Rabbi Chaim Brikman, 58, Beloved Emissary of 34 Years to Sea Gate, N.Y.
by Mendel Scheiner – chabad.org
Rabbi Chaim Brikman, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Sea Gate and Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., shepherded his community through a hurricane and flooding, a synagogue fire and other challenges all while battling serious illness that never broke his spirit or held him back.
Rabbi Brikman passed away on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025 (4 Cheshvan 5786), after 34 years of devoted communal service. He was 58 years old.
Those who knew him speak of a rare quality: the ability to truly see people. “He really cared for each person,” recalls his son-in-law, Rabbi Heshy Ceitlin. “He was a patient listener with true humility.”
Growing by the Rebbe
Mayer Chaim Brikman was born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1967, growing up in the presence of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. A well-known photograph shows him as a 10-year-old standing directly behind the Rebbe at a farbrengen. Even as a child, he would go to the Rebbe’s synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway on his own, drawn to be near the Rebbe.
As a yeshivah student, he was invited to serve as a mentor at the Chabad yeshivah in Los Angeles, where he became known for noticing those who felt alone. It was a trait that would become what Brikman was best known for. Many who attended his funeral said the same thing: “He took me under his wing.”
In the late 1980s Brikman spent time in the Soviet Union, throwing himself into the work of rebuilding Jewish life in the dying Communist Empire and laying the ground for the permanent Chabad emissaries that would soon arrive. Trained in ritual slaughter by his grandfather, Rabbi Isser Brikman, he helped communities rebuild their kosher infrastructure that had been decimated by years of Soviet oppression. His partner on those trips was a yeshivah classmate originally from Milan, Italy. The classmate, Rabbi Berel Lazar, would be sent to Moscow by the Rebbe in 1990, soon thereafter becoming the chief rabbi of Russia.
Brikman frequently remembered those exciting times, often sharing the story of a man he’d met in Russia who could only teach the aleph-bet up to the letter mem because that was all he knew. The lesson he carried throughout life: Teach what you know. Everyone has something to give.
After marrying Rivkah Marozov in 1989, the Rebbe blessed them to move to Sea Gate, a residential neighborhood on the southern tip of Brooklyn, where in 1991 Brikman became the rabbi of Congregation Kneses Israel.
Answering the Person, Not the Question
Brikman was more than just a congregational rabbi. He was a rabbinic counselor, someone people sought when facing life’s most difficult moments—medical crises, family challenges, questions without easy answers.
With a deep knowledge of both Jewish law and medicine, he guided individuals and couples through complex situations. But his gift wasn’t just in the information he shared. “You don’t answer the question,” the rabbi would often say. “You answer the person.”
He followed up. He checked in. He carried people through their darkest hours. He held particular sensitivity for couples facing infertility, supporting many quietly with compassion. He loved having children running around the synagogue, saying “So many people would give anything for a little mess.”
“Only now, after the funeral, are we realizing how many children were brought into the world because of him,” says Ceitlin.
If anyone landed in the hospital—whether for something serious or routine—he made it his business to visit them. Even when it meant traveling to Manhattan. Even when he was exhausted or in pain.
During COVID, when many feared contact with the deceased, he continued serving with the chevra kadisha, the Jewish burial society, ensuring those lost to the pandemic were given a dignified Jewish burial. Wearing a hazmat suit, his words were simple: “If I don’t help, who will?” For many years Brikman also served as a member of the Hatzalah volunteer EMT service.
Brikman’s devotion to his community knew no bounds. On top of his packed schedule, with hours of counseling and studying every day, he ensured every family received shmurah matzah before Passover, even when it meant personally ensuring the delivery of more than 600 boxes. He founded TGIS—Thank G‑d It’s Shabbos—communal meals that now draw hundreds monthly, and created the Men’s Tefillin Club of Sea Gate.
“He opened the shul to every Jew,” says Ceitlin. “He built a place of love and belonging.”
The Brikmans faced many challenges together during their years of service to their Seagate and Coney Island community, but they never lost their optimism and belief in G‑d.
