During the early hours of Oct. 15, Sophie Rosenberg and her mother, Leslie Rosenberg, passed away in a car accident. Both were amazing individuals who provided endless joy and generosity to those around them. They were both devoted to the Jewish community, with Sophie touching the lives of many and assisting at The Rohr Chabad Jewish Center at Texas A&M University.
Sophie Pearl Rosenberg (Shoshana Chaya) was a 19 year old sophomore who attended Texas A&M University at the time of her passing. During her time in College Station, she positively impacted a multitude of people. She truly had a passion for helping others, which can be shown by the integral role that she played behind the scenes to help Chabad operations and to provide for students daily. Participating in the Jewish community was extremely important to Sophie. She was a Chabad intern and was a Sinai Scholars Fellow. Every day of the week she was at Chabad assisting, from preparing for classes to helping cook food for Shabbos Dinner, and everything in between. A sign outside Chabad reads their slogan “home away from home,” meaning that Chabad provides a home and a family for all who walk through their doors. One of the first things people saw when walking into Chabad was Sophie greeting them with a smile while having her signature blue sunglasses perched on her head. She said she wore them because they made others happy, showing that Sophie thought of others on a daily basis and strived to make them smile. Sophie not only made everyone at Chabad smile, but she also made them feel like family.
The Lazaroff family, the family who serves as the directors of Chabad at Texas A&M University, had an especially close relationship with Sophie. Sophie worked with them every day, frequently helping Rabbi Yossi and Manya Lazaroff with administrative work. She was also their children’s teacher; this semester she taught Mussia, Menucha and Levi daily.
When asked about Sophie, Manya said, “We know that Sophie’s smile is what everyone needs, that genuine care. We are determined as a community to do so, we are resolved as a community to do so, and we will assure through acts of goodness and kindness, all over campus, Sophie’s legacy will live on.”
Sophie’s heart was filled with love for her family. She was the youngest of 10, and was extremely close with all of them. Leslie was also extremely close with all of her children, and will be remembered for the love she gave her family.
Jakob Rosenberg, one of Sophie’s older brothers and an Aggie graduate, said “I don’t know what to say about my sister Sophie more than I love and miss her so much. Our family was so excited to see what she would do with her life through and after college. She had such a drive for being an engineer and a love for others that I so sorely miss. I hope those that never had the opportunity to know her, find someone who does, so they can learn a little bit more about this amazing woman with so much potential. I wish I could see her grow and that this opportunity wasn’t taken away so soon.”
Her father, Jay Rosenberg, said “Sophie at even a very young age liked logical puzzles and math and also loved to be challenged. I remember teaching her binary when she was around seven or eight. When she was in 5th grade, her teacher presented the class with a code they had to break and stated that he would be amazed if anyone figured it out — they had to solve for his favorite movie. Sophie realized that the code was based in binary notation. She was already a pro and working from there found that the movie was ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit,’ a movie she loved. Her teacher was astonished that she knew binary and had seen and loved the movie, as nearly all of her classmates had never even heard of that film.”
A memorial service was held on Oct. 25 at The Rohr Chabad Jewish Center at Texas A&M University in Sophie and Leslie’s memory. Friends and family came together to honor them and their memory. Many of them spoke of their favorite memories with them and the lasting impact they had on people’s lives.
Carly Pappert, one of Sophie’s childhood friends, described Sophie as “goofy, whenever I saw her after Hebrew school she was always running around. Everyone knew who she was because she talked to everyone. She was just a really bright person.”
Sarah Guccione, a graduate student at Texas A&M who has known Sophie for years, said that her favorite thing about Sophie was “how warm and welcoming her personality was. She would drop everything to look someone in the eye and have a conversation with them. Sophie genuinely cared about how other people’s days were going and wanted to connect with them.”
At the memorial, Sophie was described as “a bright light in the community,” and will remain one not only for the Jewish community, but for everyone who came across her.