London Educator Remembered for Dedication to Jewish Women and Youth

Veteran London educator Henny Sufrin, who co-founded the Chabad-Lubavitch center in the suburb of Ilford, Essex, passed away July 15 at the age of 76. As headmaster of the city’s Lubavitch grammar school, she touched thousands of young children, while her popular adult education classes drew thousands more Londoners over the years.

Born Hena Elka Woolfson to Chanoch and Chava Mera Woolfson in 1933, Sufrin spent her childhood in Dublin, Ireland, where the country’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jacobowitz and his wife Amilie became formative influences to the young girl. When she graduated from Wesley College, she continued her studies in the United Kingdom at Gateshead Seminary, a Jewish school for higher education, where she developed a lifelong thirst for Jewish scholarship and instruction.

In 1952, she married Rabbi Aron Dov “A.D.” Sufrin in Dublin. They spent their first few years of marriage in his hometown of Manchester, England, and Gateshead, receiving guidance from the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, through Aron Dov Sufrin’s father, Rabbi Leon Sufrin.

Among the advice the Rebbe gave the young couple was a directive to move to a part of town lacking in Jewish infrastructure so that they could run programs in addition to Aron Dov Sufrin’s daily occupation.

“I trust that both he and his bride,” the Rebbe wrote to Leon Sufrin on Oct. 31, 1952, “will not only be able to hold their own, but will be able to accomplish things in the strengthening of Judaism there. As for your apprehension that your son may not have the proper strength to carry it out, we have seen from experience that the challenge itself brings forth additional strength to cope with it.”

In the mid-1950s, the couple moved to London to assist Rabbi Bentzion Shemtov, a pioneer Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, in running the Lubavitch educational system. In London, the Sufrins were among the founders of the Lubavitch Foundation, directed the Lubavitch primary and grammar schools, and in 1960, established the local Camp Gan Israel.

For many years, Henny Sufrin served as the headmistress of the new Lubavitch Grammar Girls School, where she also taught Classical Hebrew and Biblical Texts, honing her characteristic teaching methodology of approaching her subjects with a combination of humor and direct instruction.

At the Rebbe’s behest, the Sufrins established the Ilford center in 1975, running programs for the 30,000 Jewish residents of Essex.

“They were a great team,” said community member Rosalind Shere, who continues to attend programming at the center, which is now run by Rabbi Aryeh and Devorah Sufrin. “They were quite unbelievable together.”

In Ilford, Henny Sufrin founded the local women’s Jewish burial society and bolstered Jewish education for the area’s young children through a succession of projects. She organized a Jewish religious component at the Wanstead High School and opened a Sunday teenage center under the auspices of the United Synagogue. She also became active in the Beehive Lane Synagogue, and established a series of adult education classes at formal and informal settings in the area.

Among her greatest achievements was Family and Me Education, which continues to give women opportunities to study Judaism at their own pace and according to the demands of their individual schedules. FAME drew accolades for its women’s seminary, a weekly three-hour session of intense study.

“She taught in an interesting and fun way,” remembered Shere. “She loved to learn and she loved to teach.”

“She was not only a teacher,” confirmed her son, Aryeh Sufrin. “But she was also a lifelong learner.”

Article continued at Chabad.org – A Home for Everyone