Advancing Jewish Education

Gary Rosenblatt recently wrote an article further contributing to the literature of denialism in Jewish Education. The reality is, we know what works. Day schools and Yeshivas will produce more boys and girls tightly bound up with the destiny of the Jewish people. Jewish summer camps reinforce that picture. After-school and Sunday School programs do not produce results in the same league. While there is clearly a creaming effect when contemplating whether each system of education is successful or not, (Ie. parents who send their children to Jewish day schools and Yeshivas are themselves more greatly bound up with the Jewish destiny than those parents who are able to send their children to days schools and who choose not to when no extenuating circumstances intervene) the results cannot be denied.

Among the interesting "findings" of Rosenblatt's article include Jack Wertheimer's finding that parents of the secondary education approach see this system as merely Bnai Mitzvah preparation while the schools see their mission as giving children positive Jewish experiences. Both conceptual approaches are flawed.

If the parents merely want a good show Bar Mitzvah from their son and the school merely wants to produce a positive experience, Wertheimer's research demonstrates that the secondary approach meets the needs of the providers and consumers. Young people who have a show case Bar or Bas Mitzvah will clearly also have a positive experience. Case closed, Jewish education complete at 13 (or 12) years old.

The flaw of course is that a well educated Jew cannot be produced in 13 years and the process of education lasts a life time. When is that positive experience supposed to translate into anything but a fond memory when the student does not have the tools to learn? How does being able to chant a Haftora which tooks months to prepare equate to picking up a chumash and learning a Rashi?

And what of the dichotomy between what parents want and what they should want from Jewish education? Without trying to be snobbish, the gap is huge and unfortunate. How many parents who want merely to have a good Bar Mitzvah really care whether or not their child will ever learn a Mishna? Does it matter to most of these parents that the basic infrastructure of Jewish knowledge, the ability to interpret a posek of Chumash, to work through a Mishna, even to touch a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, is not only beyond reach of most of these kids but unknown to them beyond highly superficial mention?

We are not talking about highly advanced learning here, just basics. Yes it is important too, {answering the hypothetical question} that the kids are comfortable attending a Conservativish Shabbos day service or Reformist Shabbos night service because they learned how to say some of the prayers. But, such a goal or conclusion to a child's Jewish education, I would answer is utterly a disaster waiting to happen. It is not a far stretch to blame such reasoning on the destructive out-marriage rates which have reduced Jewish population levels to a startingly low level when compared to natural growth rates of the American population since World War II.

Changing the dynamic is not up to the children, the congregations, the "movements", the educators, or the Federations/Boards of Education. The dynamic depends upon the parents demanding Jewish day school options for their children, replacing once and for all the reliance on after-schools and Sunday schools. Jewish day school attendance must continue to rise and new schools must be opened to meet the rising need. Schools must be able to accomodate the great range in knowledge and ability of these Jewish young. Money should be allocated by the Federations for these schools and for assisting those students financially who need help to pay tuition. This must become the highest domestic priority of Jewish organized philanthropy. Efforts must be made to convince the biggest donors to shift their giving priorites to K-12 day schools. Finding teachers to staff the growing interest in Jewish education will be difficult to say the least. Salaries must be comensurate with need and the monies must be allocated for this process. Day schools need not be managed under "Orthodox" auspices but we must demand that the Judaic curriculum teachers must be Shomrai Mitzvahs, Shabbos, Yiras Shomayim yidden, maybe teamed up with a education "professional" for class room management purposes.

I firmly believe this is a possible mission if and when the souls of the Jewish people link together. Surely a blessing for Shomayim cannot be that distant. The power of the Jews to bring Torah to the world is enormous and our mission cannot fail. It is the will to overcome the negativity generated by the Yetzer Hara which will be the greatest obstacle for only in areas where Torah obligations lie does the YH reside. But this too can be overcome and when it inevitably is overcome only good things could tidings will follow.

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Reform and Conservative compalin Chabad proaching on their constituents The Jewish Week via Shturem.net
Gary Rosenblat, Editor, The Jewish Week (originally ran in The Jewish Week - 13 August 2008)

No matter what you call them — Hebrew schools, religious, congregational or supplementary schools — they have long been the whipping boy of American Jewish life, blamed for providing a superficial education and the most negative Jewish experience in a young person’s life.

But despite being derided as “bar and bat mitzvah factories” with little lasting positive impact, “supplementary schools continue to enroll the majority of students receiving a Jewish education” in the U.S., according to a census about to be released by the Avi Chai Foundation, which focuses on Jewish education.

