Rebbetzin Miriam Adler-Huttler, a distinguished rabbinic figure in Los Angeles, died on Jan. 3. She was 78.
A seventh-generation Jerusalemite and a descendant of the Zhvill and Lelov Chasidic dynasties, she was born Oct. 30, 1934, the only child of Grand Rabbi Elazar Adler and Rebbetzin Bilhah-BatSheva. Raised in Meah Shearim until the age of 9, Miriam and her mother left Palestine in July 1944 to join Rabbi Adler, who had established a congregation in the West Adams area after relocating to Los Angeles in 1938.
With no Hebrew day school options at the time, Miriam enrolled in a neighborhood public school, continued her Jewish education at Beth Jacob Congregation Talmud Torah and became active in the Bnei Akiva movement. In her midteens, she traveled to New York by rail, escorted by her father, to study at Bais Yaakov High School in Brooklyn. She would go on to study at UCLA and USC, ultimately earning a doctorate in psychology.
Miriam married Rabbi Rubin Huttler on Jan. 19, 1963. She assisted her husband in leading Congregation Etz Jacob as well as founding Perutz Etz Jacob Hebrew Academy (PEJHA). Adler-Huttler remained a strong supporter of the school, drawing parallels between PEJHA and the Jerusalem cheder founded and maintained by her great-grandfather, Reb Shlomke of Zhvill.
Together, the rabbi and rebbetzin introduced innovative programming and ran one of the most popular and active chapters of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth in Los Angeles. The Huttler home became a haven of hospitality, and Adler-Huttler involved herself in shadchanut (matchmaking), bringing many couples to the chuppah.
Adler-Huttler is survived by her husband, Rabbi Rubin Huttler; children, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, Rabbi Shlomo Huttler, Rabbi Yossi Huttler and Michal Huttler-Silver; 18 grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren.
Her L.A. memorial service took place at Congregation Ohel David, her father’s synagogue on Beverly Boulevard, on Jan. 5 — Tevet 23 — the eve of her 50th wedding anniversary. She was also memorialized at Bostoner Bais Medrash of Lawrence, N.Y., her son Rabbi Horowitz’s congregation. Adler-Huttler was buried close to her parents on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on
Jan. 7.
