By Chana Esther Pfeffer
The year was 5770. It was two nights before the school year started. My husband and I went to a school in Crown Heights to discuss enrolling our then oldest child, aged 3.
I’ll give you the backdrop. We were a couple married for 3 years and living in New York. My husband was a working secular man who was busy. I was a wife on a mission to find wholeness and happiness that I believed would materialize through a connection with the Rebbe. I wasn’t sure of what it meant but the little voice inside told me it was so.
At the school, we met a rabbi. He gave us a look and he told us the rules of the school. We said okay and then felt that he was taken aback that we agreed so easily. What we didn’t know then was that there were frum people who didn’t like the rules. So why would two secular people agree so easily to no internet at home, covering my hair, getting rid of pants? Why would we agree to change not just one small thing, but essentially change our lives overnight with intricate details, including a rule about no denim?
The rabbi didn’t keep those thoughts to himself. He looked at my husband who was clean-shaven and in jeans and asked, “Why do you agree so easily?”
“If it will make my wife happy then we are doing it,” he answered simply.
We didn’t know we were such simple Jews. We had inflated egos and grandiose perceptions then of who we were. We hadn’t learned Chassidus yet or had our friends and family ditch us yet, or fallen from the secular towers that kept us thinking we were so impressive. That came later…
The Rabbi was pleased with the response and offered an interview.
The next morning, we brought our 3-year-old daughter Gavriella, and that is when we met Morah Razel Wolvovsky.
Morah Razel greeted us and asked our daughter for her name and her birthday. Our spunky child answered the question and even knew her Hebrew birth date. I had been trying my best to raise her as Chabad with books and CDs for the past little while.
Morah Razel was impressed and took Gavriella for a private interview, just the two of them. She concluded that our daughter would fit in nicely in her kindergarten, regardless of our home not yet being a Chabad home.
Morah Razel was like a regal and refined woman who was not only stylish, kind, and happy. She also had a quality I initially couldn’t put my finger on. Over the years I learned that it is called, a living example, “a dugma chaya,” of a true Lubavitcher woman.
This was her gift to her students and their mothers. She instilled in us a chinuch of refinement, honor, elegance, goodness and kindness. How fortunate we were to receive such a present from our daughter’s pre-kindergarten teacher who shared with us a practical tool to use for life with love.
We are now 13 years later and our family lives in the Israeli town of Beitar Illit, not far from Jerusalem. Life has changed so much over the years, but we are grateful that the Master of the Universe gifted us to know and learn from Morah Razel.
I can tell you that Morah Razel truly lives in our home. Her spirit and example were and are a constant reminder of what Chabad is, what true chinuch is and what a Chabad home is meant to look like – a place where the Aibishter would be comfortable and where the Rebbe and Rebbetzin would feel at home.
May the mourning family be comforted by the Aibishter, amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. And may we be zoche to see our “rose” in full bloom with the ultimate Geula now.
I can assure you the the Chabad of the South . Hills(Pittsburgh) was truly blessed to have shared a very special relationship with Razel…her frequent visits were so special for all of us…her thoughts, words, and acts of kindness will never be forgotten. Hashem blessed Razel with an unbelievable family who I know will continue her most important work… which enriched my life and the lives of so many others!
Thank you so much for sharing that.
So inspiring in so many ways!
Thank you for writing ! I totally agree ! Thankks again!
She was exactly how u described!
In the merit of teaching the little ones may Hashem decide its time for the Geula alredy!!!
By you and your commitment! Morah Razel – as amazing as she always was – saw something special and nurtured it.
You write beautifully. Razel really was a Dugma Chaya.
Morah Razel welcomed our daughter into her preschool, and changed our lives forever. She was so welcoming when we were new to Crown Heights, filled with parenting wisdom. She set the bar high as an example of how I wanted to be. And her warmth — how did she remember every single person’s name — kept us here, helped us feel that we belonged.