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Family Is All That Matters 64 Mikhail Braverman Mikhail Braverman Mikhail was born in Kamenets-Podolsk in Ukraine in 1912. In Moscow, he married Tanya Chernyalovskaya. Together they had three children, all born in Reutov, Russia: Lev, Vladimir (Vova), and Yevgeny (Zhenya). Mikhail served in the Soviet army during World War II and was wounded on the ont. Aer the war, Mikhail was manager of a store in Russia. Even though Mikhail and Tanya's oldest son, Lev, was only 10 years old when his father died, he has very strong memories of him. Mikhail was always very well dressed and usually wore a suit with a hat. They had many fun times together. His brothers used to play under the kitchen table and their father would gently tell them to play elsewhere. "My father was always smiling, and I never heard him raise his voice," Lev says. "He was always calm and kind." Mikhail never spanked the children; it was le up to their mother to be the disciplinarian. When Lev was in first or second grade, someone gave him cigarettes and his mother gave him a couple of taps on the backside. He has never smoked since. Mikhail kept kosher. Lev remembers one dinner when Mikhail found out that the meal that he had been served was rabbit (non-kosher)—the usually gentle man threw the platter. Lev saw his father drunk only once. Mikhail had promised Tanya that he wouldn't drink beer, as his health did not allow it. Nevertheless, once in a while Mikhail cheated and drank a beer or two. At one such time, Lev witnessed the transgression. Mikhail told Lev it was to be a secret, which made Lev feel very special. At the dinner table that night, the dinner was almost over before Lev said, "Look, Dad, I lasted a whole day and I didn't tell Mom you had a beer!" Mikhail's health declined and eventually he was taken to the hospital. When Lev got home om school, he started riding his bicycle to the hospital to see his father, but it was too late. Mikhail had already died of complications of kidney failure due to hypertension. Lev remembers his father in a metal casket, with all the family members around him. Tanya prepared the house for sitting Shiva and reading the Hebrew texts. The Shiva mourning ritual was very intense, with people barefoot sitting on the floor. Lev remembers Uncle Iosif Volsun being there. He had come to the house on many occasions, dashing in his Air Force uniform. When he did, he always gave Lev Air Force insignia. As the oldest of the three very close brothers, Lev remembers that while his siblings Vova and Zhenya went to school, it fell to him to meet the teachers for parent-teacher conferences because his mother was too exhausted om being a single parent aer Mikhail's death. Lev attended technical college and then university in Moscow. In the army he was a distinguished athlete, competing as a boxer. He married Raisa (Raya) Melioshina on February 14, 1970, in Moscow. They have two children, both born in Moscow: Michael and Aleksander. On November 23, 1989, the family immigrated to Israel. "In Russia, I saw a complete dead end to everything in the physical and spiritual realm," Lev says. "I saw it in the faces of the young people who were walking around and I couldn't bear it any longer." He could have come to America, but Lev followed a dream that his destiny was in Israel. There was no escaping this dream, and it was in Israel that Lev became a healer. Raya and Lev's son Michael married Lubov Spivak in Israel on October 5, 2000, 10 years aer she le Ukraine. They have two children, Emily and Eric. Lev's first brother, Vladimir (Vova) Braverman, married Tatiana Chikvina on February 24, 1973, in Lyubertsy, Russia. They have two children, Valera and Anna. On July 29, 1995, in Lyubertsy, Valera married Lena Gromokova. They have one child, Slava. Above: Mikhail Braverman (top), Tanya Chernyalovskaya, Mikhail's wife (middle), their children Lev, Vova, and Zhenya (bottom).

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