At the levayah, held at the Yeshivah of Staten Island, Rav Reuven spoke of his late Rebbetzin’s great dedication in her essential role in enabling his own growth and decades of harbotzas haTorah.
“She supported me ... she was mechazek me and took care of the whole olam hazeh part of my life,” he said.
With a commanding and regal presence, joined with exceptional intelligence and wit, Rebbetzin Feinstein’s dynamic personality propelled her to be one of the pillars upon which her husband’s yeshivah stood, and to be among the most trusted and loyal assistants to her revered father-in-law, Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l. At the same, she was a highly respected educator for many years in New York City’s Public School system and later in several mosdos haTorah.
The Rebbetzin grew up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where her parents, Reb Avrohom, z”l, and Mrs. Ita Devorah Kaplan, a”h, resided. She was a student in the very first class of the neighborhood’s Bais Yaakov, and took great pride in having remained steadfast in her commitment to Yiddishkeit at a time when many of her peers succumb to the rampant assimilationist trends that prevailed at the time.
Even while pursuing higher education, when challenged by classmates or professors, young Sheila, with signature strength and down-to-earth logic, never shied away from standing up for her beliefs.
In the early 1960s, she would marry Rav Reuven, ybl”c, Rav Moshe’s youngest child, who by then had already distinguished himself for his great dedication and mastery of Torah. Despite becoming the daughter-in-law of one of the Gedolei Yisrael, the decision to marry a talmid chacham and to take a role in supporting his years of study in kollel was hardy a popular or easy one at the time.
