Ray (Chayele) Porus Palevsky

After nearly a century of an extraordinary life, Ray (Chayele) Porus Palevsky died peacefully on September 20, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, surrounded by the loving care of River Garden staff and family. These last three years Chayele was a Member at The Coves on the River Garden campus in Jacksonville, Florida. She moved from New York City where she and husband Simon (Shimke) (o’h) had lived since arriving in 1946 as refugee survivors of the Nazi Holocaust. They met as Partisans fighting the Nazis in a Jewish unit based in the Narotsh woods near Vilna in Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania). Chayele was the last surviving member of that unit called “Nikome,” (Revenge). Her story is recorded in films, books, journals, and archives.

In New York, Chayele worked in the family jewelry business; Shimke was the goldsmith and dealt with the trade. Chayele handled the retail end of the business for which Shimke had no patience. Together they helped establish Nusakh Vilna (now part of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research), Workmen’s Circle branch 349, and Camp Hemshekh, that started with the children of Holocaust survivors. They were active in numerous organizations devoted to living Yiddish culture and projects of social justice. Chayele was a life-long avid reader of the Forverts. Young and old knew Chayele for her warm, gracious hospitality in which she took great pride.

Chayele was a person to be admired. She was strong, courageous, fiercely loyal, and true to her values and beliefs. She was bound to the truth and devoted to the dignity of the Jewish people. She has left a profound mark on all of us at YIVO and on all who had the honor to have met or known her. The flame of her spirit cannot be extinguished.

A private burial service will be held in New York.

May her memory be a blessing.