Hundreds of participants, led by roshei yeshivos and rabbonim,
were on hand to lay to rest Mrs. Tzipporah (Feige) Kushelevsky
o"h, who passed away on 29 Teves.
She was born to Rav Yaakov Meir Gross, a native of Lomzha who
immigrated to the U.S. in 5677 (1917) as a young man to escape the
draft in Poland. All his life he sanctified the Name of Heaven
publicly through his mesirus nefesh for Shabbos, for which he
was fired repeatedly. He supported Yeshivas Lomzha and helped HaRav
Yechiel Michel Gordon during his U.S. fund-raising campaigns. He also
devoted his energies and personal funds to building mikvo'os at
locations around the U.S.
Her maternal side was related to the Shmuelson family, which included
several generations of rabbonim and dayonim in Lithuania, and to HaRav
Shmuel Ragoler ben Chaim, one of the dayonim among the Perushim of
Jerusalem, who was given the honor of being buried at Har Hazeisim.
Though during this period there were no Jewish schools in the U.S.,
they managed to raise their daughters, who went on to marry
outstanding talmidei chachomim. In 5693 (1933) the family moved
to Eretz Hakodesh, settling in Tel Aviv. Their home was wide open to
all those in need, particularly the rabbonim and talmidim of Yeshivas
Heichal HaTalmud and Yeshivas Lomzha.
During this period marrying a genuine ben Torah entailed great
self-sacrifice, particularly since she was accustomed to the material
abundance of the U.S., yet she chose a life of Torah, marrying HaRav
Eliyohu Kushelevsky, who had been a student at Yeshivas Slobodka since
his bar mitzvah and among the first students of the Divrei Yechezkel.
Back in Lithuania he had been known as the Prodigy of Malat. Several
years after their marriage, they moved to the U.S., where HaRav
Kushelevsky served as a rov for several kehillos and as rosh
yeshiva of Yeshivas R' Shlomo Kugler. Later he served as rosh yeshiva
of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim together with HaRav Mendel Zaks, the son-in-
law of the Chofetz Chaim, and a close friendship formed between
them.
Mrs. Kushelevsky dedicated her body, her soul and her financial
resources to her husband's Torah study. She said she had never
disturbed his learning; in her final years, despite her poor health,
she would say to her sons, her son-in-law and her grandsons, "You
don't have to honor me so much by sitting with me. Go learn."
She lost at a young age both her daughter, who was married to HaRav
Lipa Rabinowitz, and her son, R' Avrohom, yet she accepted the
Judgment without the slightest protest. She had the merit to see many
descendants — including great-grandchildren and great-great-
grandchildren — who were outstanding bnei Torah, most
notably her oldest son, HaRav Tzvi Kushelevsky, rosh yeshiva of
Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah for decades.
