Hundreds Mourn Mona Shimshi Greenberg

More than 300 mourners gathered this morning to pay their final respects to Mona Shimshi Greenberg, the 55-year-old Scarsdale doctor who went missing on Sunday.

Her remains were discovered by police on Wednesday morning in the frigid waters of the Eastchester River near the Pelham Bay Park area in the Bronx.

Friends, coworkers, and even strangers passing by gathered solemnly this morning to bid farewell to the life of the devout Jewish endocrinologist, who worked at three different medical centers encompassing the Bronx, Manhattan and Connecticut. She had lived in the community for more than 20 years and raised two children who attended the renowned Jewish school Solomon Schecter. 

Rabbi Jonathan Morgenstern, the head rabbi at the Heathcote family's temple Young Israel on Weaver St., presided over the ceremony.

"She was devoted to Israel," he said, and credited her childrens' avowed devotion to her own vocal commitment.

"It was Mona that was insistent week in and week out on a proper Friday night shabbas meal in her home," he said.

"It was Mona who developed these deep, meaningful relationships with her rabbis, with their families."

Every seat inside the temple was filled, and attendees piled out of the standing room along aisles, into the foyer, the outer entryway, and even pressed up against the exterior glass doors of the Riverside Memorial Chapel in Mount Vernon.

The designated parking garage, across from 21 W. Broad Street, was filled to the top level with parked cars of funeral-goers.

"In a time of distress, in a time of crisis, in a time of need, she was the one you would call, and she was the one who was there. Always," said Morgenstern.

"She literally gave so much to the world until she simply couldn't give or do anymore. May we all learn from her life. May we walk out of this room this morning, may we walk out of shiva – when you visit this wonderful but grieving family – may we walk out changed," he said.

"May we walk out different. May we look at our families a different way. May we look at the moments we have in a different way," he finished.

"May we look at people in distress in a different way."

While no trauma was evident on an initial investigation of the body, the New York City Medical Examiner's office had not yet determined an official cause of death as this afternoon.

Following the funeral, a procession headed towards Sharon Gardens, the Jewish cemetery in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla.

Shiva will take place at the family home at 51 Carthage Rd.