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A Jewish Soul On Fire

New York Jewish Week

E

sther Jungreis was ahead of
her time. A devoutly Orthodox
woman, she took on the tradi-
tional role rabbis have held for centuries,
encouraging countless numbers of Jews
to appreciate their religion as a precious
gift.
A pioneer in the Jewish outreach
movement and founder of the organiza-
tion Hineni, Rebbetzin Jungreis, as she
was widely known, was a diminutive
presence, well-coiffed and poised, and
able to hold large and diverse audiences
spellbound with her dramatic presen-
tations, combining Torah stories and
insights into Jewish teachings and values
in a voice often soft, sometimes urgent.
Her death in New York on Aug. 23, 2016,
at the age of 80, marked the end of a
remarkable career.
For more than five decades, Rebbetzin

Jungreis traveled the
in 1947. There she mar-
world, offering messages
ried a distant cousin,
of motivation and musar
Rabbi Meshulem HaLevi
(ethical discipline) to
Jungreis, and together
Jews of all ages and
they founded the North
backgrounds. “I believe
Woodmere Jewish
that every Jew is a Jew,”
Center in 1964 and had
she was widely quoted
four children. The rabbi
as saying. “We have one
died in 1996.
Shabbat, one God, one
In addition to her
Torah and one faith.”
many lectures, videos
She often spoke of her
and classes, Rebbetzin
Holocaust experience as
Jungreis reached people
Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
a child, deported from
through several books,
her native Hungary at
including The Jewish
the age of 8 in 1944 with her parents
Soul On Fire, based on her childhood,
and two brothers. They were inmates
and The Committed Life: Principles for
at Bergen-Belsen for six months before
Good Living from Our Timeless Past,
being released, a highly unusual occur-
with advice on incorporating traditional
rence, and lived in a refugee camp in
religious practice into modern lives. A
Switzerland before settling in Brooklyn
vocal critic of intermarriage as a threat to

Jewish continuity, she had a special inter-
est in promoting in-marriage among Jews
and offered advice on relationships and
family life.
“To be a Jew is the greatest privilege,”
she told an audience in South Africa in
1999. “To be unaware of it is the greatest
catastrophe — spiritual genocide.”
In a series of filmed interviews made
in recent years, soon to be released,
Rebbetzin Jungreis reflected on her life
and offered messages of encouragement.
We were all created by “the breath of
God,” she said in one, speaking directly
into the camera. “You are holy. Never for-
get who you are.”
Her teachings will continue to serve
as an inspiration for those who saw and
heard her in person, and those who will
discover her through her videos and writ-
ings.

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70 September 8 • 2016

Obituaries