Just one week earlier, our entire family was together in New York celebrating the wedding of my niece Mussia. My mother was there in her usual vibrant way: present, smiling, dancing and fully engaged. Knowing that our last time together was such a joyous occasion is something we will forever carry as a true blessing.
Last Shabbat was deeply moving. I was together with all my siblings, along with many nieces and nephews, and we spent hours, quite literally through the night, sharing memories, ref lections, and life lessons about Bubby Z. With several of my siblings now serving as rabbis, it had been many years since we spent an entire Shabbat all together. Seeing her grandchildren emerging into thoughtful, impressive young men and women was deeply gratifying and a source of real comfort.
My mother did not have an easy journey. She was born in Germany in a DP camp, emigrated to Milwaukee, and lost her own mother at the young age of seventeen. She later moved to New York, started a family, and eventually settled in suburban Detroit, where I grew up. She was blessed with nine children, yet she also endured profound loss, with the passing of a one-year-old baby, Shneur Zalman a”h, a pain no parent ever truly outgrows.
Among her children was also my brother Dovid a”h, who had Down syndrome. While many parents eventually experience a stage of life when caregiving responsibilities ease, that moment never truly came for my mother. She continued to care for Dovid throughout his adulthood with extraordinary devotion and selflessness, day in and day out, like a true Eim b’Yisrael, a mother in Israel.
And yet, remarkably, she never complained. She lived with deep faith and trust in G-d. She was consistently positive, encouraging, and uplifting to everyone around her, both family and friends.
Like the women at the time of the giving of the Torah, she possessed a natural enthusiasm for Yiddishkeit. She took particular pride in seeing her children dedicate their lives as Shluchim (emissaries), fully devoted to the mission of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin. This weekend, as Esty and our daughters participate in the International Conference of Shluchos, that pride and joy feels especially present.
We will miss seeing her when we visit New York, and we will miss her visits to Bellaire, especially around Pesach. Her birthday fell on the first Seder night, and we always enjoyed making it special for her, memories we will always cherish.
We will strive to live by her example of faith, love, positivity, and quiet selflessness and to continue living lives that would make her proud.
May we very soon merit the day when G-d “will abolish death forever, and will wipe away tears from all faces.” Amen.