Bais Rivkah Teacher Named “Hero of the Day”

By COLlive reporter

Bais Rivkah teacher Alte Raskin was named as one of the New York Post’s “Hero of the Day” for her dedication to teaching during the coronavirus pandemic while caring for her newborn son.

One of Raskin’s students, 13-year-old Rosa Majerczyk — whose family was also struck by the crisis — nominated her for The Post’s column.

Raskin, 27, told the NY Post she was expecting a lengthy maternity leave in an empty house with her three girls in school. But when she gave birth on March 18, just as the coronavirus crisis was beginning to sweep New York, she knew that wouldn’t be possible.

She took six short weeks off while another teacher taught her seventh-grade students and at first, she was nervous to get back to work.

The first few days were totally overwhelming. I was like, ‘What am I doing? I maybe should just not go back this year. Maybe this is just not a good idea.’ I have kids, my kids are [doing] online school. They need people all day to troubleshoot them and run around. Plus, I’m postpartum, right, I’m exhausted I could barely move,” she told the NY Post.

Raskin says she wanted to be there for her students, so she gave online school teaching a shot.

Within a few days, she found herself welcoming online learning and the different ways it allowed her to connect with her students. Raskin says she knew she had important lessons to teach, especially as many of her students lost parents or grandparents or struggled with family members in the hospital.

“If you don’t have faith during something like a pandemic, it’s absolutely frightening because the world’s turning on you, there’s no rhyme or reason,” Raskin said.

She implored her students to remember “that G-d has a plan” and they were all put on this earth to make it a “better place,” she told the Post.