The Bridge Builder

Rebbetzin Chaiky Rubin managed to bridge worlds, perhaps partly because she herself represented a fascinating blend of Jewish cultures. Chaiky was raised first in Lakewood, then in Boro Park, and moved to Bat Yam in Eretz Yisrael as a teenager. She was chassidish, with a deep inner spirituality inherited from her father, but as the stylish wife of a dynamic rabbi, she had an open, approachable aura, which helped her touch hearts and bring women closer to their roots.

Chaiky’s father, Rabbi Shlomo Yechiel Grodzinsky, was a true Gerrer chassid. Born in GóraKawalria, the shtetl which gave its name to the chassidus, he was a year younger than the Bais Yisroel and a year older than the Lev Simchah. He treasured his childhood memories of the Sfas Emes, having attended this chassidic giant’s levayah at age six.

The Holocaust robbed Rabbi Grodzinsky of a wife and family, but when he arrived in America, he was determined to rebuild. He married Chaiky’s mother, the daughter of a Rabbi Elimelech Gordon, who had immigrated from Vilna to New York, and sought a genuinely learned and distinguished scholar for his daughter.

The postwar marriage of Gerrer chassid to college graduate and rabbi’s daughter 26 years his junior turned out to be a resounding success. By blending two worlds, and creating an island of Torah and warmth, the Grodzinskys raised a beautiful family.