Missing in Surfside: Tzvi and Itty Ainsworth

by Rochel Horowitz – chabad.org

Tzvi Ainsworth was visiting family in Montreal, where he met Itty Fellig. The two married and settled in his native Sydney, Australia. In recent years, the Ainsworths moved to Florida, where several of their adult children settled, as well as many members of the extended Fellig family.

Though modest and reserved, the Ainsworths are noted for their hospitality and devotion towards helping those in need in their quiet and unassuming manner. In Florida, they doted on their grandchildren. The Ainsworth family welcomed a new grandchild last Thursday on the day of the collapse.

Describing Itty Ainsworth’s friendly and personable disposition, her daughter Chana Wasserman wrote in a blog post last year: “Every person she encountered, ever in her life, became her friend. Everyone was treated as equals,” she wrote in a Mother’s Day blog post about her mother. “The guy at the laundromat, the guy working at the fruit market … ”

Although Itty suffered from chronic pain, her condition didn’t hold her back from spreading her warmth and love with all those she met. A strong proponent of positive thinking, she constantly looks at the bright side of life celebrating life’s small joys.

“I know I will never be able to match my mother’s pure enthusiasm for life but it’s inspiring to watch,” Wasserman wrote.

Ainsworth’s niece, Chanale Harrel, said in an Instagram post on learning of the collapse of the condo where the Ainsworths lived: “Can’t sleep. Keep checking my phone. Facetiming cousins. Crying. Praying. Spending time with my family as the world keeps turning. Taking one day at a time.”

Itty Ainsworth’s mother, a Holocaust survivor who resides in Miami Beach, is fighting cancer and is unaware of the tragedy.

The public is asked to pray for Tzvi Doniel ben Yehudit, Ita bat Miriam and all others who are still being searched for.

This article has been reprinted with permission from chabad.org