“The only good reason to leave Teaneck and the Beth Aaron community is to move to Israel!” So say Abe Neuman and Rita-Rivka Lewy on the eve of their Aliyah to Israel on May 8, just in time for the 5th of Iyar, Israel’s 68th Independence Day. It is also a mere 17 days before the marriage of their youngest child, Moshe, to Chana Fischer of Moshav Matityahu. “So many signs from above show us that we are on the right path,” says Rita-Rivka characteristically, as a person who sees hashgacha p’ratit, divine providence, in every aspect of her daily life. “May 8 is almost the exact anniversary of Abe’s mother and family’s being deported to Auschwitz 72 years ago. The number 72 translates into four times chai (18), another clear message of divine intervention in the survival of Abe’s beloved mother and the continuing of the generations.”
Those of us who have been privileged to interact with Rita-Rivka and Abe during the 30 years of their “sojourn” in Teaneck are thrilled that their dream of aliyah is coming to fruition, albeit a great loss for us in the community. Abe, coatless in winter as well as spring and summer, is the official “go to” guy for a good word, and for help with anything from booking flights to “shlepping” in his van, or for rides to the airport. Rita-Rivka’s involvement in community organizations over the years has included daily deliveries to She’arit Ha’plate from her school, Bikur Cholim, and various gemachs, among others. She loves singing each week in the P’ninote Women’s choir (named for her beloved Mother Pearlie a”h), and learning in the Chofetz Chaim Shmirat HaLashon group, in a weekly mussar vaad, and earlier on in the Jewish Learning Experience, by whom she was honored in 2005. She has been called upon to speak at the women’s Simchat Torah shiurim at Beth Aaron. When inspirational Torah scholars from Israel grace our community, call Rita-Rivka for a ride and a front row seat!
From where did this proactive love for Torah, Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael generate? Actually, the story begins in Cape Town, South Africa, in a community not known for its observance as much as for its passion for the land of Israel. Rita-Rivka’s parents were sending money, coffee, suit fabric and even a piano to Israel to help sustain early family residents. During the Six Day War, Cape Town residents feared for Israel’s survival, and selflessly sold their possessions on the street to help finance Israel’s military efforts. One of Rita-Rivka’s first trips to Israel was with her Zionist Jewish High School, Herzlia, in 1966. Based with her school group in Bet Hakerem, Yerushalayim, she recalls visiting Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, and seeing what was then Jordan beyond in the mist. “Who knew that in 2016 we would be privileged to be moving to Har Choma, a new city built right there within that mist? It’s another sign of Hashem’s hashgacha!”
With the full support of her family, Rita-Rivka returned to attend college in Israel. She was accepted at the tender age of 17 to Bar Ilan University. It was there that she met the young man with “long hair and long shorts” who would become a close friend and ultimately her life partner. Abe Neuman, a resident of the Bronx, had also opted to study at Bar Ilan after a traditional Orthodox educational track. After a ski trip to Cyprus, several years of post-university correspondence and an eventual re-uniting in Belgium at a World Conference of Jewish Students, the deal was sealed. Abe came to Cape Town to meet the family and a wedding was celebrated.
In February of 1975, the new couple left on a cargo boat bound for New York. They initially settled in Pelham Parkway, Abe’s home neighborhood. There the Neumans came to know and love their new daughter-in-law, and Rita-Rivka came to appreciate the “grit” and greatness of Abe’s Holocaust survivor parents. In 1986, with two daughters in tow, they moved to Grayson Place in Teaneck. The girls became big sisters to a little boy seven years later.
With a BA in Psychology and Hebrew, and an Early Childhood Diploma in hand, Rita-Rivka began her career at Kinneret Day School, and subsequently in kindergarten at SAR, both in Riverdale, NY. “It has been a 26-year love affair with SAR. I strongly believe that Hashem blessed me to be a conduit for teaching those wonderful children over the years.”
Throughout her career, Rita-Rivka has taught the entire child, the mind as well as the spirit. Aside from making learning fun, she has instilled the love of Hashem in her students to be front and center. She has imbued them with a genuine passion for Eretz Yisrael. “I tried to make Israel more tangible to them. I gave all the kindergarten students little gold bags containing stones I collected for them in Israel, and told them that maybe Avraham and Sarah had actually walked on those very stones! To build an emotional connection, we constantly wrote and sent thank you cards to Israeli chayalim—the soldiers to whom we owe so much—and each child made a beautiful wall hanging for a hospital wishing the patient Refuah Shleimah—a full recovery.”
Too often throughout her career she has helped youngsters cope with emotional difficulties and serious losses. A tool she found particularly effective was the creation of child-dictated books to facilitate emotional expression. One of these was even read at a beloved relative’s funeral. Morah Rita-Rivka’s classes have been sought after each year.
SAR administrators including Rabbi Yonah Fuld, Rabbi Joel Cohn, Marcia Jacobowitz and currently Rabbi Binny Krauss have recognized Lewy’s talents by honoring her at a school dinner and by selecting her to represent the school to prospective parents. She will be missed, but it is hoped that her successors will continue her legacy of strengthening the emotional and spiritual development of the young child.
The “cherry on top” for Abe and Rita-Rivka is that they are joining their three children, who are already living meaningful lives in Yerushalayim. Their oldest, daughter Oriyah, made aliyah eight years ago. She is married to Aharon Nitkin from Maryland, and they are parents to two “delicious sabras”—Efraim Dovid and Naftali Yonatan.
Their second daughter, Gavi (Gavriela), made aliyah four years ago. She has backpacked alone on several world trips, and earned a Masters in Communication from Hebrew University. She is now planning B”H to settle down and build a family, while working as a social media editor for HomeTalk, a website for home repair and design.
Moshe, their son and youngest child, attended The Frisch School, as did his two sisters. He then studied at Mevasseret Yerushalayim for two years, Landers College in Queens for one year, and then back in Israel where he is currently learning at Yeshivas Toras Moshe.
Obviously the message of aliyah came through loud and clear in the Lewy-Neuman household. Bolstered by their years as students at SAR and Frisch, their summers at Camp Moshava, and their seminary and yeshiva years, the dream of their parents to live in Israel was always a tangible presence in their lives.
As a parting message to the community, Rita-Rivka and Abe express their unending hakarat hatov. “We are blessed with so many close connections in Teaneck, and even though we will be joining our dear friends the Glazers, Reubens, Weisslers and Yuchts among many others who have paved the way, no one replaces anyone else. We will miss our beautiful life here terribly. It has been a privilege to belong to a community like Beth Aaron, which is so full of chesed. Our Rabbi Larry Rothwachs and Chaviva are matchless in their Ahavat Yisrael, their limitless energy, and their laser ability to reach out to and help every individual. Our growth in Torah and our dream of aliyah has been nurtured at Beth Aaron. We can’t believe we are meriting to realize the dream of millenia! We look forward to staying in touch and welcoming friends in our true home—the Holy Land of Eretz Yisrael!”
By Pearl Markovitz
