A Tribute to Two Sisters, Rochel and Esther

By Mendy Dalfin

In the late 1920s, two daughters were born to Rabbi Moshe Mordechai and Basya Magnus. Just 2 years apart, the girls Rochel and Esther grew up between New York and New Jersey as their parents were involved in chinuch and the rabbonus.

In 1942, their young mother suddenly passed away, leaving the orphaned girls to continue growing up on their own.

Rochel, then 14 and older, grew up quickly and within a few years, at 18, she got married to Rabbi Hershel Fogelman, a Lubavitcher chossid and shliach.

Meanwhile, her younger sister Esther roamed around, seeking her place and found comfort with Chabad mosdos too. She ended up marrying a Lubavitcher and Shliach as well, Reb Chaim Serebryanski.

Both girls had large families with many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who are located all over the world and include many shluchim.

They shared the lessons they learned from their mother, as they raised their own children and grandchildren. Lessons from Pirkai Avos, lessons from her character— the way she approached people and engaged. The way she taught and cared for her students. Their mother Basya was the first principal of the first Jewish school for girls in America. This was something she had to do at a great personal risk. They weren’t wealthy; they were actually very poor, but this didn’t stop her from having her husband quit his rabbinic job so they could create an educational opportunity for Jewish girls in America.

The girls learned, and they taught their children.

I’ve always wondered why it is that all of Basya’s children became Lubavitchers. To the best of my knowledge, there is no previous Lubavitch connection.

Perhaps the reason is connected to her Mesiras Nefesh she had for Jewish education, which aligned with the previous Rebbes’ unrelenting Mesiras Nefesh for Yidishkeit?

We will never know, but it’s still a question I ask myself, and I had asked my grandmother as well. I can’t say her answers ever satisfied my curiosity, but she did give it some thought as well. I think her answers weren’t so esoteric, more down to earth, like “these were the frum yidden who were going out to strengthen Yidishkeit, and our parents raised us in that same vein. So it was a natural thing that when we were looking for a husband, we sought out someone with the same values that our parents instilled in us and lived by.”

I remained skeptical, still attributing it to some spiritual significance beyond our comprehension.

For now, they both returned their souls to their maker: Esther at 95 this summer and Rochel, yesterday at 98— another strange spiritual occurrence— within 6 months of one another, both sisters returned their souls to their maker. Joining their mother, whom they mourned and lived for, for 80+ years.

This is the end of this article. However, I believe my grandmother wouldn’t want me to leave it here & would instead want me to write a practical lesson I learned from this.

For that, I will share just a few added thoughts, so please bear with me.

What I saw from my grandmother and her sister, while I was growing up, was the importance we all have as parents to instill important values – not by just speaking about them, not just by doing them, but by ensuring our children see us taking those actions.

For example, my grandmother would share with me how when she was a girl, she would wake up to hear her father learning Gemorah. This had an impact on me, to where I too sit at home and learn Gemorah.

And to drive this home, I mentioned this to someone, and my daughter overheard me saying this, and she piped up and said, “Well, that’s how I grew up too, hearing my father learning Gemara.”

Of course, I had tremendous nachas, but more importantly, it drove home this lesson— to take our yiddishkeit and make it central for our children to see— don’t be humble, be an educator— to our own children and show them the life we live.