HaRav Avrohom Chaim Dovid Schreiber zt"l one of the founders of Modi'in Illit and one of the builders of Torah and tzedokoh in Eretz Hakodesh, passed away at the age of 62 following a difficult illness.
HaRav Schreiber was born in 5702 (1942) to R' Moshe, a prominent activist for chareidi Jewry who was close to the Chazon Ish and a descendent of the Chasam Sofer and R' Akiva Eiger. Avrohom Chaim Dovid studied at talmudei Torah in Bnei Brak and later at Yeshivas Ponovezh where he cleaved to his rabbonim, including the mashgiach, HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein zt"l and the rosh yeshiva HaRav Elozor Menachem Mann Shach, zt"l.
As a bochur he devoted all of his time to Torah learning with great exertion and perseverance, acquiring extensive knowledge of Shas. He was among the leading talmidim in the Ponovezh beis medrash and for years he learned in chavrusa with ylt"a HaRav Boruch Shmuel Deutsch and HaRav Meir Heisler.
After marrying the daughter of HaRav Avrohom Englard, rov and av beis din of Avra and at the end of his lifetime av beis din and reish mesivto of Kiryat Bobov in Bat Yam, HaRav Schreiber continued his learning at the Ponovezh Kollel. Despite the financial strain he refused to accept tzedokoh or money from the kollel, and worked a bit between the sedorim.
One of HaRav Schreiber's most notable acts of chessed was the building of Modi'in Illit (Kiryat Sefer) when he realized how hard it was for chareidim to find an affordable apartment. With the encouragement of Maran HaRav Shach zt"l, he and his partners founded Kiryat Sefer, once a remote outpost of Torah and today a part of Modi'in Illit, one of the major centers for Torah and chessed in Eretz Hakodesh.
With a pioneering spirit he himself went to live in the town, where he was like a father to the residents. He used his own money to maintain talmidei chachomim and avreichim and set up Kollel Zichron Moshe le'ilui nishmas his father. He joined the dozens of avreichim in the kollel, learning with tremendous hasmodoh just like the young avreichim.
His home was a place of hachnosas orchim where the brokenhearted and the feeble found respite. He made the middos of HaKodosh Boruch Hu his own, eagerly helping the poor and needy.
When he became sick in recent years he did not lose hope that HaKodosh Boruch Hu would help him recover. Undergoing an operation a few weeks ago he told his family, "I belong to HaKodosh Boruch Hu and I know he will do only what is good for me."
In recent weeks his illness worsened until he returned his soul, refined through suffering, to his Creator just days before Shavuos.
Before the levaya set out from Beis Medrash Zichron Moshe in Kiryat Sefer he was eulogized by his sons and by the rabbonim of the city: the moro d'asro HaRav Meir Kessler, rosh yeshivas Knesset Hagedoloh HaRav Hillel Zacks, the deceased's friend since childhood HaRav Shmuel Deutsch, one of the roshei yeshivos at Yeshivas Kol Torah.
Following the hespeidim, with the whole city taking part in the enormous procession, led by the city's rabbonim, dayonim, roshei yeshivos, roshei kollelim and local leaders, went as far as the gates of the city before the levaya resumed at the Ponovezh plaza, where thousands of Bnei Brak residents joined the procession. Outside Kollel Ponovezh he was eulogized by HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, HaRav Nissim Karelitz and HaRav Osher Deutsch, a ram at Yeshivas Ponovezh.
Among the thousands of bnei Torah accompanying the mittoh were HaRav Shteinman, HaRav Karelitz, HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, HaRav Gershon Eidelstein and roshei yeshivos and roshei kollelim.
Buried in the Ponovezh Cemetery near HaRav Shach zt"l, before his grave was covered over the deceased's brothers-in- law HaRav Chaim Englard and HaRav Yisroel Marmarosh, rosh kollel at Kollel Breslov, gave parting words.
Other maspidim included HaRav Yehuda Kener, the rov of Beis Medrash Zichron Moshe, the deceased's sons HaRav Yosef Schreiber, Rosh Kollel Zichron Moshe, and HaRav Yitzchok Schreiber, who teaches at Yeshivas Orchos Torah.
HaRav Avrohom Chaim Dovid Schreiber zt"l is survived by his wife Tirtzoh, who stood by him devotedly throughout his lifetime in his Torah learning and in his work for the klal, his sons Yosef and Yitzchok, his sons-in-law Rav Yaakov Kraus, Rav Elozor Schlesinger, Rav Yehoshua Zelivansky, Rav Nachshon Scheinfeld and Rav Chaim Rubnitz, a daughter who has not yet married and grandchildren, all of whom continue the spiritual path he handed down to them during his lifetime.
