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New York Post
24-04-2025
- New York Post
Family matriarch, 101, who fled Russia after World War II fatally struck by unlicensed driver in NYC: ‘Independent till her last day'
A 101-year-old Hasidic family matriarch who fled Russia after World War II – and was 'extremely independent till her last day' – was fatally struck by an unlicensed driver in Brooklyn, according to cops and her family. Taibel Brod was walking home from a birthday party for a rebbe around 8:25 p.m. on April 8 when a 65-year-old man behind the wheel of a 2023 GMC Yukon SUV plowed into her as she crossed at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and Montgomery Street in Crown Heights, authorities and relatives said. Brod was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, where she was initially listed in stable condition – but succumbed to her injuries less than two weeks later, on Sunday, police said. Family matriarch Taibel Brod, 101, was fatally struck by an unlicensed driver in Crown Heights, cops said. Brod left behind five children – three sons, two daughters — and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to her loved ones. Born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, Brod was among many Hasidim who fled Russia on escape trains to Poland, according to an online obituary. She met her husband, Reb Chatzkel Brod, at the Poking displaced persons camp in Germany, the obit said. They married there and had two daughters before moving to the US in 1951, according to Brod's relatives. The growing Chabad family lived in Brownsville before moving to Crown Heights in the mid-1950s. Brod lived alone after her husband died 20 years ago. On Thursday afternoon, her Crown Heights home – a short walk from the deadly crash – was filled with grieving family members sitting shiva, a seven-day Jewish mourning ritual. Brod, a grandmother and great-grandmother, fed patients at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center for 50 years, her family said. Google Maps Her son, Yosef Brod, 73, who works as a building engineer in Los Angeles, said his mother spent decades feeding patients at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center. 'For over 50 years she would feed patients,' said Yosef, as he sat next to three lit candles. 'Over 50 years day in and day out.' Yosef said his mother, who was 'very active in the community,' had 'goodness and kindness going for her.' Another son echoed his sentiments. 'My mother was deeply committed to the community as a volunteer in many areas. She did a lot of praying on a daily basis,' added son, Yisroel, 69, of Israel. 'A very open house and visitors would come from other countries to be in this community. She'd welcome them for a weekend, a holiday. She was a very giving person.' The great-grandmother was walking alone – with the light in her favor – when driver Menachem Shagalow tried to make a left turn eastbound onto Montgomery Street and struck her in the crosswalk, according to police. 'She was [a] very independent woman,' said her 38-year-old grandson, also named Yisroel, of Miami, who works in business development. 'Extremely independent and strong. She would take the bus by herself. She was extremely independent till her last day.' Shagalow was arrested at the scene and charged with aggravated unlicensed operator, failure to exercise due care and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, cops said. He was released on a desk appearance ticket and is set to be arraigned on April 28, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Shagalow has only one prior arrest, for grand larceny in 1998, cops said. The family declined to talk about the driver, with the elder Yisroel only saying, 'It was an accident.' Yosef said he had the chance to visit his mother in the hospital on Thursday and Friday, days before her death. 'From time to time, she did open her eyes,' he said. 'I sensed that she did recognize me. The day that she passed away, my brothers and two sisters walked from Brooklyn to the hospital and she smiled at them. That was before she passed away.' He said he looks to his faith as he grieves his mother's death. 'I don't know God's mystery, how he wants the world,' Yosef said. 'We are taught that everything that happens in the world is called Divine Providence.'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Brooklyn Matriarch, 101, hit by SUV driver dies 2 weeks later from her injuries fled
An elderly woman who was fatally struck in early April by an unlicensed SUV driver as she crossed a Brooklyn street was a Hasidic Jewish matriarch who fled Russia after World War II on an escape train to Poland, family and police said Wednesday. On April 8 around 8:25 p.m., Taibel Brod — whom family members said was 99 years old — was crossing with a walk signal at the intersection of Brooklyn Ave. and Montgomery St. in Crown Heights, and had made it midway across Montgomery St., when the 65-year-old driver of a 2023 GMC Yukon SUV, traveling south on Brooklyn Ave., made a left turn going east onto Montgomery St., striking the victim, cops said. 'She walked every morning from Crown Heights to Brookdale Hospital, she used to feed patients there for many, many years,' said the victim's youngest son, Yisroel Brod, 70, who is a fundraising consultant. Taibel Brod was a longtime resident in Crown Heights, and the matriarch to a large Chabad family, and the mother of five children — three boys and two girls — with many grandchildren, the son said. She was born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, and left Russia with many other adherents of Hasidism on the famous escape trains to Poland. She ended up in the Displaced Persons camp of Poking, according to an obituary. When Taibel Brod left Russia after World War II, she left with another person's passport to escape, the family said. 'She came to a displaced person's camp in Germany in 1946 at Pocking, Germany. That's where she met my father. My two sisters were born there,' Yisorel Brod said. 'She came to New York in 1951 and settled in Brownsville and now in Crown Heights.' Cops, who had reported Taibel Brod was 101 years old, arrested the driver, Menachem Shagalow, the day of the accident, charging him with aggravated unlicensed operator, failure to exercise due care, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Yisorel Brod described the accident as a 'tragedy.' Taibel Brod was transported by EMS to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition with injuries to the head after the accident. She died nearly two weeks later, succumbing to her injuries on April 20, according to police. Her family described her as a 'devout' person who did her own shopping, washing and took care of herself as best she could. 'The hardship in her youth in Russia gave her the strength to go forward. She survived communism,' said her son Yosef Bord, 73, a building engineer from Los Angeles, Calif.
