Visiting Israel after 30 years

In 1949, after the founding of the state of Israel, Esther Leibowitz traveled to Jerusalem for the first time in 30 years, to visit the Yeshiva and see her family again. How exciting that must have been! She would see her mother and sister and other relatives whom she hadn't seen in 30 years..! She must have missed her father Israel Rabinowitz by a year or two, he died in 1947 or 1948.

Her organization, the Zion Dov Ber Torah Fund made a send-off luncheon and sent the letter below to members of The Zion Dov Ber Torah Fund.

An excerpt from the letter -

"... Our president came from her birth-place, Jerusalem, many years ago and has been giving her time and efforts unselfishly for the cause of the Jewish people in our homeland ever since. She is the organizer of the Zion Dov Ber Torah Fund, and for twenty two years she has been the President of this organization, dedicated to the support of the great Yeshiva Mea Shearim and Orphan Home, in existence almost one hundred years. .....

Now, after all this time, we have decided that our President should go back to her native land to try to make provisions for the great and urgent demands placed on this institution by the emigrants from war-torn Europe. She will then be in a better position to report the situation there."

After 30 years

Sendoff letter from 1949

Family Reunion
1949

Esther Leibowitz's Sister Shoshe, niece Rivka, mother Golde.
Esther is on the far right.

Excerpt from Esther Leibowitz's letter to her daughter.
June 6, 1949

From one of the Annual Dinner (Banquet) souvenir journals -
".. After the war she stood in front of the Yeshiva building, just as she had stood before it 30 years earlier, but finding it virtually destroyed by war. No table, no chair, no lectern or bench was to be found. Then lo and behold, the new furniture, which she had immediately provided, was all in place. ... The hundreds of students stand up and bless her for the food packages she sent during the war, when the Jews of Jerusalem almost died of hunger..."

1949 Yeshiva Procession

"This picture was taken 5 days in Ellul in 1949,
when we carried our Sefer Torah
to the new Aron HaKodesh
in the great Yeshiva Meah Shearim, Jerusalem.
Mrs. Leibowitz is in front of the line."

Larger view of the same photo

Esther Leibowitz is on the far left.

After 1949 Esther visited Israel almost every year, bringing to the Yeshiva money raised from her fundraising work in the US for the Zion Dov Ber Torah Fund. On return to the US she'd bring back news and experiences of the Yeshiva that she would speak about on her WEVD weekly radio programs. As she got older, she'd go less frequently, more like every 2 or 3 years.

TheStoryofBaba@hotmail.com

Last modified March 2010.