Rebbetzin Dr. Esther Farbstein Appointed Israel’s Representative On Board Of Claims Conference

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Rebbetzin Dr. Esther Farbstein, a historian and author who is considered the leading charedi scholar on the Holocaust, has been appointed as Israel’s representative on the board of the Claims Conference.

The 77-year-old Farbstein is the wife of Chevron Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Farbstein and a great-granddaughter of the Imrei Emes of Gur. She has focused her career research on the spiritual responses of Jews to Nazi persecution, authoring the books “Hidden in Thunder: Perspectives on Faith, Halachah and Leadership During the Holocaust (2007) and Hidden in the Heights: Orthodox Jewry in Hungary During the Holocaust (2014). She has taught extensively at the Holocaust Studies center she opened in the Michlalah-Jerusalem college in Bayit V’Gan.

The Claims Conference represents the world’s Jews in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. The conference administers compensation funds, recovers unclaimed Jewish property, and allocates funds to institutions that provide social welfare services to Holocaust survivors and preserve the memory and lessons of the Holocaust.

Deputy Minister Of Transport Uri Maklev, who was responsible for the appointment, spoke via Zoom to the conference in New York and explained that “Rebbetzin Farbstein is an educational exemplar and a unique researcher of the Holocaust who will influence the Torah and spiritual aspect of services for Holocaust survivors as well as helping them in other ways.

Maklev, who serves as the head of the Holocaust Survivor Rights Authority in Israel, added that “We don’t wait for them to ask, we try to offer what they deserve and need, with a broad panoply of economic and health services including emotional support, treatment, care, social welfare, communal services and day centers.”

Maklev added that he tries to “reduce bureacratic hurdles for survivors. Our goal is to broaden funding and support for chronic care, for various diseases, for pyschiatric care as well as for perpetuation activities which are significant for us as a nation. Currently there are about 100000 survivors in Israel including survivors of death camps, forced laborers and those who escaped from the clutches of the Nazis. Unfortunately this community is dwindling, and just last week some 250 Holocaust survivors passed away, and in the last year about 10,000 passed away.”