Jewish spiritual leader, Holocaust survivor Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis dies at 80
Jungreis was well known for founding New-York-based Jewish outreach organization Hineni.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: AUGUST 24, 2016 01:15Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis speaking at the 37th Annual Hineni dinner in 2010(photo credit: JEMAL COUNTESS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, an icon of the Jewish community in the US and Israel, passed away on Tuesday evening at the age of 80.Jungreis was well known for founding New-York-based Jewish outreach organization Hineni. A frequent lecturer well into her later years, she authored four books on the subjects of spirituality and relationships, including The Committed Life and The Committed Marriage.Hineni posted a notice of her passing on their website, writing "our crown has departed. Our glory is gone."According to the Jewish Press, she was born in 1936 in Szeged, Hungary and was the daughter of the city's Chief Rabbi Avroham Halevi Jungreis. After surviving Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the Jungreis family eventually settled in New York in 1947.Along with her husband Rabbi Meshuelem Halevi Jungreis, the pair became spiritual leaders in the New York Jewish community. They founded Hineni in an attempt to quell growing assimilation that they saw throughout American Jewry.A funeral will be held on Wednesday at 11:00 AM at the Agudath Israel of Long Island synagogue in Far Rockaway, New York.