Our mother's yahrzeit is on 23 Teves; we are grateful to share our memories davka in this issue that comes out on Chanukah. Our mother was liberated from Bergen Belsen just before Chanukah, and always spoke of the great chasdei Hashem that carried her from those horrific times and throughout her blessed life.
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Our dear mother loved Baltimore! It was a great move in her life, and she was
forever indebted to the many people in the community who were so kind to us
from the beginning and through the next 40 years.
As a descendant of
a long dynasty of rabbanim, our dear
mother had tremendous love for Torah and Yiddishkeit. Hashem saved her from the
Holocaust, and she grew up without Bais Yaakov. She was always deeply
appreciative of our opportunities to receive chinuch for ahavas Torah and yiras Shamayim, and for
the great role models we had in Baltimore of sincere dedication to Torah and
Yiddishkeit.
Ahavas Yisrael was probably the
first great lesson we all learned when we came to Baltimore. The community
received us with such a friendly welcome, with understanding and sensitivity to
our needs. The gut Shabbos greetings
exchanged so naturally by everyone made a deep and lasting impression on us. The
way people interacted with each other gave a clear message: Am Yisrael is one family, even if there
are so many different types; everyone is included!
Our childhood
memories of Baltimore are of a much smaller community, but even after Baltimore
grew by leaps and bounds, we were very happy to know that our parents were
still part of a close-knit community. As they grew older, they were graciously
helped with rides through Bikur Cholim as well as by individuals. CHAI helped
them take care of the house. The Vaad Hakashrus graciously answered all kinds
of questions. And last but not least, we were grateful to the “BY family,” who
arranged for girls to stay with our dear mother when she was alone.
Actually, the help
provided by the Bais Yaakov girls was mutually beneficial. These special girls
cheerfully gave her youthful companionship and very much appreciated her
motherly warmth, caring, and advice. They cherished their close connection to
our mother.
One of our mother’s
outstanding middos was hakaras hatov. She was always focused on
what others did for her and forever remembered favors. She never realized how
much she did for others with her genuine concern and listening heart. Many
women saved her phone messages that were so encouraging and loving.
Over the years,
she developed very close relationships with many people in Baltimore; some became
like “extended family.” When she was forced to leave Baltimore because of her
failing health, she had a very hard time leaving them behind. Many of them kept
up with her on with regular calls and cards. During the shiva we heard from many that they also considered her to be a very
special friend and confidante. She remembered names and details about people’s
families and struggles and what they asked her to daven for. Everyone spoke of her amazing hakaras hatov and her unique way of being nosei ol, both for simchas and in hard times.
Many people
benefited from her heartfelt tefillos.
Some old-timers may remember her davening in Glen Avenue shul, enraptured with
the tefillos and inspired by the Rav’s
speeches. She also made a point of giving a sincere yasher ko’ach to the Rav and the Chazzan’s rebbetzins. She didn't take anything for granted. She
felt a true debt of gratitude to anyone who gave her any kind of benefit, small
or big, spiritual or physical, and always noticed the details that the
benefactor put into the chesed!
In later years,
when she could no longer go to shul, she would ask her “girls” and her guests
what the Rav said. Rabbi and Rebbetzin Hopfer, were very devoted to her – as
distant cousins and also as caring leaders in the community. She also had a
very close relationship with Rabbi and Rebbetzin Heinemann, who often helped
her on personal as well as halachic levels.
We can never
enumerate all the people our mother has hakaras
hatov for; we don’t even know the full list. But we would like to carry on
her legacy in some small way by expressing a general yasher ko’ach to the
community, which is really a personal thank you to each and every one of you
who did good for her.
Chazal have taught
us that in olam habah, the neshama expresses gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for His boundless good.
Surely our dear mother is experiencing this great pleasure after all the
practice she had this world! And we, the beneficiaries of her great example,
can only thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu and
His great shaliach, Kaila Sarah bas Harav Chaim Dovid Tzvi, zt”l, for showing us the way to
appreciate life in general and, all the more so, a life of Torah umitzvos with deep and profound
gratitude.????"? ???? ???? ?????
