From Rabbi Krohn's Tribute

'In May 2022, on the 17th day of Sefira, one of the finest mechanchim of our generation, Rabbi Moshe Neuman passed away. Rabbi Neuman was close to my family for more than five decades and inspired thousands of talmidos in the Bais Yaakov of Queens throughout his tenure as principal

There are few people who are beloved and revered by everyone they come in contact with. Rabbi Moshe Neuman, the esteemed principal of the Bais Yaakov of Queens for close to fifty years (!), was such an individual. His radiant smile and unique capacity to make any person, child and adult alike feel special, was a gift bestowed on him from Hashem. 

It is no wonder that his levaya was on the 17th day of Sefira which is referred to as Tifferes She’betifferes, the beauty of beauty. Rabbi Neuman was impeccable in his outer appearance and equally immaculate in his inner soul and demeanor. It was an honor to know him. 

As a young man, he did not see himself as a rebbi or principal. Both he and his parents thought he would be a tax lawyer, but his venerated Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yitzchok Hutner (1906-1980) of Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, from whom he received s’micha, guided him, even before he was married, to take a position as a rebbi in Detroit. Though his mother was against his not starting law school, she said to him, “If this is what your rebbi tells you, you must listen.” 

He was only going to be there for six months, but Rabbi Joseph Elias (1919-2014), the principal of Bais Yehudah at the time, realized this young man’s remarkable pedagogical talent and thus after a while offered him the additional position of assistant principal. He was in Detroit for four years where he taught alongside other legendary mechanchim, such as Rabbi Sholom Goldstein and Rabbi Abba Friedman. 

After his tenure in Detroit, he married Rivka (nee Hollander) and they became a team of Chinuch for more than 50 years. 

The Neumans first lived in Allentown, Pa. where he was both the Assistant Rabbi of the community and principal of the school. 

In 1961, six askanim in Kew Gardens, New York, Mr. Danny and Moshe Sukenik, Paul Atlas, Irving Schonbrun, Abe Bornstein and Rabbi Beryl Merling, sought a principal that would guide and build the small Bais Yaakov in Queens that at the time had only 27 girls. They chose Rabbi Moshe Neuman. 

During his long tenure, he guided thousands of children, their children and then their grandchildren, and built the school to close to 800 students, blee ayin horah. 

The Torah (Shmos 3:4) tells us that Moshe Rabeinu was סר לראות ‘he turned to see’ the burning bush. The Medrash (Shemos Rabbah 1:27), explains this could not mean only that Moshe turned to see this extraordinary phenomenon. Anyone would turn to see it. Rather this was a redeeming quality, “He turned to look at the travails of his brothers and sisters in Mitzrayim.” 

Rav Chatzkel Levenstein (1885-1974), the Mashgiach at the Ponevezher Yeshiva said, “We see from here that Moshe Rabeinu was chosen for leadership not because of his wisdom, nor his greatness but because he was Nosey B’ol Chaveiroh. He cared!

Rabbi Neuman personified this caring with every student he ever had. He knew every single one by first name. At the Bais Yaakov every morning, Rabbi Neuman would greet every girl that came off the bus with a smile and encouraging word. He lived in Boro Park but came to school in Queens early so he would be there when the buses arrived. No matter what a child was going through at home, she were assured of a warm comforting welcome when she arrived in school. 

This was repeated when the children left school, boarding the buses as they went home. Every child and parent knew Rabbi Neuman would always be there. To him nothing was more important than a child’s well being. He was the סר לראות the Torah writes about Moshe Rabeinu. 

The noted mechnech, Rabbi Hillel Mandel, once told me that principals must perform a difficult juggling act trying to accommodate four separate groups: students, teachers, the parent body and board members. Remarkably, Rabbi Neuman was up to the task. The teachers revered him, the parents admired him, the board members lauded him and over the years, thousands of students wanted to marry him. 

His students never forgot the principal that they loved and respected. He did not hesitate to sit on the floor with a crying student, or modify the grading system for a transfer student who was not yet on the level of her peers. He commiserated with a homesick 3rd grader and empathized with a 5th grader whose feelings were hurt. All this while still maintaining a high standard of education throughout the school. His eighth grade graduates shined in the high schools they attended. Every former student who got married treasured the fact that Rabbi Neuman was at their wedding, taking time to share their simcha

He was committed to live an exalted life for Hashem. He did that by teaching and being a role model for generations of girls and young women in Klal Yisroel. 

Yehi Zichro Boruch.'