Chanoch;
Please understand time and circumstances have prevented me from expressing my deep sorrow over the sudden loss of your beloved grandfather Rabbi Leibel Bistritsky, ztzl.
And then when I saw you on Shabbos, all I could do was give you a hug. I trust you understood the message. You know, when I first met your zaidey over 40 years ago, it was amazing to meet him and see him in action with your bubby, tzil gezunt zein, behind the counter and him on his Hatzolah pager – before cell phones.
He would tell me about his brother’s seforim collection and the fish oil business started by their father, a.h.
He would speak of his connection to the Boyaner Rebbe ztzl and his family. I of course knew the Rebbe’s son in law, Rabbi Dr. Menachen Brayer, who came to Halifax for several years to be the chazan for the Yomim Na’aroyim. That would have been 1963 – 1967.
Your zaidye represented a time, experience and connections, we shall never see again.
Truly – a great man, a great chassid, a great life, a great loss.
And when his time came, like all tzadikim, he was taken with a neshika.
May his memory continue to be an inspiration to you as it always has been. Be comforted with the imminent arrival of Moshiach and techias hamaisim, your zaidye will only be away just a few more minutes.
Your friend
Chaim Leib Medjuck