Home Home / Eulogy for Mrs. Bertha Green (1997)

Outline

April 6, 1997

Eulogy for Mrs. Bertha Green (1997)

Eulogies & Memorials
View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

RELATED CONTENT

Speech

Eulogy for Mrs. Beatrice Greenbaum (1967)

The Hassidic author of Benei Yissachor tells us that the name Nisan, comes from the word nes, meaning miracle, because this is the month in which great miracles occurred. What is the greatest of all miracles? This we can determine from the word nes itself. The word is composed of two letters, nun and samekh, which are, respectively, the initial letters of two Hebrew words: nofel, and somekh.This indeed is the greatest miracle of all Jewish history.We have experienced the worst vicissitudes that have ever befallen any people; time and again we have been in the category of fiofel, fallen to the lowest depths of misery and suffering. Yet our re- deeming feature has been that always we have been somekh, we havefound support in the source✓׳of our faith, we have been able to riseagain to ever greater heights.This holds true not only for our people as a collective group,but also for individuals. Even if we experience ynofel - we must have the faith and the confidence that someday, somehow, by some means,-2-we shall achieve somekh.At a time of this sort, I cannot eulogize,because we are now in the afterglow of the holiday of Passover, nor am I permitted by Jewish law to offer the usual consolation at a time that the body of a loved one lies before us. However, I have only this prayer:that even as you are now if nofel try to have the fiaith and theconfidence that in time you will achieve somekh, that the God Who has given you the blessing of the past will give you the strength to survive this tragedy and this grief and this bereavement and, in HIgood time, you will find consolation as well. Of course, in yourpresent condition you think that it is Impossible, and that everagain to be a somekh would be a sheer miracle.ButI agree. It is a miracle. That is what a nes is: the factthat after being a fiofel, you too will be an somekh.
Eulogies & Memorials

Speech

Eulogy for Mrs. Mary Bernard (1951)

Dear friends, unfortunately, I never had the honor of meeting the deceased personally. I never had the pleasure of seeing her and talking to her in the synagogue which she so loved. But one did not have to meet Mrs. Mary Bernard to know her. I never saw her; her reputation greeted me before she did or could. Like the luminaries of the heavens, of which the Psalmist writes, “There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard, yet their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world”—so with Mary Bernard. Though she did not sing her own praises from the rooftop or have them announced by publicity agents, yet her reputation and good works preceded her, and I knew her through them. In the office of the synagogue in which she worshipped, I was introduced to her parents. Browsing through some old yearbooks, I met her father, that venerable man with the tall yarmulke and well-trimmed beard, who, as one of the founders of Congregation Kehillath Jeshurun and one of its earliest presidents, must have had a considerable influence on the character, personality, and Jewishness of his beloved daughter. She indeed came from the aristocracy of Traditional Judaism, and she brought credit to that heritage. There I also met her children: I met her son, who is an active worker in the field of Jewish education, helping to advance the Religious School which his grandparents helped found and his parents helped develop. All I can say from her reputation as daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother is, “What a woman she must have been.” When we get down to the brass tacks of studying persons and personalities, we might say there are two types of people who respond to life and its changing conditions in totally different ways. There are people who are like willows in the field—when the sun smiles upon the earth, they stand proud and erect, a picture of good health and self-confidence. The warm rays inspire them with courage and cheerfulness. Yet no on…
Eulogies & Memorials

Outline

Eulogy for Pauline Greenbaum (2002)

Three centuries. Many people – lives of plenty... yet: grumble. Very few: simple, plain lives, honorable but unspectacular; yet: happy, smiles, no complaint, no shaking fist at fate. מגיד – ייסורים לך לזוסיא שהוא בעל ייסורים. That was Pauline! Her life not adorned with accoutrements of success; yet: smiles, laugh... sing – choir, Israel. Intuitive goodness; simple, good instincts. Communal: AMIT, WIZO, Hadassah, TJC. Helpful to whole family, always ready to assist. Derived vicarious pleasure from success of others. Closeness to sisters – especially Minnie, whom she idolized. Always hopeful. Repeat: Faith (Tillie), Hope (Pauly), Charity (Min). LUCKY: Mindy, especially Gloria – over 10 years. As she returns to family (מלך מלכי המלכים siblings) – we: לכי. "Bo el Paro, not lech el Paro..." Ribono shel Olam – but not b’shalom.
Eulogies & Memorials