Mrs. Leah Weinberger o"h who dedicated herself for
decades to the field of chareidi education in the US, was
brought to rest in Jerusalem on Erev Shabbos parshas
Chayei Soroh.
Leah Breindel Weinberger was born in the city of Kleinwardein
(Kishuarda), Hungary to R' Naftoli Hertzke Lefkovitz and
Raisel, the daughter of R' Nosson Grossman. As a child she
lived with her family in Patenhaza and Heido Nanash in
kehillos that kept mitzvos and customs exactingly
through mesirus nefesh in an atmosphere permeated with
pure yiras Shomayim and ahavas Torah. During
her childhood she was sent with her whole family to the work
camps, where she lived through all the horrors of the
Holocaust. Through chasdei Shomayim she survived the
war, after spending time at Theresienstadt.
In 5706 (1946) she moved to Eretz Hakodesh, where she studied
with other Holocaust survivors at the Sarah Schenirer
Institute in Bnei Brak. Later she married and built her home
with the late R' Avrohom Weinberger, at first in the town of
Azor and later in Bnei Brak.
Some forty years ago she moved to the US, where she began to
dedicate her life to the exalted task of educating yaldei
Yisroel in chareidi institutions. She lived in Cleveland
for many years, earning a reputation as an outstanding
educator and making a considerable contribution toward laying
the building blocks of local institutions while the Cleveland
kehilloh and Telz Yeshiva were developing. She served
as an educator at the school founded by HaRav Nachum Zeev
Dessler at the behest of HaRav Eliyoh Meir Bloch and HaRav
Chaim Mordechai Katz.
In Cleveland she became known as an exemplar of elevated
middos who expressed tremendous mesirus nefesh
and warmth to her students, viewing her primary mission to
impart bnos Yisroel with a traditional Jewish
education. She would invite students encountering
difficulties in their studies to her home, where she would
assist them with no personal gain in mind, but rather out of
a sense of unlimited dedication to her students.
Her home was a center for hachnosas orchim and a
beis vaad for the talmidei chachomim of
Cleveland and elsewhere, who were greatly impressed by the
Jewish warmth pervading their home.
After her husband, who also worked in the field of education,
passed away, she moved to Minneapolis to live near her
daughter and son-in-law. There too, she continued to fulfill
her mission as an educator, helping the community build local
institutions and continuing her efforts to educate bnos
Yisroel.
In recent years she suffered from a serious illness from
which she never recovered, but even during this period after
undergoing difficult medical treatments she would return to
her work to the best of her ability with a smile on her face
and joy in her heart.
The levaya set out from the US and she was brought to
rest in Jerusalem about one hour before the beginning of
Shabbos Chayei Soroh. Mrs. Leah Weinberger o"h
is survived by her brothers and sisters, her son and two
daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren following the path
of Torah.
