After Losing His Wife, Rabbi Advances Her Dream With Baltimore Children’s Center

by Mendel Scheiner – chabad.org

There is a belief in Jewish thought, echoed throughout the Talmud, Chumash, Zohar and Chassidic teachings: G‑d does not give a soul a burden it cannot carry.

For Rabbi Mendel and Miriam Mintz, this was not a distant ideal. It was a way of life, lived every single day.

“I have never identified with my challenges,” reflects Rabbi Mendel Mintz, a well-known Chabad-Lubavitch activist. “My wheelchair is my biggest enabler. I’m blessed to live in a time when the world is so adaptable that I don’t typically notice it as a struggle.”

In Miriam Fink, he found a kindred spirit.

Miriam was a passionate special education teacher, dedicating her life to helping children reach their full potential. Armed with a master’s degree in special education, she spent a decade teaching at Baltimore’s Talmudical Academy, where she was known for her boundless care and commitment. “She would do anything for her boys; her students were her children,” recalls her colleague and friend, Rivky Danzinger.

Because of her own physical challenges, having been born with dwarfism, Miriam brought an extraordinary empathy to her work. She could reach students in the places they struggled most, showing them, by example, that obstacles do not define a person.

“The most important lesson Mrs. Mintz taught our boys—and our whole family—wasn’t academic,” shared Loni Goldman, a parent of one of Miriam’s students. “It was her attitude toward life: No matter what came her way, she wore a smile. She showed that you can succeed even when it’s hard and that you should always believe in yourself.

“Just like she needed a stool to reach things, she knew she could be that support for others,” Mendel explains. “She adapted to her own challenges and wanted every child to see that he could, too.”

In 2022, Mendel and Miriam married. “It was the happiest day of my life,” says Mintz. “I had found my other half. My soul was complete.”

Though Miriam was not raised in the world of Chassidut, she and Mendel would often stay up late, studying together, delving into Chassidic philosophy and discourse. Over time, Miriam’s passion for Chabad and its teachings blossomed. “She chose it,” says Mintz. “It became so much a part of her that sometimes she’d be more excited about it than I was.”

Inspired to share her newfound warmth and light, Mendel’s lifelong dream to become an emissary of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—became her own. In 2024, the Mintzes were appointed to serve the growing Jewish communities of Glen Burnie and Pasadena, Md., eager to make a difference together.

Amid their communal work, the couple also yearned to build a family. They pursued IVF treatments at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, determined to spare their children the genetic challenges they themselves faced. But in the midst of a routine procedure, tragedy struck. On 4 Av, 5784 (Aug. 8, 2024), just weeks into preparations to launch their new Chabad center, unexpected complications from anesthesia claimed Miriam’s life. She was only 30 years old.

“Nothing can prepare you for this. It was a complete shock,” says Mintz.

After the funeral, Mintz returned to their apartment. The silence was deafening.

“I never viewed myself as an inspiration, not until Miriam passed,” he admits. “I was privileged to have her in my life; every day was a blessing. Being able to work through the pain and move forward, to not let it overcome me—that’s been the inspiration.”

Embodiment of Her Life’s Work

In recounting his next steps, Mintz shares a story. In 1956, the Israeli village of Kfar Chabad—home to survivors of the Holocaust and Stalin’s persecution—was rocked by a terrorist attack; five children and one rabbinical student were murdered in cold blood. The village’s residents were broken, some wondered if they should leave altogether. Yet the Rebbe’s response was consistently one of resolve and resilience: Consolation for the devastating losses would come only through continued growth, in the form of building, in the form of expanding the village’s educational activities, and sinking their roots into the grown ever deeper, both material and spiritual. Through this, they would find consolation and strength.

For Mintz, this became a guiding light. “I knew I had to do something,” he says. “Something in the field of education, to continue her legacy onward.”

The Torah teaches that when a soul departs, it is our sacred duty to continue the mission it can no longer accomplish on its own. For Miriam, that mission was clear: that no child should be left behind, and every child should receive the love, attention and support they need to thrive.

To honor his beloved wife, Mintz is building a living tribute to all she stood for. “Creating this building will really be an embodiment of what she lived for,” he says. “A true testimony that she lived a full life.”

The 14,000-square-foot facility, named Miriam’s Library and Learning Center, will serve Baltimore’s 100,000-strong Jewish community as an educational hub, extracurricular center and library. It will offer a place where students can receive special education support, enjoy after-school programs or simply find a quiet space to do homework.

“Miriam’s Library is going to be a place to commemorate a special person’s legacy,” says Goldman. “The library will give students a place to receive academic help, relax and grow. It’s going to add so much to the community.”

Reflecting Miriam’s love of Chassidut, the space will be home to a Heichal Baal Shem Tov center, a dedicated space to spread the light of Chassidic teachings, just as Miriam dreamed of doing herself at the Chabad center she was planning to build.

“What she tragically couldn’t do in her lifetime, we will build as a lasting and enduring legacy to her amazing life and merit for her neshama [soul],” says Mintz. “I can’t think of a more appropriate tribute to her incredible and enduring legacy than Miriam’s Library and Learning Center.”

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help build Miriam’s Library and Learning Center. To donate, click here.