Rebbetzin Chana Wieder, Linzer Rebbetzin, A”h

Rebbetzin Chana Wieder, the Linzer Rebbetzin of Boro Park and mother-in-law of the Klausenburger Rebbe, shlita passed away on Tuesday afternoon, she was 92.

Rebbetzin Wieder was a chessed powerhouse, helping countless people — many of them without the beneficiaries even knowing who was assisting them.

“She and her husband, the Linzer Ruv, zt”l, were not rich people,” said Avrohom Yaakov Klein, a Klausenburger askan. “But when it came to giving, it was 24/7. She gave away a lot of money. She would go around with money and packages, ring the bell and run away.”

She was the primary gatekeeper for her illustrious husband, a prominent posek in the Klausenburger kehillah. She stayed home every day for many years so she could keep order when people came with she’eilos.

Born in 1925 in Hungary to Harav Pinchos Wieder, the young Chana married her first cousin, Harav Aharon Wieder, when they met in Linz, Austria, after World War II’s end. Rav Wieder was a respected talmid chacham at that point, having been appointed by Harav Baruch Rabinowitz, zt”l, the Munkatcher Rebbe, as Rav in Munkatch. During the three-and-a-half years they spent in Linz, the couple had two children.

In 1949, they emigrated to the United States and settled on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Shortly afterward, the Klausenburger Rebbe asked Rav Wieder to join a beis din that he was in the midst of setting up. The beis din consisted of him, Harav Yehudah Wilner, zt”l, and, ybl”c, Harav Fishel Hershkovitz.

The Wieders moved to Crown Heights and then finally to Boro Park in 1970, where they established his beis medrash Ner Boruch on 15th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets.

The nifteres will be taken to Eretz Yisrael for kevurah near her husband, who passed away about five years ago and was laid to rest in the Segulah beis hachaim in Petach Tikvah.

Rebbetzin Wieder is survived by, ybl”c, her sisters Mrs. Sara Lowy and Mrs. Miriam Weiss, and children: Mrs. Malka Eisenberger, Reb Pinchos, Reb Yitzchak Isaac, Rebbetzin Tzipora Halberstam, Mrs. Charny Hershkowitz, Reb Berel, Reb Meir, and Reb Moshe Mordechai. She was predeceased by Harav Alter Baruch, zt”l.

Yehi zichrah baruch.

This article appeared in print on page 28 of the February 15th, 2017 edition of Hamodia.