Bryna was a beloved MMY Talmida (5778 Shana Aleph, 5779 Shana Bet).

Bryna’s Legacy MMY Scholarship Fund provides earmarked need-based scholarships over and above MMY’s generous financial aid, for young women who yearn to study Torah in Israel at MMY. In this way, we hope to perpetuate Bryna's legacy for “miles to go” and to spread her special light to other growth-oriented Jewish young women who strive to follow in her giant footsteps.

A spirited, warm, graceful and loving soul who represented the paragon of Simchat HaChaim, Chessed, and authenticity, Bryna treated every human being with immense dignity and kindness. She was sincerely loved and respected by all those who were privileged to know her and to learn from her. Bryna was a bright, creative and ambitious young woman in so many realms — Torah learning, English literature, writing, art, fashion, music, cuisine, hiking, and so much more — and saw every day as an opportunity for growth, discovery and adventure, writing (in her MMY admissions essay):

“I have miles to go before I sleep.”

Bryna embodied empathy, sensitivity, generosity, and was concerned that students in financial need should still be able to attend MMY, an institution and experience she deeply cherished. She would suggest MMY as a Tzedakah of choice to enable young women the opportunity to learn Torat Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael, which she viewed as an incredibly formative part of her spiritual growth trajectory. In Bryna’s own words (in a letter she wrote to an MMY faculty member at the culmination of her Shana Bet):

“I walked away [from my 1.5 years in MMY] knowing that that was what Torah was supposed to feel like; special, intimate, and most of all mine — to grab, to tackle, to grasp, to detangle.”

Bryna brought so much light into this world, and although she is no longer physically here with us, her impact is deeply felt by anyone who was blessed to cross her path.