The news came as a shock. Moshe Shubert, my brother, was niftar of a heart attack without warning, just two days before reaching the age of forty-nine. Hashem had made His decision, and we knew we had to accept it.

But to all who knew my brother, it seemed like a life interrupted — like an unfinished symphony. Because, as friends and relatives testified, his actions truly created a unique symphony of chesed and mitzvos, of caring for others and seeking to make them happy in a manner that was utterly pure and genuine. And, upon closer reflection, it can unquestionably be
stated that both his life and his passing were resonant with a recognition of Hashem’s loving Guiding Hand.

The musical notes of Moshe Shubert’s symphony were heard and felt in different ways. They rang forth when he asked others to daven for sick people he had heard about and when he made sure that each choleh got a misheberach in shul.

Those notes vibrated clearly in his routine acts of heartfelt chesed, whether patiently walking an elderly man home from minyan on a regular basis, taking extra time to help a local rav who was struggling with the infirmities of advanced age, or purposely sitting in the back of shul on Shabbos so that a close friend who had changed his seat due to aveilus would not feel alone.

Moshe’s musical notes were appreciated when he lifted acquaintances’ spirits with humorous comments…when he insisted on the paramount importance of shalom bayis and would do anything to make his wife happy…when he would serve as the baal tefillah on Shabbos and sing niggunim that reflected a pure neshama…and when his sincerity and desire for the well-being of others was so profound that several people stated after his petirah, “I would especially ask him for a brachah whenever we met — I almost felt like he was my rebbe.”

A number of “unusual” occurrences took place in the wake of this tragedy that demonstrated both the hashgacha pratis of Hashem’s direction of events and the exalted qualities that Moshe Shubert surely possessed.

* First, our mother and uncle had arrived in Israel the night before, having booked a hotel suite for six days so they could observe my grandfather’s yahrzeit (Yud Gimmel Av, which also happened to be Moshe’s Hebrew birthday) at his kever in the family’s section on Har Hamenuchos.

This led to the quick decisions to bring the niftar to Yerushalayim for burial in the closest available section of the cemetery and to use the hotel suite as the location of the entire shivah. 

* Further, it’s ordinarily difficult to obtain airplane seats to Israel on sudden notice during the height of the summer travel season. But an El Al flight leaving on Thursday had been re-routed and delayed, causing many frum passengers to cancel as they feared the plane might arrive too close to Shabbos. This made it unexpectedly easy for me and my brother-in-law Rabbi Pinchos Yurowitz, who came to help with the necessary arrangements, to book two seats (and get kosher le’mehadrin meals) at the last minute.

* In addition to the flight’s late arrival in Israel on Friday (several hours before Shabbos), the luggage was delayed longer than usual. As a result, the kevurah took place one and a quarter hours before Shabbos candle-lighting, with a sizable crowd attending. It is known that burial on erev Shabbos after chatzos is considered highly meritorious and a special protection for the deceased?s neshama.

* As mentioned, Moshe had been niftar only two days prior to his Hebrew birthday. Torah sources state that one who passes away within three days of his birthday is considered to be in the laudable category of having lived molei yomov — a “life of full days.” 

* Approximately one week before his passing, Moshe had reported having an unusual dream, where he vividly saw and felt the love of our late stepfather, who had been niftar a year and a half ago. Moreover, I myself had vividly dreamt at least twice in the past couple of months that I was walking in the streets of Eretz Yisrael and wondering why I was there, given that I had no plans to join my family on the planned trip. (Obviously, there were other plans…)

Still more occurrences manifested Hashem’s precise planning of events:

* Amazingly, the telephone call with the tragic news came to the hotel in Israel at the same moment that my mother and uncle arrived there, allowing my uncle to begin making appropriate arrangements from his end as quickly as possible.

* My mother’s supervisor at work, meanwhile, had just traveled to Israel for a brief visit and was planning to stay with a relative in another city over the weekend. My uncle was able to contact her, and she consented to stay at the hotel over Shabbos, where she played an important role in offering consolation and assistance to my mother.

* As my brother-in-law and I walked toward the El Al boarding area in Kennedy Airport, there coming toward us were Rav Yaakov Schnaidman, shlita, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Bais Moshe in Scranton (where I had learned in bais medrash) and his rebbetzin, who is my mother’s first cousin. They were supposed to be on the same flight, but were deciding to cancel and reschedule their trip for the coming week due to concerns over pre-Shabbos arrival.

Upon hearing the shocking news, the rosh yeshiva took the hotel’s phone number from me and quickly informed the head of the Alumni Association of the yeshiva. E-mails and cards about my loss were immediately sent to my chaveirim, many of whom called the hotel suite during the shivah and my home afterward from across the United States and Canada. Furthermore, the Schnaidmans paid a shivah visit and attended the hakomas matzeivah, which we decided to perform right after the shivah before leaving Eretz Yisrael.

* Just one year ago my brother-in-law had lost a brother, also at a relatively young age, who had the same first name as my brother. The first yahrzeit was on Sunday, Yud Daled Av, and my brother-in-law observed it in Yerushalayim with us. Moreover, when we were planning to have the matzeivah put up quickly, my brother-in-law wanted to speak with someone he knew from Lakewood who is an expert at preparing descriptive phrases in Hebrew about the niftar for a monument. It “just so happened” that this man was visiting Israel at the same time, so they were able to meet and have his service provided without delay.

* During the shivah, a young man who had known me from yeshiva in Scranton visited us. As it turned out, he was related through marriage to the family of my sister-in-law (who was sitting shivah with us as well) and had suffered a very tragic personal loss of his own in the recent past. With his unique ability to relate to my tzarah, he was able to offer quite meaningful nechamah, quoting relevant hashkafa insights and sharing mutual sentiments that helped me be more attuned to the yad Hashem in such unfortunate circumstances.

* Finally, during our earlier years together, I came to recognize that my brother would often act as a peacemaker at home, attempting to quell family arguments as they to arose. It was indeed appropriate, then, that during the shivah two relatives who had been keeping their distance from each other due to a personal dispute now met, shook hands, and reestablished their relationship on a friendly basis.

On the flight back to New York, I was recounting many of these “mysterious” aspects of the experience to another frum passenger. “Your brother must have been someone really special to have had all this occur around his passing,” he commented.

Indeed.