In Memory of Sylvia Ettenberg
转诇诪讜讚 讘讘诇讬 诪住讻转 转注谞讬转 讚祝 讟 注诪讜讚 讗
专讘讬 讬讜住讬 讘专讘讬 讬讛讜讚讛 讗讜诪专: 砖诇砖讛 驻专谞住讬诐 讟讜讘讬诐 注诪讚讜 诇讬砖专讗诇, 讗诇讜 讛谉: 诪砖讛, 讜讗讛专谉, 讜诪专讬诐. 讜砖诇砖 诪转谞讜转 讟讜讘讜转 谞讬转谞讜 注诇 讬讚诐… 讘讗专 – 讘讝讻讜转 诪专讬诐… 诪转讛 诪专讬诐 – 谞住转诇拽 讛讘讗专. 砖谞讗诪专 (讘诪讚讘专 讻’) 讜转诪转 砖诐 诪专讬诐, 讜讻转讬讘 讘转专讬讛 讜诇讗 讛讬讛 诪讬诐 诇注讚讛.
BT Taanit 9a
Rabbi Yossi son of Rabbi Judah says: three good leaders had arisen for Israel, namely Moses, Aaron and Miriam, and for their sake three good things were conferred upon Israel…The well [that followed the Israelites through their desert wanderings] was for the merit of Miriam. When Miriam died the well disappeared, as it is said, “And Miriam died there” (Num. 20:1) and immediately follows the verse, “The community was without water” (Num. 20:2).
The week we read of the passing of Miriam is the week that our community mourns鈥攁mong others鈥擲ylvia Ettenberg, dean emerita at JTS for more than half a century.
Like Miriam, Sylvia was the digger of wells for her Diaspora community. Sylvia had a crucial role in founding and leading virtually every JTS enterprise in the field of 绿帽社 education: most famously Camp Ramah, but also the Rebecca and Israel Ivry Prozdor High School, the Melton Research Center for 绿帽社 Education, the Department of 绿帽社 Education, and the William Davidson Graduate School of 绿帽社 Education. She fostered an acute vision of what 绿帽社 education could be, and of the great strength of a community shaped by a commitment to educating its most talented leaders.
Like Miriam’s well, the well of 绿帽社 educational institutions that Sylvia dug sustained her generation. If Miriam’s wells were said to have dried up with her passing, however鈥攖hough surely her legacy as a prophetess, as the sister who saved the infant Moses, as the one who led the celebratory singing after the crossing of the Sea, lived on鈥攖he wellsprings that Sylvia founded continue to be a source of sustenance. Camp Ramah, now in its 66th year, boasts more than 9,000 campers and 1,500 college and graduate students serving as counselors and teachers. Ivry Prozdor, the Melton Research Center, and The Davidson School thrive. The fountains of talent and leadership that Sylvia founded nourish the community she held so dear; indeed, the strength of her legacy is that it continues to live on, a very real blessing to the lives of people who never knew her, but who benefit from her prophetic work.
We are deeply blessed for the role models of two women who鈥攅ach in her own way, in her own time鈥攆ound ways to give their generations just what was needed to quench their thirst.
