Obituary: Morah Simcha Yadgar, 84, Legendary Teacher in Northern Israel

by Bruria Efune – chabad.org

On the night of Hoshana Rabbah 5783 (2022), Simcha Yadgar sat in the sukkah with her husband. She was in joyful spirits and good health—Yadgar loved Sukkot, and would tell her children how all her life she never once drank outside of the sukkah during the seven-day holiday. Earlier she had called each of her children and grandchildren to give them blessings, much longer and more detailed than usual. She told them excitedly to wear special clothing because they were soon going to be greeting Moshiach.

That night, she sat side by side with her husband, and as is the custom for many, read through the entire books of Devarim (Deuteronomy) and Tehillim (Psalms), and followed with an apple dipped in honey, and a glass of water. By the time they finished, it was 3 a.m., and she turned to her husband and asked him to give her a blessing, since it was his birthday. Rabbi Yitzchak Yadgar was confused—why rush? His birthday had just begun and usually, he would share blessings in the morning. But his wife insisted, and so he complied.

Simcha Yadgar said the Shema, and morning blessings, and then climbed into bed, leaving the light on. Moments later, feeling uneasy, Rabbi Yadgar came to check on his wife. As he put his hand on the mezuzah, he watched his wife take a deep breath, and then lay still.

Her holy soul had departed.

“She passed away by ‘Divine kiss’ in her bed,” Rabbi Yadgar says. “Exactly like we just finished reading in the book of Devarim,” referring to the passing of Moses.

News of her passing was met with widespread mourning in Northern Israel and beyond. An introvert by nature and known for her exceptional piety, Simcha Yadgar opened her home, and members of her moshav (town) were always found inside, sitting around her living room, asking her for advice. It wasn’t only her students who called her “Morah Simcha,” but the hundreds who trusted her with their deepest concerns.

Roots in the Old City of Jerusalem

Simcha Yadgar was born in 5698 (1937) in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, during the British Mandate. Her parents, Rabbi Shmuel and Serach, had immigrated from Iraq, and upon arrival, were given the last name “Mizrachi.” Simcha was the youngest of the family, with three brothers, and four sisters.

The Mizrachi family lived in a small apartment which they received from the Jewish Agency. The “bedrooms” were partitioned off with curtains, there was no running water—instead they brought it daily from a well, and a toilet could only be found outside. In place of electricity, they used oil lamps for light, and kerosene under a thermos for cooking.

Yadgar’s parents were kind-hearted, and dedicated Jews. Rabbi Dovid Aryeh Brizel, who locals referred to as “the Elder of Jerusalem,” dubbed her father Rabbi Shmuel, “the Tzaddik of the Old City,” and that’s what everyone would call him. Despite her father’s own meager earnings as a water carrier, they never had a meal without at least three poor guests at the table. If he could not find any poor to invite to the table, her father would not eat at all.

One of her favorite childhood memories was waking up early in the morning to go to selichot with her father.

Surviving the Jordanian Siege

When Simcha was eight years old, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and bloody wars broke out. The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was besieged by the Jordanians, and her brother and sister-in-law were taken captive. One night her father had a dream, and in it he was told that he would be killed al kiddush Hashem, and that his death would be an atonement, leading to the release of his son and daughter-in-law. Not long after his dream, Rabbi Shmuel was stabbed to death by a mob of Arabs. In the following days, the rest of the dream came to fruition, and the prisoners were freed.

Months later, the Jews who had been under siege were led out, and the Mizrahi family relocated to the Katamon neighborhood in Jerusalem. Now without a father, the two eldest brothers stepped in to support the family, through work in construction. The orphaned family struggled through the austerity period, often with no more than two slices of bread each day, yet she still recalled sweet childhood memories. The young girl particularly enjoyed going to school in Beit Yaakov, where she was an outstanding student, with a sharp mind and memory, albeit extremely modest, and with a great fear of Heaven. At one point during high school, she decided to fast every Monday and Thursday, a practice she continued for the rest of her life.

