It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rebbetzin Bruriah David a”h. She was 85.
A brilliant mechaneches, Rebbetzin David was the founder and dean of Beth Jacob Jerusalem, commonly known as BJJ, a prestigious girls seminary located in the Unsdorf neighborhood of Yerushalayim.
Born in 1938, she was the only child of Hagaon Rav Yitzchak Hutner, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, and the wife of Hagaon Rav Yonasan David, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok in Yerushalayim’s Har Nof neighborhood.
Together with her husband and parents, she was on one of the airplanes hijacked by the Black September terrorists in 1970.
Her parents, Rav Yitzchok and Rebbetzin Masha (Lipshitz), married in 1933 and moved to Mandatory Palestine, but returned to New York a year later, where Bruria was born.
The Rebbetzin received her doctorate in history from Columbia University in 1971…
The Rebbetzin was a woman of unique caliber, possessing a deep understanding of people and a remarkable breadth of knowledge in Torah and history. It is said that the Rebbetzin devoted time in her early years towards the transcribing of her father’s classic seforim, Pachad Yitzchok.
Rebbetzin David founded BJJ, also known as Machon Sarah Shneirer, in the early 1970s as a post high school seminary in Israel, which is geared for American and European graduates of Bais Yaakov who wish to pursue Torah study on an advanced academic level. Previously, she had a seminary in Esther Schonfeld of the East Side, and then in Bais Yaakov Academy. The seminary also provides professional training toward a teaching degree.
Rebbetzin David is survived by her illustrious husband, Rav Yonason, and thousands of talmidos who were inspired and nurtured by the Rebbetzin.
Yehi zichrah boruch.
{Matzav.com}
BDE. A brilliant woman, master of Jewish history and of course Chumash. Her students will be greatly saddened by this loss. To have studied under her, as did two of my daughters, was a great zechus. Anonymous
She transcribed what was dictated to her by her father zt”l.
She was so much more than a scribe
Please give credit where credit is due
Her dissertation is brilliant it can be found in her Wikipedia page
ברוך דיין האמת
This comes to me as a surprise! Was she sick of late? Was she functioning as dean of her beloved BJJ up until the very end?
BDE
Iconic. Concealed more than she revealed.
In some profound way, despite her quiet manner, Rebbetzin David set us on a path towards individual clarity and personal mission. Together with Geveret Leibowitz and others, we Talmidot were nurtured with great intellectual direction and a sincere desire for our well-being.
There is more to write, of course, but for now, we will not forget these two ideas that she repeatedly espoused:
1. ישראל, ואורייתא, וקודשא בריך הוא חד הוא
2. That Eretz Yisroel is an Aretz, our Aretz…a historical entity and reality
An end to an a most valuable era has descended. זכותה תגן עלינו.
I posted a reply, but may have inadvertently given you an incorrect email address. It should be [email protected].
With appreciation- shifra novograd/Baltimore
Frankly, I don’t think men can begin to understand the impact Rebbetzin David had on her talmidos and all other women who aspired to learn under her, but didn’t or couldn’t. She literally shook our worlds. To say nothing of how she brought the beauty and purity of Eretz Yisroel to the forefront of our consciousness, in addition to the need for young women to learn the “extra” year of seminary.
It was a doctorate in philosophy from Colombia, not history. But I see the bulk of this article was taken from Wikipedia and the mistake is there as well. On the second page of her dissertation it says philosophy, the link is available on the wiki page as well.
Rebbetzin David was so finely attuned to the emes, it was extraordinary. She instilled an exquisite spiritual sensitivity in her talmidos. Her annual alumni shiurim in Brooklyn were eagerly anticipated and attended by hundreds each year, from recent graduates to women in their seventies. She taught us to distinguish between the political institution of Zionism and its goal of “normalizing” Jewish existence, and ahavas Eretz Yisrael, which is kodesh. She taught us what gadlus b’Torah is, she taught us to analyze details with accuracy, and not to generalize, “dump everything into one cholent.” She was an example of quiet femininity and tznius , the power of her brilliance notwithstanding.
She was one in a generation.
Mi yiten lanu temurasah?
She read each and every “peteck” we had to randomly write