Obituaries

RITA LEVINE, an assistant defender in the mental health department of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, died in July as a result of injuries suffered in the July 6 terrorist attack on an Egged bus traveling from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Levine, 39, was on a six-month leave of absence from her job while preparing for admission to the Israeli Bar Association.

HELEN HADASSAH LYONS, a pioneer in Jewish education for women, died in August in New Rochelle, New York. She was 79-years old. Lyons was the first woman in the U.S. to complete the full curriculum at a recognized rabbinical college, the Reform movements Jewish Institute of Religion. Although not ordained, she lectured and preached widely and became an advocate for women’s ordination.

TRUDE WEISS-ROSMARIN, editor of the quarterly journal The Jewish Spectator, died in Santa Monica, California in July at the age of 81. She was regarded as a maverick and as a strong believer in peaceful coexistence with the Arabs. She had published The Spectator for 53 years, and continued putting out the journal despite her poor health.

Weiss-Rosmarin, who was born in Frankfurt, wrote extensively about “authentic Judaism” and Jewish survival, both in her magazine and in her books. She studied at the Universities of Berlin, Leipzig and Wurzburg, from which she received a doctorate in 1931. She immigrated to the U.S. shortly after.