Raphael Z”L Nissenbaum was born July 25, 1927 is Ostrowiec Poland. His father Moshe and Mother Shprintza predeceased him, as well as his sisters Regina Rudomin and Nesia Borenstein. He is survived by one sister Bracha (Brandla) Zalowicz. Raphael was a survivor of the Holocaust, after hiding in 1942 with his father mother and siblings, being found in an attic and witnessing his father’s murder before his eyes. He was saved and sent to the camps of Buna, Aushwitz, and was liberated in 1945. Not knowing that any family survived, Raphael went with a trusted elder survivor Alfred Kains to Antwerp, and Brussels Belgium where he began working as a watchmaker and learning Jewelery and diamond trading by the Kains family. In 1952 he learned his mother and 3 sisters survived and were living in Israel. Raphael travelled to South Africa to be with his sister Regina, and Israel for a short visit to see his family, and then Toronto, Los Angeles, New York and then back to Toronto where he has been living since 1988. Raphael was a kind, gentle reverent man devoted to Torah and religious Jewish observance. Raphael was generous to all those he came in contact with, always having a smile and blessings to be given. Raphael passed away on July 17,2017 and will be missed.
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