By:KEITH GRANT
Days before the worst terrorist attack on American soil, one of the more recent victims of terror was remembered by hundreds at a service in Far Rockaway.
Judith Hayman Greenbaum, 31, known to loved ones as Shoshana, was among the 15 civilians killed August 9 when a Palestinian terrorist detonated a bomb inside a pizza place in Jerusalem. A teacher for 10 years at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Greenbaum was set to begin a new career and a new life teaching in New Jersey this fall when the attack occurred.
Greenbaum was visiting Israel for a six-week fellowship program. She and her husband, Shmuel Greenbaum, were expecting their first child this fall.
On Sunday, Sept. 9, Congregation Kneseth Israel in far Rockaway was filled nearly to capacity with hundreds of family members, friends, colleagues and Greenbaum's former students at the Long Beach yeshiva. For the young girls led into the synagogue by their mothers, the death of their much beloved teacher was difficult to comprehend.
Elana Pearlman, a 1995 HALB graduate, spoke for many when she recalled the smile Greenbaum brought to the classroom every day.
Her enthusiasm got us all excited to work,she said. Through that excitement and her always-present smile, Greenbaum taught the girls the Torah, and a love for one another. No one, no matter how far removed from Greenbaum's classroom, was exempt from her infectious smile.
She taught us all to feel so special,said Rebecca Gruenfeld, a 1997 graduate of the school. There are not enough words to express how special she was.
Principal Rabbi Heshy Glass told Greenbaum's parents, Alan and Shifra Hayman of Los Angeles, that their only child left a mark on a countless number of lives. Your daughter taught so many HALB students,Glass said. What's represented in these students are thousands that are being touched.
She treated every child with respect,Glass added. She was successful because she smiled at every single person. She smiled because every single person was important to her.
Photos by Janette Pellegrini
