TRIBUTE
Nechemia Rabenstein vÆg
A Builder and a Beacon
When Nechemia Rabenstein emerged from
the inferno of World War II, he was an sut
atn kmun, “a firebrand saved from a fire.”
(Zecharia 3:2) Unlike countless relatives,
neighbors and friends, Nechemia was spared.
Yet he was determined to do more than sur-
vive. He set out to build.
And build he did. Together with his wife,
Frida a”h, he built a magnificent family. They
were privileged to see children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren follow in their foot-
steps. Nechemia and Frida Rabenstein built
relationships, forging new friendships in a
new world that went beyond the transaction-
al: They were friends who could be counted
on, whose words were gold, and who cared
for their fellow Jew regardless of social status.
Investing in mosdos of tzedaka and Torah,
they did their part to build the renaissance of
our people on American shores, a rebirth that
we sometimes take for granted.
The Rabensteins’ greatest legacy may be
the Rabenstein Learning Center at Yeshiva
Darchei Torah. In a period before it was de
rigeur, they recognized the importance of in-
clusion in the yeshiva educational system and
embraced with alacrity the cause of children
with learning challenges. In the decades since
its founding, the Rabenstein Learning Center
has saved hundreds of children from failure
and despair, ensuring that they would have
an equal opportunity to grow and thrive –
academically, socially, and spiritually. The
Rabenstein Learning Center is a crown jewel
of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, and it is an inter-
national model for schools that seek to reach
every child.
One day, as Reb Nechemia stood on the
terrace of the newly-constructed building that
bears his name, he was visibly moved as he
observed the hundreds of boys below, play-
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FALL 5779/2018
ing, heading to the next class, interacting with
their teachers. He saw the scene, and all that it
represented, as the fulfillment of his life’s mis-
sion, the ultimate victory against the Nazis.
How many individuals’ lives were forever
altered thanks to Nechemia and Frida’s be-
nevolence? How many families today are led
by graduates of the schools and programs that
bear the imprint of their pioneering spirit?
They are the Rabensteins’ eternal legacy. And
it is a legacy that is alive and vibrant - because
out of the ashes of the Holocaust, these ‘fire-
brands’ from Hungary developed the embers
of their souls into a steadily growing flame, a
beacon that continues to burn bright and il-
luminate the world of Torah Jewry.
!
NECHEMIA
RABENSTEIN,
THE PATRON OF
THE RABENSTEIN
LEARNING CENTER
AT YESHIVA
DARCHEI TORAH