The end of Shabbos brought sad news to the staff and supporters of Agudath Israel of America, the entire American Orthodox Jewish world, and anyone in the broader Jewish world beyond who was familiar with the efforts and accomplishments on behalf of Yiddishkeit of long-time Agudath Israel executive director Rabbi Boruch B. Borchardt Z”L, who was niftar over Shabbos.
Rabbi Borchardt served Agudath Israel for over fifty years, and was at Rabbi Moshe Sherer’s right hand for most of that time. Even as he was weakened by illness over recent years, he would be at his desk at Agudath Israel each day until he was forced to drastically cut back his work several months ago. Even his “retirement,” however, was punctuated by appearances at the office for important meetings and other work. He even
made the monumental effort that allowed him to attend Agudath Israel’s annual dinner last Sunday.
His activities on behalf of Agudath Israel over his years of service were many and varied, and his official title did not do them justice. Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Agudath Israel of America’s executive vice president for government and public affairs, called him “the glue that kept the organization together” for all those decades. Rabbi Borchardt’s dedication and subservience to Gedolei Torah is well-known to all who were privileged to work with him or know him over the years.
Rabbi Borchardt, was born in Germany, studied in the Mir Yeshiva in Europe and spent the years of World War II in Shanghai with the yeshiva before immigrating to the United States.
His Levaya is scheduled for 10:00 tomorrow (Sunday, Erev Shavuos) morning at Bais Hatalmud, 82nd Street at Bay Parkway in Brooklyn.
May his wonderful wife and children have a nechama bisoch shar aveilei Tziyon v’Yrushalayim.
Yehi zichro boruch.
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10 Responses
He will be sorely missed.Boruch Dayan Ho’Emmess
Baruch Dayan Ha’Emes. I guess there’s no Shiva because of Yom Tov. That’s hard for the family. What a loss to the Klal.
ברוך דין האמת
I was a ben bayis by Rabbi Borchardt Zt”l for many years, spending many Shabbosos with them. He was a special Yid with a huge heart. Leaving far away from home, he made me feel as if I was part of his mishpocha. The Torah he taught me, the humility and humbleness I saw in his actions will always guide me. Me he be a melitz yosher for Klal Yisrael, and may Hashem comfort his family among the mourners of Tzion and Yerushalayim.
Mordechai (Mark) Bulua
At the moment when we pay respect and recant the past, we must remember the great Tzadikim and Gedolei Hadoor who had no other shore but the welcoming mat of the Shanghai people who opened their hearts and soil to our people and we should one day pay tribute to this TAIPAN who provided The Mir yeshivah and its people the open ended visas that gave them the only way out when no one else on earth did, and as Rabbi Borchardt Zt”l has said over the years without this men, and his sheliach we would have lost great torah wisdom and many of our people, before his untimely death the rabbi had sent a note to the daughter of this man and said in simple word his gratitude for the great mitvah her father did and let us associate both of them in their sechous
He was one of the few klal workers that did his work truely “leshame shomayim”.
The midda that most comes to mind when thinking of Rabbi Borchardt ztz”l and his wonderful rebbetzin (may she live and be well!) is the special effort they made, at great expense to themselves financially and physically, to attend a simcha, near or far. I saw them at many simchos here in Baltimore (including our own BH) – they would take a bus or cab to the train station, take the train to Baltimore, take a cab to the simcha, stay for an hour, and then do the reverse all the way back to Washington Hts or Brooklyn in the same evening – an exhausting thing for anyone, but especially for an elderly person who is not well! They really appreciated the importance of a Jewish simcha to the ba’al simcha and their mazel tovs were totally sincere. You could feel their genuine happiness for the baal simcha, be it a bris, bar mitzvah, vort, or wedding. Even years after an event, they would inquire as to how a young couple or their children were doing. They dealt with many, many problems within the Jewish community but while they were disappointed by peoples’ failings, they never showed bitterness, only a willingness to help people again and again, despite personal privation. Their shidduch (after R. Borchardt was widowed) was a fairy tale that puts all of today’s shidduchim to shame because there weren’t demands – only a common goal of what they could do for one another and klal yisroel – and the fairy tale continued until the end. May his widow and R. Borchardt’s children find comfort in his infinite good deeds during his lifetime, and may he be a meilitz for all of klal yisroel in these troubling times. GB
Can somebody please post if, when, and where they are sitting shiva? Is this Rabbi Bochardt related to Rebbitzen Bochardt from Intensive-Bais Yaakkov of Boro Park Seminary?Thank you! We should only be zoche to hear good things!
#8, You are absolutely correct. It was characteristic of his generation of klal askanim. Back then klal movements were less organized but got twice as much done because people were drawn to it because they believed in it with no expectations of renumeration.
Yehi Zichro Boruch
we are a dor of yessomim