In her neighborhood in Jerusalem lived a righteous yet impoverished blind woman who knew the tehillim (Psalms) by heart, and was well-versed in stories of the Jewish Sages. As a teen, Simcha would diligently take care of the woman, cleaning and cooking for her. The lady once broke into tears and told her that she felt as if she had died three times—she was poor, blind, and had no children. Simcha promised her that she would name a daughter after her, and true to her word, years later she named a daughter Penina.

Simcha earned her teaching degree in seminary, where the principal (who was the sister-in-law of the Chazon Ish) suggested she marry a young man whose family was also from Iraq. It was only after meeting Yitzchak Yadgar that she learned he was a Chabad chassid, and what that meant.

Yitzchak Yadgar was raised in a traditional Mizrachi (Eastern Sephardic) family, where he stumbled upon Chabad as a young boy. He was determined to attend the Chabad Yeshiva in Lod, but his mother was very against the idea, mainly because of the fedayeen, who were carrying out terror attacks in Lod and the area. Determined as he was, young Yitzchak left home and took small, odd jobs until he gathered enough funds to bus to Lod and join the yeshiva. When the police found the young boy and brought him back home, he repeated the same steps until he was in yeshiva again.

Simcha’s teacher told the young Yitzchak. “Simcha has a brilliant mind, and in-depth knowledge of the Torah and Medrash.”

The Rebbe’s Promise: Nothing to Fear

Simcha and Yitzchak Yadgar married, and for the first year of their marriage, lived in Kfar Chabad. Simcha immediately took to the Chabad philosophy, and she and her husband wrote to the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, about their wish to become Chabad emissaries. The young couple listed several options, and the Rebbe wrote back that since Yitzchak had a special talent for teaching, and had earned a teaching degree, they should move to the Taanach region in the north of Israel, where he should take a teaching job in a secular school.

The Yadgars found a teaching job in Moshav Avital, where they moved with their baby daughter. The townspeople however, were not ready to welcome a religious family, and they greeted them with stones, shaking fists, and threats. In hopes that the Yadgars would give up and leave, the Moshav cooperative refused to allow them to rent a house, and instead had them sleep on a classroom floor.

With the ongoing threats and hostility, Yitzchak and Simcha became concerned for their safety, and more specifically, the safety of their daughter. They wrote their concerns to the Rebbe, and received a strong response.

“The leader of the generation has broad shoulders to carry the responsibility of the emissaries and their children,” wrote the Rebbe. “They have nothing to worry about or fear.”

Eventually the Moshav residents cooled down, and allowed the Yadgars to rent a two-bedroom, 68-square-meter (731-square-foot) home, where the couple would raise their children.

Soon, Rabbi Itche Gansbourg opened a local religious school, under the Chabad Ohlei Yosef Yitzchak” network and the change of local attitude became very visible when most parents chose to send their children to the new school, where the Yadgars began to teach.

A Beloved Teacher

Simcha started out teaching preschool, where she showered the children with love. Her name, “Simcha,” means “joy,” and parents in the moshav began calling her “Orah Vesimcha,” literally “light and joy,” because her face shown with an excitement and love for every child in her classroom.

Years later, one of Simcha’s preschool students told her son, between tears, about how much Morah Simcha loved him. “One time she found me crying, and asked why,” he recalled. “I told her that I was sad because it was almost Purim, and I didn’t have a costume. Never mind that we lived in an extremely poor town where a costume was considered a luxury. Morah Simcha brought me to her office, where she pulled out some supplies and made me a cowboy costume on the spot. I will never forget—it was the best day of my life!”

The early days in an isolated Moshav brought many challenges. The Yadgars would get their own milk from a farm, and bring chickens to a local shochet. Occasionally, Yitzchak would take three buses to Kfar Chabad, to bring home a wider variety of kosher food for the family.

Two years after their wedding, Simcha and Yitzchak began building a home in a new neighborhood of Kfar Chabad. As the house neared completion, Yitzchak wrote to the Rebbe about their wish to leave the Moshav and move to Kfar Chabad, where they could send their children to Chabad schools.

