They were Rebbe and Rebbetzin. They were father and mother. They were king and queen
This past Sunday, Klal Yisrael lost a queen in its most literal sense. As the oldest daughter of the previous Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rebbetzin Chaya Chana Twersky a”h, the Skverer Rebbetzin, was a link in a long chain of royalty. Her marriage to Rav Dovid Twersky, the current Skverer Rebbe, led her to New York, far from her hometown of Bnei Brak. But as time would prove, that distance was merely geographic. Working together, the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin cultivated an atmosphere of uncompromised kedushah; while New Square may be based in Ramapo, New York, its pulsing spirit seemed to emanate from Bnei Brak.
The community, numbering in the thousands, looked toward its leaders with tripartite reverence. They were Rebbe and Rebbetzin. They were father and mother. They were king and queen.
The Rebbetzin assumed these varying roles seamlessly. Even as the crowds around her continually swelled, the gentle, elegant smile never faded. The Rebbetzin’s regality never waned, and her memory never failed. She remembered her visitors by name and upon their next visit would follow up with questions about what they had discussed the time before.
“I would take my students and campers to visit her and receive her brachah,” says Mrs. Bella Weinreb, director of Camp Chayil and V’At Alis seminary. “I was always struck by her royalty and refinement. We all felt enveloped by her warmth, her giving, her regal air.”
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