Hannah Goldberger, a Holocaust survivor who rebuilt her life in Jerusalem and lived to see five generations of descendants, passed away Monday night at age 100, just one week after celebrating her centennial birthday. Large crowds attended her funeral late Monday evening.
Born to Matityahu Kein, a prominent member of the Munkacs Hasidic community in pre-war Europe, Goldberger was the sole survivor of her family, which perished in the Holocaust. She managed to escape the Nazi death machine that claimed her relatives.
After the destruction of European Jewry, she married Yosef Goldberger, a respected figure in Jerusalem's Satmar Hasidic community who maintained close ties to the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty. The couple settled in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem, where they lived for decades.
Their home became known as a center of Torah study, prayer and charity. Goldberger devoted herself daily to prayer for her children and grandchildren, that they follow in traditional Jewish paths. Her prayers were answered: she lived to witness five generations and hundreds of descendants committed to religious observance—a powerful response to the Nazi regime that sought to annihilate her father's family.
She died surrounded by a legacy of good deeds and a sterling reputation, leaving behind a blessed generation. Her children include Rabbi Moshe Goldberger of Lakewood, New Jersey; Rabbi Eliezer Goldberger, a prominent Vizhnitz rabbi; and Rabbi Yisrael Shalom Goldberger, a rabbinical judge in the Satmar community of Bnei Brak. Her son-in-law is Rabbi Moshe Abramowitz, a notable member of the Ger Hasidic community. Among her grandchildren is Chaim Avraham Goldberger, a well-known activist in the Vizhnitz community.
The funeral procession took place late Monday night, and she was laid to rest at Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem.
Baruch Dayan HaEmes.
