A gentle soul departed.

We were the 1^st group chosen to go to Vancouver on Shlichus. It was an ill-defined shlichus with seemingly porous holes in our daily structure, but still, it was our shlichus and we respected it for what it was. But it was on the oft hour that I asked myself what was I doing here. Yes work was accomplished. We learnt. We taught the shluchim's children. We learnt with balei batim. We did mivtzoim on Fridays. But any of a hundred bachurim could be doing what I was doing. Why was I here? 

The answer I would discover was a person, a single solitary person - Rabbi "Lipa" Dubrawsky. To me in my life I have always sought evidence of a truth. They told me god exists and I thought to myself, show me. They told me the soul was evidence of god's existence and I thought to myself, show me - show me a soul. They said that there was good, elemental good, out there, somewhere, and again I thought to myself, show me - show me a truly indivisibly good person. At times there were those who tempered those thoughts about god and soul with intellectual feats. At times I came across good people who made belief in humanity tangible. But a void of truth remained.

When I first met Rabbi Dubrawsky I was perturbed, what is this man doing here? How does this tremendous intellect lead such an inconspicuous existence? How does a man qualified to pierce and parse truly intellectual subjects sit and relay Judaism's basic tenants? On principle I understood it, but in the realm of celestial fairness it seemed wasteful. 

It took months but I started to speak with Rabbi Dubraswky for short snippets of time, then for longer. We spoke about challenge, about life and about religion. And then, I found myself caring for his thoughts, not for their content necessarily, even though much sharp truth was relayed; it was something else and so very different. What I discovered was a truly caring and attentive person but with an attentiveness that was unworldly. This man in conversation absorbed what you were you saying into the fibers of his being and responding with words imbued with him, by him and with an ever-present special touch.

Splitting a Rabbi from his elemental base i.e. Torah, God, and all of its entailments should mean leaving him bare with little else. But Rabbi Dubrawsky could be split from all of those and still be a towering figure, a towering figure of simple elemental basic goodness. He cared truly and undeniably and it radiated out of his existence. You could feel it in the occasional prolonged handshake, you could see it in his eyes, and hear it in his voice.

But in truth Rabbi Dubrawsky cannot ("and could not" in a very painful past tense) be split from Torah, from soul, as it was just that which made him radiate. He radiated the principles about which he taught. His elemental goodness was based on "Chesed" and "Ahavas Yisroel", his piercing intellect derivatives of "Torah". For me, this man existing was evidence that god, soul, and goodness were not easily cast off sentences but were very real and true existences.

Many an "In Memoriam" ends with "the world is a darker place with his passing". About Rabbi Dubrawsky it can be said that the world burns ever more brightly because of his oh so short interval here with us. As evident by the outpouring of grief from here and all over the world I am but one of the very many who were touched by this amazing and gentle soul. Ascend and pray for us Rabbi Dubrawsky you will be terribly missed.

Yosef Lewis