The Rebbe’s response came with clear instructions. The couple were to stay in Avital, as they were crucial to the community, and “the poor of your city must come first.” Of course, the Yadgars listened to the Rebbe, and continued to teach in Avital. Yitzchak would also give Torah classes in the neighboring communities.

Simcha Yadgar soon had a home full of small children, including twin boys. And while she loved teaching, she took a break to be home taking care of her children until the youngest started school.

Her children remember waking up in the morning to the sound of their mother reading Tehillim—she was always up at 5am, and would complete the entire Tehillim every day, along with Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, and the daily Chumash and Tanya, three chapters of Rambam, and Hayom Yom.

Running the School From Her Notebook

When her youngest child began school, Yadgar returned to work as a teacher, and eventually as secretary of the school. When the school’s founder and principal, and then his replacement, had to leave, Yitzchak Yadgar was asked to take over the role of principal. By this times he had become an extremely popular adult educator, and was very busy traveling around the region to give Torah classes. Initially he did not want the job as principal, and wrote this to the Rebbe. On the phone with the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov, Rabbi Yadgar overheard the Rebbe in the background instructing Hodakov to insist that Yadgar take the job.

Simcha Yadgar reassured her husband that she would help him run the school, and while she acted as if she was only the secretary, she ran everything smoothly so that he could continue to teach his classes.

Israel Prize winner and former State Comptroller Miriam Ben Porat once explained how Yadgar had left her standing with her mouth gaping in shock. Each year Ben Porat would choose several schools to inspect, and one year chose the Yadgar’s school in Avital.

Upon arrival, Ben Porat was usually greeted by a delegation of administrators holding many documents, notes, and usually a presentation. In Avital she was greeted only by Yadgar, who introduced herself simply as the secretary. Yadgar showed Ben Porat around the large school, and completely by memory, explained every class schedule and routine, hour by hour. When Ben Porat challenged her with complex and detailed questions, Yadgar was able to give a clear explanation with every detail, still entirely from memory.

On her way out of the building, Ben Porat turned to some staff, and commented, “I am in awe of this lady.”

Decades later, when Yadgar retired and her daughter, Rachel Keel, became school principal, she mused that her mother somehow managed to do in a little notebook for a few hours a day what now took an entire staff several meetings and consultations to plan out.

Yadgar’s genius wasn’t only in organizing the school. She was a talented teacher with a range of knowledge in every topic. She was always available to fill in as a substitute teacher, and did so almost daily, for every subject in every grade. She would simply walk in the classroom, ask the students what they were up to, and continue from there.

Moshav Avital was founded by immigrants and refugees from Middle Eastern countries, and especially in its early years, was fairly poverty stricken. Many students would come to school with no food for breakfast or lunch. Despite her own simple means, every morning Yadgar would stop at the store to buy fresh sliced bread (in those times, a food for the rich), spreads, and cheese. For some students, this was their only meal each day.

Uniquely Pious and Dedicated Emissary

She lived simply and didn’t seem to need anything more than to help others, which she did with a profound sense of joy and mission. Friends and community members speak of Yadgar with an air of reverence. Sarah Rivka Sasonkin, a longtime friend and colleague, described her as uniquely pious.

“I don’t know anyone else like her,” says Sasonkin. “She was so careful with her words. I never heard her say anything about anyone. She never joined in any gossip. When the teachers were sitting around and talking in the teacher’s room, she would be at the side saying Tehillim or studying from a book of Torah.”

When the Rebbe launched “Mivtzah Neshek” in 1973, and asked Chabad chassidim to encourage Jewish women around the world to light Shabbat candles, Yadgar mobilized the women in her community. Together with friends, she organized Shabbat candle kits, and teams of women who would give them out on Friday, each with a time-slot and location of their own.

