Rabbi Yerachmiel Binyomin Halevi Klein, who discreetly served as a longtime personal aide to the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—and as a liaison to Israeli political, social and security leadership, passed away early Friday morning in New York. He was 79 years old.
The rabbi was born in Jerusalem in 1935. His father, Rabbi Menachem Klein, was a respected Torah scholar; his mother, Rachel, died shortly after giving birth—similar to Rachel, the wife of Jacob, he would say. He was named Yerachmiel after his mother, and Binyomin, like Rachel’s son.
As a young man, he excelled in his studies at Torat Emet, the Chabad yeshivah in Jerusalem.
As early as 1951, he remembers eagerly asking a visitor from Brooklyn, N.Y., about the Rebbe and being told: “Lubavitch is royalty.”
In 1956, he left Israel for the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn to study at the Central Chabad Yeshivah, and once there, developed what would become a lifelong bond with the Rebbe. When he arrived, the Rebbe sent a group of students to greet him at the airport.
The following Shabbat at the weekly farbrengen, the Rebbe shared food at his table with him, a rare distinction.
Literature, Inspiration and Connection
Rabbi Klein threw himself into organizing Chabad’s fledgling educational activities, including Mesibos Shabbos, which gathered young people together on Saturday afternoons for an hour or two of Jewish education, inspiration and entertainment. He traveled extensively as part of the Merkos Shlichus “Roving Rabbis” program, sweeping through many Western states, in addition to Cuba, South America and other locales, bringing Jewish literature, inspiration and a connection to Jewish life to many isolated Jewish communities and individuals.
In some instances, the Rebbe was intimately involved in planning the itineraries and other details of these trips.

In 1961, he married Laya Schusterman. Her father, Rabbi Mordechai Schusterman, was among the leading Chassidim in the Crown Heights community, and frequently read the Torah in the Rebbe’s presence at Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway.
The young couple was subsequently dispatched by the Rebbe to Melbourne, Australia, where the rabbi was among the founders of the Yeshivah Gedolah of Australia and New Zealand.
Shortly afterwards, in 1963, he returned to New York. At the Rebbe’s suggestion, he joined the Rebbe’s secretariat as an aide to Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov, the Rebbe’s chief of staff.
His duties included ushering visitors in and out of the Rebbe’s study on certain nights. On a daily basis, Rabbi Klein would bring people’s queries and communications to the Rebbe and then reply with the Rebbe’s responses. There were also designated times when he would serve as the Rebbe’s driver.
A native Hebrew speaker, Rabbi Klein developed close connections over the years with leaders of every branch of Israel’s political, military and security leadership, who regularly sought the Rebbe’s counsel. Even decades later, he was famously tight-lipped about the Rebbe’s extensive dealings with them.
He was once asked why he never kept a diary detailing the many events he was privy to in the Rebbe’s court. “When bringing people’s life questions to the Rebbe,” the rabbi replied, “one needs to come with a completely blank slate, with nothing else in mind.”
In his quiet and unassuming manner, he also helped people financially, without them knowing, and offered wise advice to many.
The Klein home—just a few doors down from 770—was open to visitors from all streams of life. Spiritual seekers, social leaders and people hungry for a hot meal and a warm word of comfort knew they were welcome there.
Even after the Rebbe’s passing in 1994, Rabbi Klein continued to spend many hours his office at Lubavitch World Headquarters and visited the Ohel every day, except for Shabbat and holidays.

At 770, he was a friendly and approachable mentor to yeshivah students, who relished the opportunity to interact with an aide of the Rebbe’s.
He served as a board member of Machne Israel—the social-services arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—and for many years led Kollel Menachem, the institution for advanced Torah study for married men in Crown Heights.
The rabbi passed away in his sleep on Friday morning.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, all of whom are Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries: Rochel Gordon (London); Faige Sudak (London); Chanie Garelik (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Shternie Krinsky (Manchester, N.H.); Rabbi Levi Klein (Memphis, Tenn.); Esther Hadassah Ciment (Little Rock, Ark.); Rivka Grossbaum (Minnetonka, Minn.); Devora Schmerling (Queens, N.Y.); Miriam Moscowitz (Northbrook, Ill.); and Rabbi Yaakov Klein (Moscow).
The funeral is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Shomrei Hadas Chapel, 3803 14th Ave. in Brooklyn. The procession will pass by Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway at 4 p.m. Rabbi Klein will be laid to rest near the Rebbe at the Old Montefiore cemetery in Queens, N.Y.




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