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From
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/ke22grf" eudora="autourl">
http://tinyurl.com/ke22grf</a><br><br>
<font size=3>Esther Rubinstein <i>( </i>1881-1924) was born in a small
town in the<br>
Mariampol district of Lithuania. 1 She was the daughter of the Gaon
R.<br>
Hayyim Yirmiyahu Flensberg ( d. 1914 ), who would later become<br>
famous as the Chief Rabbi of Shaki in Lithuania. He was the author
of<br>
many works on Jewish law, philosophy, and aggadah.<br><br>
As the only daughter of the Chief Rabbi, she was taught (by
him)<br>
Bible, rabbm1c literature, and Jewish philosophy. She mastered Jewish
literature <br>
and would often startle audiences by reciting passages from the<br>
Talmud by heart. Tutors were hired to teach the precocious young
girl<br>
European languages and literature. In 1905, she married Rabbi Isaac<br>
Rubinstein, a graduate of the Volozhin, Slabodka, and Slutzk
yeshivot.<br>
When he was appointed "Crown'' rabbi of Vilna in 1910 (after
receiving<br>
the approval of R. Hayyim Ozer Grodzenski), Esther and her husband<br>
moved to Vilna, where they became leaders of the Jewish community.<br>
Esther was a Jewish educator, social worker, and activist. She
founded<br>
several Jewish schools for girls, one of which - after her death -
was<br>
named the Esther Rubinstein School for Girls. She was a religious<br>
Zionist_leader who lectured widely on the central role women must play
in<br>
reclaiming the land of Israel. She was an advocate of women's suffrage,
<br>
and published widely on the subject. She wrote and lectured in<br>
flawless Hebrew. During \Vorld \Var I, she ran soup kitchens and
other<br>
social agencies on behalf of the needy.<br><br>
<Snip><br><br>
Rabbi Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg ( 1884-1966 ), a graduate of the
Slabodka<br>
Yeshiva, served as the last Rosh Yeshiva of the Hildesheimer
Rabbinical<br>
Seminary.7 His <i>She'elot u-Teshuvot Seridei Esh </i>(Jerusalem,
1961-69, four<br>
volumes) is one of the great classics of twentieth century rabbinic
literature.<br>
From 1906 to 1913 he served as Chief Rabbi of Pilvishki (southwest<br>
of Kovno, and near Shaki). Thus, he was on intimate terms with<br>
members of Esther Rubinstein's family, many of whom resided in<br>
Pilvishki and Shaki. R. Weinberg's eulogy, presented here in
English<br>
translation, originally appeared in Hebrew in the 1926 memorial
volume<br>
in honor of Esther Rubinstein.<br><br>
See the above URL for more about this remarkable woman and for Rav
Weinberg's eulogy.<br><br>
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