Dovid Ben Avraham z”l who was also known as just David (Brunson) passed away this past Shabbos before Tisha B’av. He was a Ger Tzedek who moved to Uman over 20 years ago and spent day and night sitting by the Tziyon of Rebbe Nachman. He had his spot set aside for himself in the inside of the Tziyon and anybody who ever went to Uman saw him there learning and praying. He had an apartment that he rented in Uman for many years and according to many people who knew him, he would let many guests stay there. In the last two years, he did not enter his apartment really at all and lived and rested by the Kever of Rebbe Nachman. He was a holy Tzaddik who lived with simplicity in the way of Rabbeinu z”l. It became known recently that David had purchased a burial plot in the holy city of Tzfat and major efforts are underway to bring his body to Eretz Yisroel from Ukraine. We spoke with one his his brothers, Gary, who sent us this short biography about David:
“David (69 years on 28 June 1955) is the eldest of four brothers (Larry (68), Gary (67), Richard (63) born to Gloria (87) and Clarence Edgar Brunson III (91) (both deceased in 2020, married 67 years). His father was a career US military officer (engineer working on developing military weapons systems like Maverick and anti aircraft lasers). David was raised in Texas, Michigan, New Mexico, Alabama and Virginia. While growing up he showed and interest in electronics building ham radios and a computer. He was also an accomplished concert pianist and received a full university scholarship. He was raised as a loosely affiliated Methodist by his mother’s influence. He was somewhat rebellious and moved from the family home around the age of 16-17. In his late teens he became a member of Shiloh which was a Christian fellowship group located in California. David was with them for several years working around the Pacific Northwest planting Douglas fir trees. He became disenchanted with Shiloh because of the leadership’s pursuit of female recruits. He went on to the University of California at Berkeley where he received a computer science degree. From there he went to work on supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Around this time he was engaged to be married in Florida, the wedding was called off mutually by both the bride and groom hours before the ceremony, they still held the reception with both attending. Around the early 1980s David became very interested in the Jewish religion. I remember him using a Sony Walkman cassette player listening to Hebrew so he could learn to be fluent the language. At this point in time he moved to Brooklyn New York where he immersed himself in and around Orthodox Jews. After spending six months in Israel on a visa he returned to Brooklyn where he studied under rabbi before being granted Israeli citizenship. We last saw him back in early 2000’s but kept in constant communication. My father who supported his son’s Jewish faith would speak to him almost every week.”
Here is footage from his Funeral in Uman:
