Esther Raviv, who taught Hebrew at Temple Beth-El, Temple Isaiah and Temple Israel in Great Neck, as well as at Temple Sinai in Roslyn Heights, died on May 24 at her home in Great Neck, after battling lymphoma for 11 years. She was 90 years old.
More than 200 people attended her funeral on May 26 at Temple Beth-El. Services were led by Rabbi Meir Feldman and eulogies were delivered by her sons, Dr. Odey Raviv, a Long Island educational consultant, and Dan Raviv, a TV-news reporter who recently left CBS News and is a Washington correspondent for i24 News and a foreign-affairs columnist for Newsday, and by her four grandchildren.
Esther and her late husband, Benjamin, moved to the United States from Israel in 1950. Benjamin earned an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and was part of construction projects, including the Throgs Neck Bridge in 1960. He died in 2008.
Esther was a very popular, though demanding, teacher and is remembered fondly by the many students she taught over the decades. She was a stickler for accuracy and grammar, yet was encouraging and effective in teaching Hebrew.
She gave her son Odey, 67, a love of teaching; her son Dan, 62, a strong interest in global events; and both her children an unbreakable connection with Israel, Judaism and the Hebrew language. She will be remembered as an enthusiastic host at home and a leading part of the Israeli community in the New York area.
