Linda Lerman

Linda Lerman
May 23, 1963 - June 5, 2023
Linda Phyllis Lerman was born on May 23, 1953 the second child of three and the only daughter to the late Sidney and Arlene (Dubin) in Detroit. She grew up in the extended Lerman and Dubin families, recalling with fondness summers on the lake with her mother and brothers, while Sid, her father, came up on weekends from his work in Detroit.
Linda excelled in school and graduated high school a year early. She received a full scholarship to the University of Michigan where she majored in Jewish Studies and graduated with honors. After graduation she went to Israel to live on a Kibbutz for a year. Her favorite Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Harold (z"l) were in Israel at the same time, having made Aliyah.
Deciding to return to the states, Linda earned the first of her three master's degrees from the University of Michigan's School of Library Science. When she searched for a job, Linda found her first professional position at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati under the library director Herbert Zafran. Prof Zafran became Linda's mentor until his death.
In Cincinnati Linda met and married her husband of 44 years, Rabbi Jeffery M Silberman. When in 1979 Jeffery was ordained, Linda and he married in Cincinnati the next day. Together they moved first to Newton, Massachusetts, where they befriended Scott and Lori Shepard who became lifelong friends. Then in 1983 they moved to Norwalk, Connecticut for the first time, where they made friends with Greg and Maribeth Payne. In 1991 Linda, who very much wanted children, initiated a trip to Thailand to adopt Avi Chuchad in Bangkok.
The next big move was to San Francisco where Tracy Salkowitz and Linda, whom Linda would say that they bonded like sisters from another mother, met. Also while in San Francisco, Linda and Jeffery again traveled to Thailand to adopt in 1996 Dina Maneewan.
A somewhat meandering path brought Linda back to Westport, Connecticut in 2003. There she reunited with Achara Sessler, dear friend and link to Thailand. After several years, having earned two more of her three master's degrees including an MBA, Linda became Director of the Baker Library at Norwalk Community College. She led the library and was a leader in the state community college library system.
In our synagogue and in the greater Fairfield Jewish community, Linda shared her gifts in ways big and small. From serving on the education committee of the shul to co-chairing the Upper Fairfield Jewish Community Federation, she loved serving in the Jewish community.
Linda and Jeffery traveled over the years to England, Israel, India and Scotland. Her passion for the books and TV shows, Outlander, sparked the interest in Scottish culture and music.
Her close friend Deborah Deliyannides arranged for the two families (Silberman and Brodkin) to visit India in 2012.
In a Zoom call two weeks ago for her 70th birthday, Linda, despite being in the late stages of her illness, projected a loving, warm, hospitable, giving, consummate care giver image and so very charitable, and, all the while, Linda's beautiful smile shown through to more than forty participants.
Funeral services will take place on Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Congregation Beth El, 109 East Ave., Norwalk, with interment following at Beth El Cemetery, 222 Richards Ave., Norwalk.
Linda insisted that our charitable giving provide needed food for those without, both in the Jewish and general communities.
Her positive and loving life force will be missed by all who knew her.