The Jewish Home | JULY 28, 2022
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Remembering Rebbetzin Sara Freifeld, a”h By Naftali HalperN
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aving raised three children as a single mother, Sara Cohen, Ph.D. was at the peak of her academic career in 1984 when she was in Israel on a Fulbright Scholarship conducting research and teaching at Hebrew University. Perhaps the greatest testament to Sara’s intellectual bandwidth, though, was that she even considered Rav Simcha Wasserman’s suggestion at that time that she should marry Reb Shlomo Freifeld; after all, that would require her to radically change course mid-stream. Yet, after meeting with Reb Shlomo in Israel on several occasions, she readily gave up her scholarship – much to the chagrin of her academic colleagues who were shocked that she would give up such a prestigious position – married Reb Shlomo, and moved back with him to his community in Far Rockaway. Thus began the second chapter of Sara Cohen’s life, when she affectionately became known to Reb Shlomo’s hundreds of talmidim as “The Rebbetzin.” Reb Shlomo’s union with the Rebbetzin began an important second chapter in his own life as well, a chapter that at the time seemed unlikely to take place.
In the 1980s, Reb Shlomo presided
over a well-oiled spiritual ecosystem. His yeshiva, Sh’or Yoshuv, was thriving, as were his boys’ and girls’ schools and a full-fledged kehilla of hundreds of families. One piece of the puzzle was missing, though: Reb Shlomo’s wife Rebbetzin Chaya Sara, a”h, tragically passed away at a young age. She was an angelic person who drew hundreds to Yiddishkeit in her own right. Her loss was devastating to Reb Shlomo and the many who considered her to be like a mother. Those close to Reb Shlomo sadly accepted the fact that this piece of the picture would remain missing – Reb Shlomo would continue to be mashpia, but he would now be alone. When Reb Shlomo was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, the outlook dimmed further. Although Reb Shlomo was a fighter and did not allow his illness to temper his passion for building up Jewish souls, it was clear that this was a late stage in his life. Due to his illness, Reb Shlomo’s house at 707 Bolton Road in Far Rockaway became the epicenter of his dayto-day activities. Reb Shlomo’s family and talmidim fully embraced the role of caretakers in his home. The house was active from early morning until late at night, with talmidim and other visitors coming and go-
ing – some there for a class, some for advice, and some just to bask in their Rebbe’s presence. On a visit to the house, one may have encountered a visiting rosh yeshiva, a CEO of a large company, or a longhaired teenager who came to find out about “this thing called Shabbos.” Reb Shlomo’s big personality meant that even mundane matters were infused with meaning, humor, and joy. Whereas one may have expected an aura of intensity when sitting at a gadol’s dining room table, if someone needed cheering up, Reb Shlomo would regale them with jokes and even play practical tricks on them. Reb Shlomo was a master at bringing out people’s strengths. That meant that if a talmid chacham was at the table, those around would hear a deep Torah thought; if a scientist was present, they might be given a discourse in chemistry; and if someone with a unique sense of humor were there, there would undoubtedly be barrels of laughs. A well-known visitor who dabbled in poetry quipped upon leaving his meeting at Reb Shlomo’s home: “It may be cloudy out here, but it’s sunny in there.” In line with Reb Shlomo’s philosophy of infusing even the mundane with meaning, there were frequently lavish seudos. Those, too, were teaching mo-
ments for Reb Shlomo. He might take notice of a new student from mid-America and pepper him with questions about life in his hometown; he might ask a composer to teach “the oilam” his newest song; or he might bait an enthusiastic baal teshuvah to try some herring for the first time. All activities in the house, though, had the singular underlying purpose of helping Yidden and spreading Yiddishkeit, even as it was an exciting place to be. When the Rebbetzin stepped off of a plane from Israel to join Reb Shlomo, this was the new world that she entered.
she would often quip that Reb Shlomo shrewdly told her when they met in Israel that he has “a little shteibel in Far Rockaway.” She would recall how she was taken aback when she went with Reb Shlomo to his “shteibel” the first Shabbos and observed hundreds of men stand up in raptured attention as their Rebbe walked into shul. Laughingly she would add, “Some shteibel!” Although the cogs of this kehilla were already in rhythmic motion, when the Rebbetzin entered Reb Shlomo’s world, the house at 707 Bolton Road became even brighter. “She was an aristocratic woman and had the confidence to take it all on,”
