Baruch Dayan HaEmes.

Klal Yisroel is mourning the petirah of R’ Berysz Auerbach z”l, a world-renowned Holocaust survivor who passed away at the remarkable age of 105.

Born in 1920 in Biała Podlaska, Poland, into a chassidishe family deeply rooted in the Gerrer Chassidus, R’ Berysz grew up in a home filled with torah and tradition, values that would carry him through one of the darkest periods in Jewish history.

During the Holocaust, he was in the Warsaw Ghetto, witnessing firsthand the horrors, fears, and destruction that defined that time. In a remarkable miracle, he was among the very last Jews to be smuggled out of the ghetto just days before the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on Pesach 1943.

While he survived, nearly his entire family was murdered while sanctifying Hashem’s name, leaving him to rebuild his life alone in the aftermath of the destruction.

After the war, R’ Berysz eventually settled in Melbourne, Australia, where he built a life of torah, community leadership, and greatness. For decades, he was a central figure in the Caulfield Bais Medrash, serving as president, giving shiurim, and inspiring generations with his strength and clarity. Even into his later years, R’ Berysz remained deeply connected to learning. At over 100 years old, he continued to learn Torah and even made siyumim every erev Pesach, inspiring all who witnessed his dedication and passion.

In one of his final reflections, R’ Berysz Auerbach z”l captured the weight of a lifetime of memory with simplicity: “I can talk for six months,and I wouldn’t tell you everything I want to tell you.” As one of the last living witnesses to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising on Pesach 1943, he carried stories vast and painful. At just 19 years old, he was miraculously smuggled out of the ghetto by his older brother, a member of the Jewish underground, disguised with forged papers and a Polish uniform. For the remainder of the war, he survived hidden in safe houses run by the Polish resistance, while his family, including his father and brothers, were brutally murdered. Even decades later, he would recall the smell of the burning ghetto and the final glimpse of the world and town he was forced to leave behind. As Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron just passed, his voice is a call to remember, not only his story, but the over 300,000 Jews who perished in the Warsaw Ghetto, many of whose stories were never told.

Those who knew him describe a man of incredible resilience, sharp memory, and unwavering emunah, a living link to a world that was destroyed, yet never forgotten.