The study, by Jack Wertheimer, a professor of American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary, estimates that about 230,000 youngsters attend these after-school or Sunday classes, generally one to three times a week.

(Another Avi Chai study, by Marvin Schick, found that 172,447 students were enrolled in Jewish day schools in 2003-2004.)

To no one’s surprise, Wertheimer found that there is precipitous drop in supplementary school enrollment after grade seven (meaning, after bar or bat mitzvah) — more in the New York area than other parts of the country — and that very few Jewish students make it to the high school level.

In addition, most of the schools have small enrollments (more than 40 percent have fewer than 50 students) and Conservative congregational schools are shrinking, in large part because “the number of Conservative families with school-age children has shrunk.”

Reform schools are dominant, accounting for 57 percent of all supplementary students, and only about 3 percent of Modern Orthodox children attend since most go to day schools and yeshivas.

“An overlooked phenomenon,” according to Wertheimer, is the rapid growth of Chabad-sponsored supplementary schools, with more than 400 nationwide, many of them having started in the last five years.

Some Conservative and Reform educators bitterly complain that the Chabad schools are poaching on their constituents, offering reduced tuition and no minimum requirement of time enrolled before providing a bar or bat mitzvah, compared to their three years of mandatory enrollment.

But others note that the Chabad schools have developed a sophisticated method of decoding the Hebrew language, called Aleph Champ, which is widely used and seems to be highly popular with youngsters. It is based on the karate motivational system of color-coded progression from white to black “belts” while gaining expertise in reading.

Wertheimer acknowledged that the census raises as many questions as it asks, mostly because there is relatively little hard data available nationally about even basic information.

The Board of Jewish Education in New York, for example, does not have up- to-date information on the number of schools and students under its aegis.

Robert Sherman, who has been CEO here for a year, said the BJE is working now on compiling that information.

One seeming disconnect that Wertheimer found in his study is that while most parents see the chief role of secondary schools as preparing children for bar or bat mitzvah, only 7 percent of the schools surveyed listed that as their primary goal. Most schools cited giving children positive Jewish experiences as their top objective.

Among the questions Wertheimer now poses, based on his study, are how to reconcile that gap between parents and educators on goals, as well as how to retain students post-bar and bat mitzvah, and how to influence more schools to incorporate Shabbat programs (either through attending services or communal activities) into the curriculum.

Wertheimer is at work on another study tracking 10 supplementary schools from around the country with a high success rate in terms of student retention, to see what works. One trend he has found is “an emphasis on the experiential, providing positive Jewish experiences, perhaps in reaction to the horror stories of how adults look back on their time in supplementary school.”

He says the big question that parents and educators should be asking themselves, and each other, is what they want youngsters to come away with from their time in supplementary school. Is it learning to read Hebrew, or the prayers, or Jewish history, or to observe rituals, or more generally to feel good about being Jewish?

Parents cannot reasonably expect their children to become scholars based on a few hours of study a week (often after a full day of secular classes). Wertheimer believes the key is to “find ways to complement the formal studies and informal Jewish experiences” at home, in school, in synagogue and, ideally, at a Jewish summer camp.

“It’s the combination that shapes Jewish identity,” he maintains.

Both Wertheimer and Sherman of the BJE of New York note that the supplementary high school programs with the most success tend to have a critical mass of students that not only allow for a variety of subject offerings, from courses to retreats to social action programs, but also have a strong social component so that it is “cool” to be enrolled.

Having a group Israel experience as a high school student is another strong identity marker.

But Sherman says there is now a serious debate among educators about whether Birthright Israel, which provides free 10-day Israel trips to 18-to-26-year-olds, is having a negative impact in that many parents are holding off on sending their youngsters to Israel on costly youth group tours, opting to wait a few more years for a free Birthright-subsidized trip.

Wertheimer’s report is intended to provide a census of supplementary schools, but as he notes, his work was “vastly complicated by the absence of a comprehensive list of schools.”

What he has provided is a starting point for collecting much-needed data and posing questions about the direction and very purpose of these schools.

We can complain about their lack of depth and other ills, but in the meantime they are still the gateway for most American Jewish youngsters who receive any kind of Jewish education. So it’s time we invest more research and creativity in this area to find out what’s working and what isn’t before we turn off yet another generation of youngsters to Jewish education.

