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
MEET YOUR
MATCH My name is George, I am 94 years old
and I would like to. "Meet My Match"! I
enjoy playing tennis and the piano and
I enjoy the grounds at Valley Green in
Chestnut Hill. I attend High Holidays at
Or Ami Synagogue and some Friday
night services. I am hoping to find a
nice woman between 70-90 accom-
pany me to the Opera, Philadelphia Or-
chestra and/or Theatre.

Please reply to Box GW1
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
HEALTHCARE DIRECTORY
We help you to keep
family traditions at home.

We understand the importance of keeping your loved one in the place
they love — their home. Griswold Home Care is here to help.

Philadelphia 215.515.8679
Bright, intelligent widow looking for
widower in their 70's for great conver-
sation, who like to travel and go to din-
ner and shows. Reply to Box GOM
8 Ferraro was described as a “lifelong learner” by daughter Jocelyn Spitz.

GriswoldHomeCare.com JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Vaccine Approval for Kids
Relaxes Religious Schools
L OCA L
They served our
country with honor.

Now, we are
privileged to serve
them. SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
IN AUGUST, when religious
schools were just starting their
first year of in-person learning
since 2019, Germantown
Jewish Centre Youth and
Families Director Abigail
Weinberg described the year’s
plan as a “moving target.”
As of November, Weinberg’s
predictions have largely proven
true. With the Food and Drug
Administration’s approval
of the
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children
ages 5-11, GJC’s religious
school program, as well as
other religious and after-
school programs, are planning
to adapt yet again, hoping to
eventually ease restrictions put
in place earlier this year.

The FDA’s vaccine approval,
announced Oct. 29 and
recommended by the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention on Nov. 3, could
have a substantial impact
on vaccinated students, area
religious schools report.

At Makom Community, a
childhood enrichment center
with locations in both Center
City and South Philadelphia,
56 children are eligible for the
jab; at Temple Beth Zion-Beth
Israel’s Neziner Hebrew
School, 50 children are eligible.

Many have already received
their first dose, religious school
administrators said.

“A lot of our parents are
really excited, and we already
see many of our families
having their kids vaccinated,”
BZBI Director of Youth and
Family Education Rabbi Max
Nissen said.

GJC and
Makom Community have had similar
responses from parents. Some
Makom families volunteered
to participate in the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia’s
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Inside, Makom students are diligent about wearing masks, Founding
Director Beverly Socher-Lerner said.
Courtesy of Makom Community
Call and ask about our
Lifeti me Rate Lock for veterans
and their spouses.

215-706-8376 C ommonwealth
SENIOR LIVING at WILLOW GROVE
Welcome Home
Personal Care & Memory Care
1120 York Road, Willow Grove, PA 19090
www.Commonwealthsl.com Makom Community, along with other religious and after-schools,
keeps many activities outside.

clinical trials for the vaccine;
one child at Makom is already
fully vaccinated.

“This is the moment where,
for the first time, our kids are
going to have some immunity,
and we can worry about them
less; we can worry about them
impacting their community
less,” said Rachel Marcus, a
GJC member. “And we really
can start transitioning out of
this pandemic mode that we
have been in for so, so long.”
Marcus and her wife have
two children: Maggie, 7, who
has already received her first
dose; and Elliott, who turns 5
next month. They are counting
down the days until Elliott’s
birthday, when she, too, can
receive her first dose.

Schools are still slow to
make any massive changes to
restrictions. BZBI and GJC
have COVID safety commit-
tees or health professionals
they consult to decide on
synagogue-wide precautions.

Both want to give parents
ample time to vaccinate their
children, a process that can
take a couple of months, given
the gap between the two doses.

“Being fully vaccinated
is probably not going to be
required before the first of the
year,” Weinberg said. “We have
two weeks off over the winter,
and we’re not going to expect
See Vaccine, Page 11
JEWISH EXPONENT
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
9