Sarah Tessler, a respected figure in Israel's Vizhnitz Hasidic community, died suddenly Monday night at her home in Bnei Brak at the age of 89. She was the widow of Rabbi Eliezer Tessler, who for decades managed the famous Vizhnitz Hotel.
Born in Petach Tikva to Rabbi Yosef Hershkowitz, a prominent figure in the ultra-Orthodox community of the previous generation, Tessler came from the distinguished Schick family. Her grandfather was the brother of the renowned 19th-century rabbi known as the Maharam Schick.
After marrying Eliezer Tessler, the couple settled in Petach Tikva. Though she grew up in a Hungarian household and her husband came from a Vizhnitz Hasidic background, she embraced his traditions with devotion.
A well-known story from Petach Tikva's early days illustrates this commitment. During one Purim holiday, the Vizhnitz Rebbe asked her husband to begin wearing a shtreimel, At the time, such headwear was rare in Petach Tikva streets. Tessler immediately agreed to the Rebbe's request, and by Passover that year, her husband was among the first residents to wear a shtreimel in the city.
Years later, the family relocated to the Vizhnitz neighborhood in Bnei Brak. Her husband was appointed to manage the Vizhnitz Hotel, a position he held for decades. Tessler supported him throughout, and together they quietly performed acts of kindness for thousands, far from public attention.
She devoted her life to raising her children in traditional Jewish values, with piety and good character. She lived to see all her children and sons-in-law following a religious path and contributing to Torah scholarship and Hasidic life.
Monday night at midnight, she suddenly felt sick and passed away at her home on Ahavat Shalom Street in Bnei Brak. Emergency responders performed prolonged resuscitation efforts, but she could not be revived.
Tessler is survived by her sons Rabbi Baruch Tessler and Rabbi Yisrael Tessler, and sons-in-law including Rabbi Shlomo Fox of Montreal, Rabbi Elimelech Brand, Rabbi Menachem Ernster (head of Vizhnitz yeshivas), and Rabbi Yaakov Yehuda Daskal, known professionally as singer and composer Yanky Daskal.
The funeral procession departed Tuesday morning at 11:00 a.m. from the main study hall in Vizhnitz, Bnei Brak, proceeding to the Segula Cemetery in Petach Tikva, where she was buried beside her late husband.
The family is sitting shiva at her home, 24 Ahavat Shalom Street in Bnei Brak.
Baruch Dayan HaEmes.