Words to a Son, Words of Truth

A Jewish father's plea

AVI SHAFRAN , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 30, 2008 .

Dear Sean, I know this might sound strange coming from a father who's far from an observant Jew, but now that you're dating, there's something I need you to understand.

The single most important decision you'll ever make in life will not be about your education or career but about whom you'll marry.

Because who your wife is will determine, more than anything else in your adult life, the person you become, the family you'll raise, what you'll leave on earth when it will be time to go.

I know the end of life isn't something you probably give much thought to. Not many of us do, at least not until we became sick or old enough to see it hovering on the horizon. But a final day does arrive, sooner or later, for each of us. And when it comes, very few of the things we thought made such a big difference will seem to matter at all anymore. And other things we never gave much thought to will suddenly be very important. We'll want to look back at our lives and feel that, in those areas, we pretty much did the right thing.

Sean, the right thing for a Jewish person is to marry another Jew.

Not only because our religion requires it. But because when Jews marry out, they disrespect who they are, they are disloyal to the Jewish past and they chip away at the Jewish future.

Whether or not our family kept strictly kosher or celebrated Shabbat or attended services often enough is all one thing. But the thought of bringing about the end of a proud Jewish line stretching back in time for centuries is something else. It's more than some religious transgression.

YOU NEVER asked to be a Jew, I know. You were born one. But being Jewish isn't a burden. It's a gift. It means you are part of something bigger, much bigger, than yourself.

Each of us Jews represents the hopes of so many Jewish ancestors. Don't forget, you're not just Sean, you're Shmuel too. And even if you only used your Jewish name when you made the blessings over the Torah at your bar-mitzvah, it is still who you really are, an inheritance from your grandfather. And it was the same thing to him from an ancestor of his. You can't just ignore the meaning of something like that. It's a responsibility. All of my ancestors and your mother's, all those Jews who came before us, lived, and sometimes died to keep their Jewish identity and heritage going.

I know that love is a powerful emotion. That's exactly why I'm writing this as you begin to date. The young women you become close to will form the pool where you'll find the person you want to spend your life with. Don't give yourself the opportunity to fall in love with someone you cannot, as a Jew in good conscience, marry. And never forget that what the world calls "love" isn't all there is to a successful and happy life. Every marriage that ended in divorce or worse, after all, started in a rush of love. For a marriage to really work, there has to be not only attraction and care but shared ideals and goals. And part of a Jewish man or woman's goals has to be to take their Jewish identity seriously, and to instill it into their children.

I don't care whether the girl you marry is white, black or yellow. I don't care if she speaks English, Hebrew, Yiddish or Swahili. I don't care if she was born a Jew or became one, legally, properly, and sincerely. But if she isn't Jewish, I know there will be tears, in your mother's eyes and mine - and also in heaven.

They say these days that most Jewish parents in the Diaspora don't care if their children marry other Jews or not. I hope it's not true, but even if it is, we do. Remember what I've told you many times: Being a Jew means being ready to buck the tide, to say no to others - even a lot of others - when something important's at stake. Sean, you're the future of our family. I hope you'll have the courage and the strength to do the right thing.

Love,

Dad

Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.

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A Jewish soul calling from the pit, the fear brought on by darkness and hopelessness praying for merely the glimmer of Holy light is a most stirring vision. A father pouring out his heart's visions and fears to his son is equally stirring. When the father happens to be Jewish and his fear is couched in an idea larger than himself, spiritual preventative medicine, how much the more so can we not be stirred?

This father's message to his son could truth be told, apply to so much of Jewish life. Don't give in because to do so is to "disrespect who they are, they are disloyal to the Jewish past and they chip away at the Jewish future". Every aveirah, every lost mitzvah opportunity, a chesed let go by, is chipping away at the Jewish future, distancing a Jew further from HaShem, distancing all Jews further from HaShem.

The father brings together many important ideas. What is "being disloyal to the Jewish past"? What does it mean to "disrespect who they are"? Why does any of this apply to us?

Continuity is of course important, but without meaning is irrelevant. Jewish continuity is more than demographics, it is about purpose. One of Judaism's primary goals is to make this world a proper dwelling place for HaShem, to bring down to this physical place, a spiritual purpose. It takes Torah to do that. Somewhere in the continuity Torah must come along too. Maybe the father should have advised "Sean/Shmuel" what sort of girl he should marry not just what sort of girl he shouldn't marry? I wanted to read into the word's of the father "Shmuel, you should marry a girl who will be a shining example to your Jewish children, who will lead them into the Jewish future they are entitled to inherit and build an everlasting foundation for your descendants, bringing us closer to the time of Moshiach".

