Monsey Memories: Reb Nosson Berney

Yehuda Alter 

A pillar of chessed and tzedakah in the Monsey community of yore was Reb Nosson Gavriel Berney, a Holocaust survivor from Europe, who went on to build a Torah family and an incredible chessed legacy in the Monsey community. 

In his youth, Reb Nosson escaped a concentration camp in France, and made his way to the home of Reb Schneur Zalman Shneerson, a rov in Paris who saved thousands of people from the clutches of the Nazis. About his war experiences in France, Reb Nosson would later recall: “miracles happened every day.” 

In Monsey, Reb Nosson was a familiar figure in many of the batei midrashim. He would frequent the Sanzer Beis Medrash, which was under the leadership of Rav Chaskel Horowitz, as well as the Beis Yisroel Shul, where he davened during the weekday and attended shiurim given by the marah d’asrah, Rav Nosson Horowitz. 

He forged deep connections with Gedolim of Monsey, including Torah personalities such as Rav Shmelka Taubenfeld, Rav Shabsi Vigder, and others. He was also an early supporter of the Brisker Kollel-Zichron Shneur of Monsey.  

The Berney home in Monsey was a beis va’ad l’chachomim, and was the site of numerous parlor meetings to support Torah institutions. 

When Rav Berel Greenbaum, the principal of Yeshiva of Spring Valley, undertook to build a new building for the yeshiva, Reb Nosson was right at his side throughout the project—a true builder of Torah in the Monsey community. 

Reb Nosson’s dedication to kvias ittim l’Torah was legendary. He launched a daf Yomi shiur in Monsey that has been in existence for more than forty years. Even when business concerns took him to the far corners of the earth, he remained committed to his learning—simultaneously bringing chizuk to the people in these often-far-flung communities. 

He always saw the good in others. This special quality of ein tova, a kindly perspective on life, was the source of his charm.

In the year 2011, Nathan Berney joined a small group of Holocaust survivors who undertook to return to France to visit the sites they remembered from their youth.    

Reb Nosson passed away on leil bedikas chometz of the year 2020, in the mageifah of the Coronavirus, leaving behind an incredible legacy of Torah and chessed in the Monsey community.