A passionate scholar, the rabbi had built a vast personal library since childhood. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy destroyed it. Floodwaters devastated the synagogue’s lower level—offices, classrooms, books. Yet he ensured the Torah scrolls, some more than a century old, were safely moved. Despite the damage, the community gathered for Shabbat. Brikman led relief efforts, delivering food, supplies and comfort to neighbors.
In February 2016, his son Leibel, then a 25-year-old newlywed, was stabbed while walking in Crown Heights. The attack punctured his lung. The family faced weeks of uncertainty, but with the community’s support and prayers, Leibel recovered—a testament to the Brikman family’s resilience.
While celebrating Passover in 2017, an electrical fire roared through Knesses Israel, devastating the synagogue. Only a year later came an even bigger challenge, this one man-made: A school had been renting space from Kneses Israel. In the aftermath of the fire, Brikman and his community asked the school to leave so they could worship in the rental space while the sanctuary was renovated. The school responded by suing the synagogue and attempting a hostile takeover, leading to a bitter and protracted legal battle.
Rabbi Brikman, committed to resolving disputes according to Torah law, brought the matter to a rabbinic court called a beit din, which issued a ruling ordering the school to withdraw their court case and report to the rabbinical court’s summons. The school refused to comply.
For Rabbi Brikman, this was far more than a property dispute; it was a fight to rightfully reclaim their synagogue, founded on the principle of welcoming every Jew.
With the unwavering dedication of their attorneys, and through the tremendous pain and aggravation endured by Rabbi Brikman, ultimately they have been validated in court.
Throughout the tumultuous period, despite at times even being locked out for Shabbat services, the Brikmans held their heads high, leading their community with calm, grace and positivity. Seeing their rabbi’s dedication, the community rallied behind him.
‘Pain is from G‑d, Suffering is a Choice’
But there was more: In 1993, after a seizure, Rabbi Brikman was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He underwent surgery that year, and again in 2001, 2020 and 2024. For 33 years, cancer was his companion.
Yet his family never felt like he was sick. “He was extremely grateful for everything he received from G‑d,” Ceitlin shares. “You never heard him complain.”
His philosophy was clear: “Pain is from G‑d, suffering is a choice.”
Brikman saw the good in everything. After one surgery, struggling to speak, he pointed to a box of Diamond brand salt and said, “Pass the diamond.” Even in bitterness, he saw the spark of blessing.
When asked by his friend Rabbi Mendel Kotlarsky how he was faring, this being just weeks before Brikman’s passing, he replied: “Better than I deserve.”
He transformed hospitals into places of kindness and connection. Whenever he traveled to Duke Hospital in North Carolina for treatment, he sought opportunities to help patients and staff. People wrapped tefillin, heard the shofar, received matzah, shook the lulav and etrog. Word spread so widely that once someone knocked on his hospital door asking if this was the Chabad House of the hospital.
The day before one surgery, his wife Rivkah overheard him telling someone he’d be busy tomorrow, but he could call the rabbi the day after.. His wife reminded him that he would be in for brain surgery, never an easy procedure. His response: “This person is calling because he is struggling. Why should I add my pain to theirs?” Even after surgery, barely able to speak, he returned calls.
A Living Legacy
In 2015, his daughter Rochel Chana and son-in-law Rabbi Heshy Ceitlin joined Chabad of Seagate. More recently, his son Rabbi Isser and daughter-in-law Chani Brikman took on active leadership roles as well. The community has grown significantly and recently expanded into a new building.
Last Sunday night, hundreds gathered for the shloshim memorial. The family announced that the Community Center will be renamed the L’Chaim Community Center in Brikman’s honor—a fitting tribute for someone who truly lived, radiating life in everything he did. They also pledged to complete restoration of the original synagogue building, a project close to his heart.
“Our sages teach that when a person’s children and students continue along the righteous path he established, it is as if he continues to live,” the family wrote. “This teaching, especially meaningful for someone named Chaim, inspires us with even greater strength.”
In addition to his wife, Rabbi Chaim Brikman is survived by his children, Rabbi Leibel Brikman (Montreal), Rochel Chana Ceitlin (Sea Gate) and Rabbi Isser Brikman (Sea Gate).
He is also survived by his parents, Boruch and Chaya Brikman of Crown Heights, and siblings, Sara Chana Posner, Mendel Brikman and Yosef Brikman.
