06/06/2018
Remembering Leatrice Rabinsky
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We are sorry to report the death of Dr. Leatrice Rabinsky (z”l), former Federation Board member.
Leatrice was a pioneer in Holocaust education and conducted Journeys of Conscience trips with student groups for many years.
“What the students needed to really understand the magnitude of the Holocaust was a journey to see what they were studying,” said Rabinsky in a 2007 Cleveland Jewish News article. In 1975 the Cleveland Heights High School English teacher organized the first of a long series of Journey of Conscience trips, taking students to concentration camps in Poland and then on to Israel.
Leatrice dedicated her life to laying the groundwork so that Holocaust education will continue for future generations. Our thoughts are with the Rabinsky family at this time. May Leatrice’s memory be for a blessing.
Please read the Cleveland Jewish News article, reprinted with permission. Text provided below:
Holocaust scholar Leatrice Rabinsky passes away at 91
by Bob Jacob, Managing Editor
Leatrice Rabinksy of Cleveland Heights, a noted Holocaust scholar who pioneered Holocaust education in schools, died June 5. She was 91.
In 1973, she started a Holocaust literature class in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District, which became the model for Holocaust education programs across the country. She also created the Journey of Conscience trips, taking students to concentration camps in Poland and then on to Israel.
“The theme of the Holocaust has been central to my life ever since I was a little girl,” she told the Cleveland Jewish News in a 2007 interview.
She said her friendship with young Holocaust survivors in 1947 motivated her “overwhelming desire to keep alive the memory of those who were murdered, to sustain the emotional lives of those who survived, and to spread the message of tolerance.”
Funeral services will be at 9 a.m. June 6 at Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel in Cleveland Heights.
