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Holy Woman: The Road to Greatness of Rebbetzin Chaya Sara Kramer
Visitors streamed to them for guidance and blessings; leading Rabbonim treated them with reverence. Living in a humble shack, poverty clung to them like the dust of the surrounding Jezre'el Valley. Childless themselves, they cared for cast-off children with profound handicaps. By life's end, Rebbitzen Chaya Sara Kramer, together with her husband Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Kramer, had transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people worldwide. This book chronicles a fascinating story of these hidden tzaddikim. But it is far more than a biography. It is a manual - a map of lessons - delineating Rebbitzen Kramer's prescription for personal greatness. An amazing person with a rare degree of humility, she left us a legacy of experience, knowledge and wisdom by which to elevate our own lives. Author Sara Yoheved Rigler, a talented and refreshing writer, draws the reader deeply into the circle of her own close personal relationship with Rebbitzen Kramer. While the story line is riveting, the life lessons are profoundly applicable. A page-turner unlike any you've read, the messages of Holy Woman will inspire you to new heights of Torah living and learning. Click HERE to read a review of this book. Also by Sara Lights from Jerusalem
375 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2006
6 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Sara Yoheved Rigler
14 books10 followersSara Yoheved Rigler is an acclaimed author and lecturer. She resides with her husband and children in Jerusalem's Old City.
She is a regular contributor to aish.com, the educational website of Aish HaTorah. Her articles have also appeared in many anthologies as well as in Mishpacha Magazine and Hamodia.
She is a regular contributor to aish.com, the educational website of Aish HaTorah. Her articles have also appeared in many anthologies as well as in Mishpacha Magazine and Hamodia.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 3, 2015
I'm a big admirer of Sara Yoheved Rigler, but I found this raved-about book disappointing on a few levels. First, it became repetitive, as a few of the anecdotes about the Kramers (both Chaya Sara as well as her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe) were mentioned more than once. Also, as is common in books written about "gedolim," or people who were spiritually very great, some of the stories sound far-fetched. Just one example of several here: when an odd-looking couple showed up at the Kramers' door right before Pesach, announced they were staying with them, began cooking in their kosher-for-Pesach kitchen, and even told the Kramers that THEY would eat outside, and the visitors would eat in the house. The Kramers tolerated this situation. But that's not "giving" to those in need; that's giving in to insanity. How is that a mitzvah?
Both Kramers were extraordinary people, selfless on a superhuman level, both almost eerily attuned to God's "frequency." Rigler creatively writes "sign posts" throughout the story, showing how and in what way Chaya Sara had been presented with a choice, and (of course) made the right choice in her life of giving and of faith. This is one of the biggest strength's of the book, in the way that Rigler illustrates how more average people can also make choices that will lead us more toward spiritual growth, less toward ego gratification. It is also helpful that she acknowledges how far she falls below the ability of the Kramers in various situations, knowing the average reader would also fall short, too.
The Kramers, both Holocaust survivors, devoted their lives to service of others. Rabbi Kramer, a Satmar Hasid, did "rescue" work, helping to attain Jewish education in particular for Sephardic Jews whom the Israeli government shamefully separated from their religious roots by placing them in secular schools and communities. Throughout the book, Rabbi Kramer is seen as taking out money, sometimes fistfuls of money, to help the needy Jew, no questions asked. Only one fleeting reference attributes his ability to do so to fundraising from the Satmar organization.
However, I was bothered by his inability or refusal to house his own wife in anything other than what the author herself calls a "hovel," with a concrete floor, a leaky corrugated tin roof, barely a stick of furniture. She didn't even have basic candlesticks, but stuck candles in sand. In one scene, Chaya Sara asks her husband why they can't have curtains, and he dismisses the question with, "Why do we need such things?" His wife is silenced. Yet later on, Rigler takes great pains to show the extent to which Rabbi Kramer goes and shops for things such as a new jacket, new pens, and other things for some of the hundreds of young students he is helping to support in Jewish schools. Why? Because he understood that you need to satisfy a person's emotional and physical needs. It bothered me that his own level of asceticism was one he insisted on imposing on his wife. All she wanted was to live in something a bit better than a Third world hovel, and the Torah I have learned would argue against this Krameresque level of impoverishment, not to mention the concept of beautifying the act of a mitzvah, which surely would argue for the Rabbi to have found some shekels in his pocket for at least an inexpensive pair of candlesticks for his selfless wife.
Similarly, while he always had money to help pay for others' weddings, tuition, food, medicine, he did zero planning for his wife's maintenance after his demise. For the better part of the 15 years she lived beyond him, Chaya Sara was reduced to asking for money for herself. Of course, she never complained, and only saw the good. I still think, though, that charity begins at home, and that despite the hundreds of references in the book to the rabbi being a "tzadik," a righteous man, this elemental failure is a strike against the "tzadik" status.
Still, this couple did incredible work, taking care of severely handicapped children and adults in their tiny home, offering guidance and hope to those in need of both, providing life-saving Jewish education to hundreds of Jews who would otherwise have been lost to Judaism. Most "average" readers cannot begin to fathom their level of self-sacrifice or piety. It is truly hard to believe such people were capable of so much.
Both Kramers were extraordinary people, selfless on a superhuman level, both almost eerily attuned to God's "frequency." Rigler creatively writes "sign posts" throughout the story, showing how and in what way Chaya Sara had been presented with a choice, and (of course) made the right choice in her life of giving and of faith. This is one of the biggest strength's of the book, in the way that Rigler illustrates how more average people can also make choices that will lead us more toward spiritual growth, less toward ego gratification. It is also helpful that she acknowledges how far she falls below the ability of the Kramers in various situations, knowing the average reader would also fall short, too.
