H EADLINES
‘Tremendous Teacher’ Rabbi Mimi Ferraro Dies at 59
OB ITUARY
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
LIFELONG JEWISH educator
and Rabbi Miriam “Mimi”
Ferraro died on Oct. 29 aft er
a two-year battle with colon
cancer. She was 59.

Ferraro was both a teacher
and a student, serving as the
rabbi at Congregation Tiferes
B’nai Israel in Warrington
since 2015; the education
director of Old York Road
Temple-Beth Am in Abington
from 1996-2015; and was the
fi rst doctoral student at Gratz
College and a 2017 graduate
of the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College in Wyncote.

She also was a hospice
chaplain at Abramson Center for
Jewish Life, helping patients even
when she was a patient herself.

Ferraro’s passion for engaging
with her Jewish community was
evident: She made chaplain visits
and leyning Torah the month
before her death.

“It was crazy,” said her
daughter Jocelyn Spitz, the
eldest of Ferraro’s four children.

“[Cancer] didn’t slow her
down. She was doing funerals;
she was doing weddings ... She
was just like, ‘I gotta keep on
keeping on — I just got to go,
just got to do it.’”
After a breast cancer
diagnosis in 2014, Ferraro
began her rabbinical program
at RRC the day aft er her double
mastectomy. Spitz said she learned
“unwavering strength” from
her mother, who would talk
out loud to herself, repeating
the mantras of “I got this,” “I’m
going to be OK” and “I’m going
to kick it,” throughout her
more aggressive colon cancer
diagnosis in 2019.

“Th at’s what she said going
into her last surgery on Oct. 29,
that morning: ‘I’m gonna kick
it,’” Spitz said.

Born Feb. 3, 1962, Ferraro
grew up in Melrose Park and
attended Cheltenham High
School. She attended synagogue
every week with her family and
was a camper at Camp Ramah.

She received a bachelor’s
degree from Temple University
in 1984 in music and music
therapy; a master’s of arts in
Jewish education administra-
tion at Gratz College in 1990;
and a doctorate in special
education at Gratz in 2013.

“She just loved to learn and
she just wanted more,” Spitz
said. “And the more knowledge
she had, the more she could
help others.”
Rabbi Robert Leib, who
worked alongside Ferraro at
Old York Road Temple-Beth
Am for 20 years, said her role
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as a “tremendous teacher” was
most evident in 2004 when
Temple-Beth Am merged with
neighboring synagogue Temple
Beth Torah, which could no
longer sustain itself.

Ferraro, Temple-Beth Am’s
education director, was tasked
with integrating the religious
school students from TBT into
Temple-Beth Am.

“Regardless of what I had
to do to try and accommodate
them as best as I could, the TBT
families had a profound sense
of loss and grief,” Leib said.

Ferraro was able to ensure
the new students were welcome.

“We saw tremendous
growth under her leadership,”
Leib said.

In total, Ferraro oversaw
the Jewish education of 450
children at one point.

“She knew every single one
of them by name,” Leib said.

“Th at’s no exaggeration.”
However, Spitz said Ferraro
loved no children more than
her grandchildren and, aft er
the onset of the pandemic,
Ferraro’s priorities shifted
more toward her own family,
Spitz said.

“Family was the No. 1 most
important thing to her,” Spitz
said. Ferraro was proud to call
herself a “bubbe,” Spitz said.

Ferraro loved showing people
pictures of Spitz’s children.

Even when her health
was waning, Ferraro made a
staunch eff ort to spend time
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
Ferraro (center, red shirt) with her family
with her family.

Spitz’s older son celebrated
his fi rst birthday a week before
Ferraro’s death. Th ough she
could barely walk, Ferraro
committed to being there for
the celebration, where she
napped on the couch as her
family sang “Happy Birthday.”
“Just her being there was
enough for her. She just couldn’t
miss an opportunity to be with
her family and especially her
Courtesy of Jocelyn Spitz
grandkids,” Spitz said.

Ferraro is survived by her
husband Stephen Ferraro;
children, Jocelyn
Spitz (Zachary), Allyson Beyer
(Zachary), Erica Ferraro and
Benjamin Ferraro; sisters,
Carol Sheffer (Yossi) and
Sandra Goldberg (Michael);
and two grandsons. ●
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
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8 Ferraro was described as a “lifelong learner” by daughter Jocelyn Spitz.

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