Rabbi Avraham Levitansky, Chabad’s first West Coast Shliach

Rabbi Avraham Levitansky, one of Chabad’s first West Coast shlichim, or emissaries, died in his home on May 27, following a long, undisclosed illness. He was 67.

Levitansky headed Santa Monica’s Chabad for 23 years. He was the first shliach brought to the West Coast in the mid-1960s by Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin. Cunin, the director of Chabad on the West Coast, was the first person the Lubavitcher Rebbe selected to appoint other emissaries.

Levitansky was originally brought to California to help launch Chabad’s Talmud Torah. He also helped launch Chabad’s first Gan Israel day camp and helped establish a program to help children in public school receive a Jewish education.

In 1970, when Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson asked for 70 new Chabad centers to be built for his birthday, Cunin committed to opening 12. He appointed Levitansky to open one in Santa Monica, or “Simcha Monica,” using the Hebrew word for happiness instead of the Spanish word for saint.

“Rabbi Avraham Levitansky was a dear, personal friend of mine for more than 50 years. He was my schoolmate, my comrade in arms, and more than anything else, he was a real brother to me,” Rabbi Cunin wrote in a statement to The Journal.

Levitansky’s synagogue was the first Chabad in Santa Monica and he later brought in Rabbi Boruch Rabinowitz to help. Fifteen years ago Rabinowitz opened another center, The Living Torah Center, which now operates a pre-school.

“He was a person that everyone loved and loved everybody,” Rabbi Rabinowitz said. “He didn’t look at people differently, he treated everyone as one creation. He gave his life and all his efforts to anyone he could possibly help. He was always available around the world.”

Cunin said Chabad must rise to the challenge of eternalizing Levitansky’s memory and “honoring the beautiful things he stood for in his life and work.”

In honor of the 36th anniversary of the Rebbe’s call in 1970 to open new centers, in December Chabad of the West Coast announced they would open 36 new centers. One of those, Chabad on Montana, will be the third center in “Simcha Monica.”

Levitansky was buried May 28 at Chabad’s Mount Olive Cemetery in the City of Commerce.