The emotional appeal of the Yakov Shewky song "Shema" elicits feelings similar to those of this prayerful father. To answer the questions posed above, take a look at the lyrics at the link. It tells the story of a Jewish mother's attempt to save her son from the Shoah leaving him with those word's that can elevate a Jew's sense of self to the point of not having any self, words that restore souls to their lofty heights. "Know that there is but one G-d above". Shmuel, don't disappoint either your father or your Father. Maybe you didn't have the Jewish upbringing you could have had, as long as you are moving up the ladder and not down the ladder you are on the right track. For you that means, date only Jewish girls. And as for your father, it is never too late. A man that can write this type of letter has the potential inside to ascend to great heights. Both father and son could commit to being better Jews together.

Remember what I've told you many times: Being a Jew means being ready to buck the tide, to say no to others - even a lot of others - when something important's at stake. Sean, you're the future of our family. I hope you'll have the courage and the strength to do the right thing.


Indeed. Being Jewish means doing things the Jewish way even when it requires a superhuman effort. This is when Jewish souls are at their best. That striving to do what is right by their Creator overcomes all societal barriers. The world passes by, doing whatever "comes naturally" what is interpreted as "good" and believed to be "right" yet the Jew does what the Jew is supposed to do, no matter how different and well, "Jewish" it is to the uncircumcised eyes of the world.

How disheartening it was to read some of the Jpost talkbacks for this article. The scorn, the see I told you so self-righteousness, the disbelief, where praise should have been heaped on this father for the self-examination, confession and advice to his son, left me shocked. Who would conclude this letter was written from guilt and self-interest? Unlike one of the talkbacks which criticized Rabbi Shafran for sharing this letter, I applaud him for doing so. We can all grow and learn from the example of true emuna, the pintele yid of this father emerging at a moment of truth and with G-d's help bringing his son into a new sense of reality. A Jewish reality. The only reality.

A Scary Thought

Collecting Candy on Halloween:Harmless Pastime or Halakhic Prohibition?

Though many Jewish children go trick-or-treating, this writer (among many others) believes the practice runs counter to Jewish law.
By Rabbi Michael Broyde

To many, if not most, American Jewish parents, participating in Halloween revelries is harmless. Increasingly, however, rabbis and educators from across the denominational spectrum have questioned and challenged Jewish participation in Halloween activities. The article below explores many of the most common objections to the holiday. While many rabbis would not state their opposition in as stark a way as Rabbi Broyde does, his opposition to Jews trick-or-treating is not uncommon. This article originally appeared as an appendix to a Jewish evaluation of celebrating Thanksgiving. The complete text and footnotes can be found on Torah from Dixie. Reproduced with permission of the author.

Halloween in History
Applying the principles explained above to determine whether it permitted to celebrate Halloween requires that one first explore the origins of Halloween as a holiday. As developed below, this is a classical case where the application of the same rules to different sets of facts leads to a different rule of halakhah [Jewish law].

A recent newspaper article recounted:

"According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Halloween originated with the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain, a day on which the devil was invoked for the various divinations. 'The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day', Britannica says, 'and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins ... and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about.' In the early Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church instituted All Hallow's Eve on October 31 and All Saints Day on November 1 to counteract the occult festival. It did not work. All Hollow's Eve was simply co-opted into the pagan celebration of Samhain."

As was noted by Professor John Hennig, in his classical article on this topic, there is a clear historical relationship between the Celtic concepts of resurrection, Roman Catholic responses to it, and the modern American holiday of Halloween.

Thus, Halloween, unlike Thanksgiving, plainly has in its origins religious beliefs that are foreign to Judaism, and whose beliefs are prohibited to us as Jews.

On the other hand, notwithstanding the origins of Halloween, one must recognize that the vast majority of the people in America who currently celebrate Halloween do not do so out of any sense of religious observance or feeling. Indeed, one is hard pressed to find a religion in the United States that recognize Halloween as a religious holiday. One recent writer, responding to Christian assertions that Halloween celebrations are a form of pagan worship, wrote:

"One of my fondest memories of kindergarten was the first Halloween celebrated at school. I marched proudly from room to room in our elementary school in my Wilma Flintstone [a character in a cartoon --MB] costume as a participant in the Halloween parade. The anticipation of the event was overwhelming, exciting and the fun was anything but sinister.... To say that participating in Halloween leads to devil worship is like saying taking Tylenol leads to crack addition. Believe me, when I was marching in my Wilma Flintstone costume, the last thing on my mind was drawing pentagrams or performing satanic rituals. The only thought I had was that next year I'd be Pebbles! [Wilma's child -- MB]... It is only a few fringe group fundamentalists who seriously believe Halloween is a holiday for worshiping the devil."

