Reva Wasserman was a legend in her own time. She was, to use her husband Rabbi Isaac Wasserman’s term, not so much a fundraiser as a friend-raiser. The thing is, of the many friends she made when she first came to Denver 58 years ago, many are no longer living — but no matter. The Yeshiva’s friendship circle is larger than ever.
How so?
Reva Wasserman did not just make friends, she passed her strengths to others. Effortlessly, she was a mentor in friendship. She planted seeds and grew them — and enabled others to grow their own. The number of people mourning the passing of Reva Wasserman this week is beyond calculation —in Denver and around the globe. Not only her large family, not only her countless friends and admirers, but 58 years of former students.
A friend, a mentor — and a partner. There is such a thing as partnership in marriage, partnership in philanthropy, and partnership in community. Rarely do they coalesce into a single partnership. That resplendent partnership is what Denverites have witnessed for the past 58 years: the partnership of Reva and Rabbi Isaac Wasserman, may he live and be well.
A rabbi founds a yeshiva and often enough the wife is a spoke in the wheel, along for the ride. A complement, perhaps. A strong support, perhaps. A cheerleader, perhaps. But a partner? Reva Wasserman was her husband’s partner in the fullest sense of the word. His project was her project, and vice-versa.
She drove him to and accompanied into fundraising solicitations. She planned the Yeshiva’s annual dinner, and set the gold standard for community dinners. Ditto, the Yeshiva melaveh malkah. Ditto, the Ladies Auxiliary events.Then, as the Jewish calendar continued to turn, she elevated mishlo’ach manot (Purim baskets) into a community-wide exchange of good cheer. This, too, became a paradigm.
All this was Reva Wasserman’s face to the community. Inside the Yeshiva she boosted the self-esteem of the boys and took pride in their accomplishments, be they scholarly or creative, as in good humored Purim performances. The community face, the Yeshiva face — and the personal face, as in the countless quiet calls she made on erev Shabbat. A friend, a mentor, a partner, a booster — and a role model.
The elegance of every Yeshiva event, from large dinners to graduation Shabbos, stemmed from Mrs. Wasserman’s personal elegance and personal touch.There is a word for this, hard to define but easy to see: class. Reva Wasserman brought class to all she did.
Again, let’s go back 58 years. Denver Jewry was very different back them. A yeshiva? There was skepticism at best, opposition at worst. Full time Torah study? Unheard of. “Yeshiva” connoted the Jewish world that many Denver Jews sought to escape — what, now it’s coming to back Denver? There was opposition.
Along comes Reva Wasserman: embracing smile, not judgmental, fully up to style, elegant, caring, always with a tailored inquiry into one’s interest or quandary. Reva Wasserman, alongside Rabbi Wasserman, Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, may he live and be well, and the late Leah Kagan, broke the ice. Mrs. Wasserman brought her own strengths that, with patience and determination, contributed to a multi-level partnership. It not only built a Jewish institution of higher learning in Denver, it changed Denver Jewry by validating intensive Torah study and paving the way for more Jewish institutions of higher learning, gradually redrawing the reputation of Orthodox Judaism.
A friend, a mentor, a partner, a booster, a role model — and a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, intimately involved in the lives of her and Rabbi Wasserman’s many generations. Everywhere she turned, no detail was left unattended.
“My times are in Your hand” (Psalms 31:5). G-d gives us different times in life. What we do with them is up to us. Reva Wasserman took full advantage of the times and opportunities that G-d presented to her over her long life. She discerned the divine hand behind her times, so she used them to build people, build an institution of Torah, build the good name of the Jewish people, build a multi-generational family of loyal Jews.
Reva, we were fortunate to have had you — and blessed for all the family, friends, students, leaders and echoes of idealism you have left behind.
© IJN 2025