The Kramers, both Holocaust survivors, devoted their lives to service of others. Rabbi Kramer, a Satmar Hasid, did "rescue" work, helping to attain Jewish education in particular for Sephardic Jews whom the Israeli government shamefully separated from their religious roots by placing them in secular schools and communities. Throughout the book, Rabbi Kramer is seen as taking out money, sometimes fistfuls of money, to help the needy Jew, no questions asked. Only one fleeting reference attributes his ability to do so to fundraising from the Satmar organization.
However, I was bothered by his inability or refusal to house his own wife in anything other than what the author herself calls a "hovel," with a concrete floor, a leaky corrugated tin roof, barely a stick of furniture. She didn't even have basic candlesticks, but stuck candles in sand. In one scene, Chaya Sara asks her husband why they can't have curtains, and he dismisses the question with, "Why do we need such things?" His wife is silenced. Yet later on, Rigler takes great pains to show the extent to which Rabbi Kramer goes and shops for things such as a new jacket, new pens, and other things for some of the hundreds of young students he is helping to support in Jewish schools. Why? Because he understood that you need to satisfy a person's emotional and physical needs. It bothered me that his own level of asceticism was one he insisted on imposing on his wife. All she wanted was to live in something a bit better than a Third world hovel, and the Torah I have learned would argue against this Krameresque level of impoverishment, not to mention the concept of beautifying the act of a mitzvah, which surely would argue for the Rabbi to have found some shekels in his pocket for at least an inexpensive pair of candlesticks for his selfless wife.
Similarly, while he always had money to help pay for others' weddings, tuition, food, medicine, he did zero planning for his wife's maintenance after his demise. For the better part of the 15 years she lived beyond him, Chaya Sara was reduced to asking for money for herself. Of course, she never complained, and only saw the good. I still think, though, that charity begins at home, and that despite the hundreds of references in the book to the rabbi being a "tzadik," a righteous man, this elemental failure is a strike against the "tzadik" status.
Still, this couple did incredible work, taking care of severely handicapped children and adults in their tiny home, offering guidance and hope to those in need of both, providing life-saving Jewish education to hundreds of Jews who would otherwise have been lost to Judaism. Most "average" readers cannot begin to fathom their level of self-sacrifice or piety. It is truly hard to believe such people were capable of so much.
July 28, 2008
what an awesome book - truly inspirational on many levels
January 7, 2017
I'm a big Sara Yocheved Rigler fan and am very glad I reread this. The Kramer's greatness, but also their humanity, is conveyed in this monumental account. Rigler helpfully points out the reader when a hard choice was made and how the reader, who probably is not on the same the level as the one making the choice, can still learn from the event and grow on his or her own level.
I think the first time I read this, I was confused by some of the choices the Kramers made and confused why I should admire them. However on this reread I found I had a more open mind. I was able to understand somethings they did were right [i]for them[/i] and just because they aren't choices I should aspire to, it doesn't make them any less admiration-worthy.
I think the first time I read this, I was confused by some of the choices the Kramers made and confused why I should admire them. However on this reread I found I had a more open mind. I was able to understand somethings they did were right [i]for them[/i] and just because they aren't choices I should aspire to, it doesn't make them any less admiration-worthy.
June 7, 2018
i loved all the personal touches that went into this book. How the author chose to be realistic about the humanity of her role models while also using that as a tool to inspire and educate even more. It never ceases to amaze me how many humble and holy people are hidden away in Israel, and in the world. It's easy to miss them if you aren't looking, but once you find them and open up your eyes to who they really are and what they can offer, it makes the biggest difference.
January 3, 2018
Inspiring life of a real "Holy Woman", Eschet Chayil, resonating with faith, deep belief, and Gamzu l'Tova. thank you again Sara Yoheved Rigler for recognizing, capturing, and sharing the story of Rav and Rebbetzin Chaya Sara Kramer. Re-reading it is helping me carry-on through illness.
October 26, 2007
this childless and penniless pair (a Satmar rabbi and rebbetzin) survived this life with their eyes wide open to the suffering around them....after watching their loved ones being slaughtered in the war, they moved on and found it within themselves to reach out to all of the children of Israel, as though each and every yid was a child of their very own..... they strove to embrace and love all of the people who walked into their life, and they worked up until their very last days (hours), helping to improve the lives of their "children", no matter what.
they should *never* be forgotten.
they should *never* be forgotten.
July 23, 2008
I should probably try this one again because I loved the author's second book, Lights from Jerusalem, which includes excerpts from this one. Rebbetzin Kramer was no doubt a very holy woman, selflessly taking care of some of Israel's most severely handicapped children. I also liked the author's "signposts" of life lessons we can gain from her. But about halfway through the book, I just felt Rebbetzin Kramer was too far beyond my reach to be my role model. But her lessons in gratitude, repeated in Lights from Jerusalem will stay with me, b'ezras Hashem.
June 22, 2012
Yeah, this might be her best seller (and I believe Artscroll's best selling biography ever),
but I preferred Lights From Jerusalem. I felt like this was billed as a female heroine book
when really it was just as much about Rabbi Kramer as it was his Rebbetzin. Still it was a
very good book. I rarely read anything Satmar (a sect of Chassidic Judaism), especially
about Satmars living in Israel so it was nice to learn a bit about that. The writing was easy
to read.
but I preferred Lights From Jerusalem. I felt like this was billed as a female heroine book
when really it was just as much about Rabbi Kramer as it was his Rebbetzin. Still it was a
very good book. I rarely read anything Satmar (a sect of Chassidic Judaism), especially
about Satmars living in Israel so it was nice to learn a bit about that. The writing was easy
to read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews