Honoring Es

It is with great sadness but even greater adoration that we acknowledge  the passing of our dear friend Esther Grushkin. Her obituary is below.  Donations in her honor may be made to the Visiting Nurse Service, S.I. or Magen David Adom (equivalent of the Israeli Red Cross).

OBITUARY

ESTHER GRUSHKIN, PH. D.

Esther Grushkin, whose lifelong commitment to the teaching and appreciation of Hebrew language, literature, Bible and Judaic studies, died on October, 17th, 2015 after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer.

Dr. Grushkin was a favorite among students. An experienced educator of children and adults, she loved teaching biblical archaeology, Jewish literature, language, criticism, and the Hebrew Bible.

Her knowledge of Hebrew and languages of the ancient Near East gave her a unique perspective on scripture. She loved to shock her students by comparing Biblical stories with archaeological fact. “It was a mutual love affair between me as a teacher and my students,” she said. Students of her Jewish history classes often overflowed into the halls during her lectures.

Dr. Grushkin was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1945 under the British Mandate. “I guess that makes me a Palestinian,” she liked to joke. Her parents, born in Poland, each arrived in Israel independently in 1936. Her father, Jacob Mandel, immigrated to Israel illegally. When the British captured his ship, intent on sending it back to Italy, he jumped overboard and swam ashore. Mandel lived in Israel for 21 years before moving to Brooklyn and then Staten Island with his family.

As a 13-year-old girl with limited English, Dr. Grushkin was elected to the Arista Honor Society just one year after arriving in the United States. She continued her education, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 from Brooklyn College, a Master of Arts degree in 1994 and a Doctorate of Philosophy in 2000 from New York University. Her dissertation was titled Emotions and their Effect on the Body as Depicted in the Hebrew Bible.

Through the years, she taught across New York City, including at Forest Hills High School, Hebrew Academy, Lincoln High School, the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Touro College, the College of Staten Island, and the United Federation of Teachers in Manhattan and Staten Island. She frequently presented her research at the Society of Biblical Literature.

Her topics included “Esther on Esther,” “The Power of Romantic Love in the Bible,” “Fear in the Hebrew Bible,” “Ancient Myths and Their Influence on Genesis,” “Did the Exodus Really Happen?” “The Modern History of Israel Through Fiction,” and more.

Dr. Grushkin was an active member of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun of Staten Island. An executive and member of the Board of Trustees, she served as membership chair for 11 years. A dedicated scholar, she also served as vice president of the Archaeological Society of Staten Island for more than a decade.

As a sophomore in college, she met and later married the love of her life, Jerome Grushkin. They moved to Staten Island in 1970. She is survived by her husband, her mother Yael Mandel, her sister, Shoshana Steinberg, three sons, Orren, Ailon and Daniel, daughters-in-law, Patricia and Jennifer, and two granddaughters, Alexandra and Charlotte.