On Sept. 11, Jacob (Yaakov/Yasha) Apelberg of Pikesville at 88. He is survived by wife Estelle Apelberg (née Kushner); sons Eytan Apelberg and Benjamin Apelberg; daughter-in-law Meredith (Shiels) Apelberg; and grandchildren Eliana, Norah and Talia Apelberg. He was predeceased by brothers Azryel, Benyamin and Josef; sister Zisel; and parents Aron and Bracha Apelberg. He was born in Wasewo, Poland in 1932. He witnessed the German army invading his village. He would later recall that he thought they were speaking Yiddish and told his mother “The Yiddisher army is gekumen” (The Jewish army has come!). He fled with his mother to the Soviet Union, ending up in Kazakhstan. He was the lone survivor of the Holocaust from his family. After the war, he immigrated to Israel, where he lived on a kibbutz, served in the Israeli army, received a bachelor’s degree in Hebrew language and literature and met his wife, Estelle. In 1973, they moved to the U.S. and settled in Baltimore. He earned an electrical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins while being employed full-time and had a successful career as an engineer. He could speak multiple languages. In retirement, he wrote and published Hebrew poetry and was an active member of the Chevrei Tzedek synagogue and the Baltimore Jewish Cultural Chavurah.
Contributions may be sent to Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, 956 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson, MD 21204 or Yiddish Book Center, 1021 West St., Amherst, MA 01002.
