Tribute to Rebbetzin Zlata Geisinsky

Shockwaves of grief steamrolled through the greater Washington, D.C., Jewish community with the news of the passing of Zlata Geisinsky, a 49-year-old Chabad-Lubavitch emissary seen by many as a close, personal confidant. Known as a selfless educator, community activist and devoted mother, Geisinsky was co-director of Chabad of Bethesda and Chevy Chase, Md.

Born Chaya Zlata Dubrawsky in 1961, she and her twin sister Miriam were brought up in a home that embodied the giving character of their Soviet immigrant parents Yehoshua and Asna Dubrawsky.

“The home was always occupied by guests who we never knew,” recalled Geisinsky’s brother, Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Dallas, Texas. “Conversations in the home were frequently about how to assist this or that person or another guest that was coming soon to our home.”

Yehoshua Dubrawsky, a prolific writer whose work appeared in, among other publications, the Yiddish Forward and Algemeiner Journal newspapers, also wrote and edited for the Jewish Women journal and Yiddishe Heim, and transcribed the public talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

“What we observed in our home was our father’s dedication to Jewish teachings, especially the teachings of Chabad,” said Dubrawsky. “Both of our parents were the only survivors of their families, yet they educated us about giving to others, and with the anticipation that we would dedicate our lives as Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries away from our hometown of Brooklyn.”

That same dedication led Geisinsky and her twin sister to embrace the thousands of Iranian refugees that arrived in Brooklyn, N.Y., after the Rebbe launched a mission to save Jewish children caught up in what would become the Islamic Revolution.

Geisinsky reached out to assist the children become comfortable in their new country.

“I was amongst the first group of kids that were brought over by Chabad on the verge of the Islamic Revolution,” said Tamar Katz. “Zlata and her sister were so kind and attentive to us. They knew we had left our parents and loved ones behind, and they were so open, so inviting to us, trying to fill the big hole and gap that we were feeling.”

Katz and other girls took up temporary residence at the Dubrawsky home; some lived there for more than two years.

“I came home for Passover from Venezuela,” remembered Dubrawsky, who at the time was a rabbinical student in Caracas and willingly joined his brothers in staying with friends, “and there were a bunch of Iranian girls living at our home.”

According to Dubrawsky, Geisinsky was “the go to person” to settle issues among the siblings.

“She could see everyone’s point of view and always knew how to get straight to the point,” he said. “She was wise beyond her years and was able to tolerate extreme opposites. She was extremely thoughtful and her ego never got in the way.”

Article continued at Chabad.org – Selfless Leader