This statement appears to be a truthful recounting of the modern American celebration of Halloween. The vast majority of people who celebrate Halloween have absolutely no religious motives at all--it is an excuse to collect candy or engage in mischievous behavior.

However, it is worth noting that there are still some people who celebrate Halloween religiously, and there are occasional court cases about employees who seek to take religious leave on Halloween day as a religious holiday.

Thus, the question about Halloween is whether Jewish law allows one to celebrate an event that has pagan origins, where the pagan origins are still known and celebrated by a very few, but not by the vast majority of people who engage in this activity.

Halloween & Halakhah
In order to answer this question, a certain background into the nature of the prohibition to imitate Gentile customs must be understood. Tosafot [a medieval Talmud commentary] understands that two distinctly different types of customs are forbidden by the prohibition of imitating Gentile customs found in Leviticus 18:3. The first is idolatrous customs and the second is foolish customs found in the Gentile community, even if their origins are not idolatrous. Rabbenu Nissim (Ran) and Maharik disagree and rule that only customs that have a basis in idolatrous practices are prohibited. Apparently foolish--but secular--customs are permissible so long as they have a reasonable explanation (and are not immodest). Normative halakhah follows the ruling of the Ran and Maharik. As noted by Rama [Rabbi Moshe Isserles, c. 1525-1572]:

"Those practices done as a [Gentile] custom or law with no reason one suspects that it in an idolatrous practice or that there is a taint of idolatrous origins; however, those customs which are practiced for a reason, such as the physician who wears a special garment to identify him as a doctor, can be done; the same is true for any custom done out of honor or any other reason is permissible."

Rabbi Isserless is thus clearly prohibiting observing customs that have pagan origins, or even which might have pagan origins. His opinion, the most lenient found in normative halakhah, is the one we follow.

Of course, independent of the halakhic obligation to avoid Gentile religious customs, Jewish law forbids a Jew from actually celebrating idolatrous religious events himself.

Based on this, in order to justify candy collection on Halloween, one would have to accept the truthfulness of any of the following assertions:

1) Halloween celebrations have a secular origin.

2) The conduct of the individuals "celebrating Halloween" can be rationally explained independent of Halloween.

3) The pagan origins of Halloween or the Catholic response to it are so deeply hidden that they have disappeared, and the celebrations con be attributed to some secular source or reason.

4) The activities memorialized by Halloween are actually consistent with the Jewish tradition.

I believe that none of these statements are true.

Conclusions
Applying these halakhic rules to Halloween leads to the conclusion that participation in Halloween celebrations--which is what collecting candy is when one is wearing a costume--is prohibited. Halloween, since it has its origins in a pagan practice, and lacks any overt rational reason for its celebration other than its pagan origins or the Catholic response to it, is governed by the statement of Rabbi Isserles that such conduct is prohibited as its origins taint it. One should not send one's children out to trick or treat on Halloween, or otherwise celebrate the holiday.

The question of whether one can give out candy to people who come to the door is a different one, as there are significant reasons based on darkhei shalom (the ways of peace), eva (the creation of unneeded hatred towards the Jewish people), and other secondary rationales that allow one to distribute candy to people who will be insulted or angry if no candy is given. This is even more so true when the community--Jewish and Gentile--are unaware of the halakhic problems associated with the conduct, and the common practice even within many Jewish communities is to "celebrate" the holiday. Thus, one may give candy to children who come to one's house to "trick or treat" if one feels that this is necessary.

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I remember as a child Halloween being one of the coolest days of the year, possibly the best. It was the candy. It was the bonding between father and son. It was the candy. It was the effort that certain neighbors and homes employed to decorate in ghoulish ways, loudly playing soundtracks on old record players, 8 track tape players and later cassette players of "Thrilling Chilling Sounds of the Haunted House" and other made for Halloween noise on tape. And it was the candy (did I say that already?).




