esteem or pride, his devotion to dedicating his free time to spreading the Rebbe’s Mivtzoim, and his refined character traits; serve as the inspiration to commit ourselves to the Rebbe’s directives, and to fulfill them spiritually and physically, and relate to our fellow Jews in a refined manner in speech and deed.

We should speedily witness “The ones who dwell in the dust will awaken and rejoice” with Reb Berel among them.