We write to you to express our grief and heartbreak about the sudden passing of our beloved colleague and friend, Dr. Hindi Krinsky Kanarfogel, a”h. Last week, the Kanarfogel and Krinsky families suffered the unimaginable loss of their extraordinary wife, mother, daughter and sister. Dr. Krinsky is survived by her husband, Dovid Kanarfogel [son of Teaneck’s Rabbi Ephraim Karnarfogel]; her five beautiful children, Ezra, Hudi, Eliana, Dorit and Abie; her parents, Rabbi Menachel Mendel and Miriam Krinsky; and her siblings, Sruli Krinsky, Shmaya Krinsky and Moussia Raskin. We extend our most deeply heartfelt condolences to Dr. Krinsky’s family in this moment of their unthinkable grief.
Dr. Krinsky’s passing is also a staggering loss for all of us in the HAFTR High School community. For those of us—educators and students—who have had the great privilege of working with Dr. Krinsky during the past five years, her passing is a personal and heavy loss. Dr. Krinsky was a brilliant scholar, a talented and creative teacher, and an inspiring educational leader. It is difficult to do justice to Dr. Krinsky’s tremendous impact on the HAFTR High School culture. First and foremost, Dr. Krinsky was a magnificent teacher, who cared deeply about facilitating the learning and growth of every student whom she taught–and whose students reciprocated her dedication and enthusiasm with their own respect and devotion for her. One of her former students, who reached out in an email before Shabbat, wrote that Dr. Krinsky “taught me what it means to love literature, to aim to learn more and be cultured, to be kind and compassionate.”
Dr. Krinsky was also an educational scholar, who passionately embraced her new position as curriculum coordinator at HAFTR High School. In this significant role, which she approached with great excitement and energy, Dr. Krinsky was going to lead the next phase of our schoolwide curriculum-mapping project. In collaboration with principals, department chairs and teachers, Dr. Krinsky had already revised our course bulletin and had formulated the structure for the arduous and meticulous process of mapping HAFTR High School’s comprehensive curriculum in every level of every course in both general studies and Limudei Kodesh. In addition, she had worked with principals and colleagues to outline goals for professional development of teachers throughout the school year. It is unfathomable for us to comprehend that Dr. Krinsky will not be with us to guide and implement these significant projects in our yeshiva high school. As we continue these projects, we will now and forever view them as Dr. Krinsky’s legacy to HAFTR.
We will also miss Dr. Krinsky dearly as a friend. In addition to her intellect, scholarship, creativity and tremendous accomplishments as a professional, she was a wonderful, elegant, loving person. It was a joy to connect with her to discuss, debate, lament and laugh about literature, politics, world affairs, local community goings-on, cultural issues, family and more. Dr. Krinsky was brilliant-sharp, insightful, knowledgeable, thoughtful, incisive and funny. She was also brimming with compassion and generosity of spirit, and bursting with a love of life and, especially, her family.
Dr. Krinsky was a unique, extraordinary woman, and we are mourning her passing and contemplating ways to honor her memory and preserve her legacy. We will pay tribute to Dr. Krinsky with our colleagues at our upcoming faculty orientation prior to school opening, and we are finalizing arrangements for bereavement counseling for the HAFTR High School community. Dr. Krinsky touched the lives of so many students, teachers, administrators and parents in our yeshiva. We want to preserve our individual memories of Dr. Krinsky for her husband, children and parents. We invite all members of the school community to contribute to a Book of Remembrance that we will share with Dr. Krinsky’s family. Please submit your remembrances, messages, anecdotes, and thoughts to [email protected].
We are enormously grateful that we merited to work with Dr. Hindi Krinsky Kanarfogel, to learn from her and to be inspired by her. May her family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may her memory continue to inspire and uplift all of us.
By Naomi Lippman and Josh Wyner
Naomi Lippman is the Principal at HAFTR High School. Josh Wyner is the Associate Principal at HAFTR High School.