No thought ever went through my mind that a Jew shouldn't do this. My parents had no qualms either to the contrary it was great fun. In later years, my brother and I were the ones trying to figure out how to entice kids to walk up a long driveway to come to the house, using lights and soundtracks. The annual count was an event in its own right. Some of the pictures I remember the clearest in my mind are ones that were taken in my family's living room with my brother and I in skeleton costumes with a carved and lit jack o'lantern.

My children do not have these memories. A few years, I admit, we let them dress in a costume and go to a local shopping mall on Oct. 31 where other kids would be there and the shops expecting parents and kids to peruse their wares when they would not have been there otherwise, because it was Oct. 31. But they have no memories of canvassing the neighborhood in costume, going door to door and saying "trick or treat".

I recall Rabbi Posner talking about Halloween. Growing up in New Jersey, he would say, his mother never told the kids they could not go out on Halloween. But, he would continue, she would recall to them that back in the old country (Belarus) it was dangerous for Jews to be out on that night. That was, he would say, much more effective and to the point than an outright ban on the celebration.

One conflict (er' test) for Ba'aley Teshuva in America is dealing with what seems to be an endless internal struggle between the desire to give your own kids what you had and not to give them what you had. Halloween? out. Saturday Football games? out. Saturday cartoons? out. The list goes on. But what didn't we have? Sukkos? in. Chol HaMoed? in. A real family Shabbos? most definitely in. Words of Torah, names, terminology, ideas on the tip of their tongues? in. Shavous ice cream parties? in. etc. The looking glass reflects in both directions allowing age and maturity to see not just the past but into the future.

Memories are powerful teachers which can guide the future and sometimes haunt the past. Parents create these learning moments and sometimes they appear without warning. Nevertheless, they are burned permanently in the minds of children. Guiding, nurturing spiritually relevant memories is a significant part of Jewish parenting. Avoiding spiritually damaging ones even more so is important too, even if it means that the kids will think that "trick or treat" is not just ghoulish but "goyish" then so be it.

Boruch Dayan HaEmes

Chabad-Lubavitch Mourns Senior Chabad Representative to Nashville

LUBAVITCH HEADQUARTERS -- (October 23, 2007)
E. Davidson

The international Chabad-Lubavitch community mourns the passing Tuesday, of Mrs. Risya (Didi) Posner of Nashville, TN.

Mrs. Posner, 80, a senior Chabad representative—one of the first Shluchim—was the daughter of one of the leading figures of the Chabad movement in the U.S., Rabbi Shlomo Aron Kazarnovsky, and the granddaughter of a renowned Chasidic personality, Rabbi Asher Grossman of Nikolayev.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Mrs. Posner settled with her husband, the noted author and translator of Chabad Chasidic classics, Rabbi Zalman Posner in Nashville, where he had gone prior to his wedding to take up a rabbinical position on the instructions of Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn, the sixth Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe.

Dedicating herself entirely to the values of Chabad, Mrs. Posner was a pioneer for Jewish education in Nashville, establishing the Akiva Academy Hebrew Day School in the 1950s, which continues to serve the community to this day. She later opened a Chabad preschool, and led it until just about two years ago, when her health began to fail.

“My mother-in-law was truly a woman worthy of emulating,” Chaya Posner, her daughter-in-law, Chabad representative to Rancho Mirage, CA, told Lubavitch.com.

Described as being both genuinely modest and remarkably driven so that even in her late 70s, she taught herself to use the computer, Mrs. Posner was “representative of historical Chabad and yet was so contemporary.”

Mrs. Posner had the distinction of being one of the few Chasidim of recent times who recalled meeting the sixth Rebbe in her childhood, and possessed a historical perspective on many of the milestones within the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

“She was an amazingly brilliant woman,” said her son-in-law Rabbi Yonasan Denebeim, Chabad representative to Palm Springs, CA. “She had invaluable insights to the Chabad Chasidic worldview as well as matters pertaining to the world at large.”

Mrs. Posner is survived by her husband, Rabbi Zalman, and her children: Shifra Deren of Stamford CT; Menachem Mendel Posner of Atlanta, GA; Sussi Denebeim of Palm Springs, CA; Mimi Liberov of Puerto Allegra, Brazil; and Shimon Hillel Posner of Rancho Mirage, CA. She is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Riba Sharfstein of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Compounding the sadness is the passing of Mrs. Posner’s brother, Rabbi Moshe Kazarnovsky, several hours later, on Tuesday, following a long illness.

Condolences to the Posner family may be emailed to posnash@gmail.com.