When, at her behest, many Jewish girls committed to lighting Shabbat candles weekly, the Rebbe sent a letter to Yadgar, addressing the group with words of encouragement:

“May this mitzvah be a channel and vessel for additional blessings from Hashem, a source for blessing in everything you need.” The Rebbe continued to explain that one candle can light many more, and in that vein, each girl should find more friends and encourage them to light Shabbat candles as well, thus creating a chain where each mitzvah leads to another.

Despite the busyness of Friday, amidst cooking for Shabbat forwith her eight children and many Shabbat guests, Yadgar always had everything organized, and never missed a single week of giving out Shabbat candles.

Yadgar took the biggest job for herself. Every Friday she would take her Shabbat candles and other Shabbat supplies to the Emek Medical Center, a hospital in Afula. There she would spend almost the entire day visiting every single Jewish patient, and give Shabbat candles to the women. She would take her time to talk to each patient and ask how they were doing, often developing a bond with the more long-term patients, providing a listening ear and encouragement.

Every sick patient was written down on Yadgar’s list, where she kept up with everyone’s condition. When she would light Shabbat candles that evening, it would take her a full hour, and many tears, to get through all of the names.

Hospital staff grew to love Yadgar, and she gained a reputation as a “holy woman.” Upon hearing of her passing, the staff dedicated a memorial with her photo, Shabbat candles, and candle-lighting instructions. At her shiva, the hospital director stayed for an hour and cried, “what will we do without her?”

Making Torah and Mitzvot Fun

When the Rebbe asked that children be gathered on Shabbat afternoon, to say tehllim and learn Torah, Yadgar again took the instructions seriously. She hosted a large group of children in her home, backyard, or the shul, every single week without fail.

“She was the backbone,” recalled Sasonkin. “She was extremely reliable, and kept us all going, and organized. It didn’t matter how busy her life was, she never let herself slack. With the Shabbat candles, the gatherings, and with everything the Rebbe instructed.”

It wasn’t enough to just gather the children, Yadgar wanted them to love Torah. Children knew that at all of her programs there would be the very best treats and prizes. She would often travel to far-off cities just to buy the newest and best treats, usually entire large chocolate bars for each kid. Yadgar continued the program consistently for decades, until the children who attended in the early years began to return with their own small children, reciting many chapters of Tehillim, Torah, and Tanya by heart.

At every turn, it was important to Yadgar to bring joy to Judaism. When her grandkids would sleep over, she would prepare warm water and hot towels to bring to them in he morning, so that they would love washing when they woke up.

She would take time to learn with each of her children. When her teenage sons would come home from yeshiva for the weekend, she would learn Gemara with them on Shabbat afternoon.

When one woman told her that she and her husband could no longer have children despite wanting to, because they couldn’t afford it, Yadgar made a deal with her. She would continue having children, and Yadgar would send her money every month.

Rabbi Yitzchak Yadgar had a complementary personality to his wife, and while she was more introverted, he is known to be very outgoing and charismatic, with great energy for crowds. Simcha Yadgar would encourage him to use his talents, and visit all the surrounding small communities to give Torah classes, even when it meant she’d be solo parenting for hours on end, while he was not home.

As Rabbi Yadgar became more renowned, his classes would often be followed by many questions and consultations from attendees, late into the night. No matter what time he arrived home, his wife would be waiting eagerly for him, asking how it went, and encouraging him further.

At the mourning shiva for Simcha Yadgar, thousands of visitors came to talk about how deeply she touched their lives. Rabbi Shmuel David, the Rabbi of Afula commented, “the entire city of Afula is hurting.”

Simcha Yadgar leaves behind her husband, Rabbi Yitzchak Yadgar, and her children, Shterna Sara Chaibi (Rechovot), Rochel Keel (Gan Ner), Rabbi Shimon Yadgar (Yerushalayim), Rabbi Shmuel Yadgar (Be’er Sheva), Rabbi Mordecai Yadgar (Tzfat), Penina Levi (Migdal HaEmek), Chani Edrei (Jerusalem), and Menachem Mendel Yadgar (Crown Heights), as well as more than 700 families who began to keep Torah and Mitzvot because her and her husband.

This article has been reprinted with permission from chabad.org