
Dr. Sara Chaya Druckman, widow of the late Religious Zionist spiritual leader, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 90.
Dr. Druckman was born in Jerusalem to Prof. Jacob Nahum Epstein, one of the world’s foremost scholars of rabbinic literature, and his wife Tziporah.
Sara received her medical degree from the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, becoming one of the first religious female doctors in Israel. For years she worked as a general practitioner in Ashkelon and its surroundings.
After retiring, she volunteered, helped the needy, and taught in the Orot Etzion girls high school in Givat Washington.
She was known for her kindness and hospitality, as well as her love of Torah study - studying Talmud and attending her husband's Torah classes.
She was laid to rest beside her husband at the Masuot Yitzhak cemetery.
Her son-in-law, Rabbi Shimon Lapid, who succeeded Rabbi Druckman as dean of the Or Etzion Yeshiva, eulogized: "Sara our matriarch is the continuation of Sara the matriarch of the nation. With her unique humility and simplicity. All of us, her descendants, will shine the lights so that the lighthouse that she lit will continue to shine."
Her son Rami lamented: "Father is certainly saying from heaven: 'mine and yours - is hers.' (as did Rabbi Akiva about his wife Rachel, ed.). But you were not content with father's Torah study. You studied at every opportunity and in every possible framework. From a nearly private regular study session with Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, through classes you heard in different capacities, to studying the Daf Yomi alone. You would always listen to father's lessons from the other room.
"You loved the Land of Israel with unlimited love. You toured it and you walked many kilometers across the land. You went anywhere to give medical aid to anyone who needed it," he added.