Rachel Adler Shwekey, OBM – A Life of Strength, Courage & Sacrifice

By: Fern Sidman

The mother of internationally renowned Jewish recording artist and musical performer Yaakov Shwekey passed away in the early hours of Sunday, May 8th at the age of 77. Rachel Adler Shwekey, who was living in Miami at the time of her passing, had recently suffered severe pneumonia. Her condition deteriorated as a result, leading to her passing, as was reported by the Jewish Press.

A descendant of Vizhnitz Hasidim who survived the Nazi Holocaust, Mrs. Shwekey immigrated to Israel with her family while still a child. She later moved permanently to the United States.

She is survived by her three sons Yaakov, Yosef Chaim, and Moshe Dovid, all of them famous musicians.

A small funeral was to held at Newark Airport prior to her transport to Israel, where she was laid to rest in the Eretz HaChaim cemetery in Beit Shemesh.

In a conversation with Yaakov Shwekey, he told the Jewish Voice that his mother’s life on this earth was tantamount to “sacrifice” in every respect as she clung tenaciously to her majestic heritage and prominent ancestry and inculcated a deep and abiding love of Hashem and Torah to her children.

“My mother was born in a displaced persons camp right around the time that World War II and the Holocaust were nearing an end, “ said Mr. Shwekey.  He added that his maternal grandparents had just been married only six months before the Nazis invaded their native Hungary in 1944. “My grandparents were Vizhnitz Chassidim, and very pious people in every way,” Mr. Shwekey added.

His grandfather’s name was Avram Tzvi Hirsch and during the nightmarish days of the Holocaust when the wholesale slaughter of European Jewry was taking place every moment of every day, his grandparents were sent to the Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps. “On many instances, my grandparents were slated to die in the notorious Nazi gas chambers, but somehow, through miracles of Hashem, on each occasion when they were set to meet their end, Hashem in His infinite kindness snatched them from the jaws of death,” recalled Mr. Shwekey with palpable emotion reverberating in his voice.

He remembered that his mother, Rachel, of blessed memory, would often say, “ If someone is meant to live, they will live.”

Mr. Shwekey also relayed a most miraculous story of when the allied forces, namely the US army, arrived in Europe and liberated some concentration camps and helped transport the survivors of these ghoulish camps to displaced persons camps.

“ I recall my mother telling me that when her father had just boarded the train to the DP camp, he had thought he saw his wife Esther, my grandmother, on the platform. They had been separated due to the war, but my grandfather was absolutely convinced that his wife Esther, whom he loved dearly was amongst those on the very crowded platform, “ Mr. Shwekey recalled. “The Americans agreed to let him off the train, and he literally jumped and before long he actually found his wife, my grandmother and they were reunited. My family saw so very many miracles during that time and throughout their lives,” he added.

Mr. Shwekey’s grandparents moved to Eretz Yisroel to try and build a new world. His mother Rachel, of blessed memory had two sisters who eventually moved to Cleveland. Because of the severe trauma of the war and the mental and emotional residue that it left in its wake, Mr. Shwekey’s maternal grandparents were eventually divorced.  Mr. Shwekey’s mother Rachel headed to New York to get a job to help support her family.

Hashem, in His infinite kindness, led Mr. Shwekey’s mother to her besherte when she met and married his father who had come from Egypt. “I recall hearing the story about my paternal grandmother, who, when finding out that Rabbi Kalmanovich of the Mir Yeshiva had come to Egypt to ferry out as many Jewish boys as possible to the safety of the United States and to place them in the Mir so they could learn Torah. She said that the rabbi was her “Malach”, her angel for saving her son from the impending dangers of Egypt. “ recalled Mr. Shwekey.