February 15, 2021
With sadness I report that our cousin Barbara Hartman Klein passed away in December, 2020. At her funeral in Israel, her family invited people to share memories of her.
“She was a Bubby, a mother and a friend to countless people... Her warm smile, tight hugs and great hospitality will be missed by all... Please share with us your memories of Bubby / Barbara Klein.”
Here are a few excerpts from the Hespeds (eulogies)
“A welcoming, heart & huge smile; a listening ear; caring & sage advice, in a hospitable, warm setting, accompanied by a delicious piece of baked cake - a feeling of being at home; surrounded by pictures of her four wonderful children & their families, all brought up on a solid Jewish foundation; ( when it wasn’t so easy) what more could one be blessed with
.T’hei Nishmata Tzerurah B’tzror HaChaim - Mindeleah Pollak”
“Bubbe was always so loving and warm, so it was very fitting that her absolute favorite thing in the world was getting hugs and kisses from her grandchildren. Every time I would see her, I would always give her a big hug and kiss, and she would always tell me how she was worried that I would grow up and stop giving her those hugs and kisses out of embarrassment, but I always told her that I would NEVER stop, she is my Bubbe, and I will love her truly always...”
“Shira's Hesped for Bubby: Dearest Bubby,I am writing this to you and I can’t believe that I will not be hearing a reply from you. Who will comfort me? Who will hug me and say: “it’s ok, my honey! I love you truly!”. These are the words that defined my Bubby – her tremendous love for every one of her grandkids. Even though we, the Israeli Kleins, made Aliya more than 14 years ago and my Bubby lived in Houston, despite that – despite the huge distance between us – we were still so close. Bubby was an integral part of our lives. She always wanted to know how we were doing in our day to day lives. She cared so much and we felt her love despite the distance. For the last 2 years, we chose to spend our Chanukah vacations in Houston, visiting with Bubby. Now let me tell you – Houston isn’t a big tourist attraction. We weren’t going there for any kind of site-seeing. Our biggest attraction in Houston was Bubby – her home, her pool, her yummy food but most importantly – HER! …”'
“David's Hesped for Mom: Mom, Recently, during the entire month of November, when we visited with you in Miami, your condition prevented you from being able to engage in long conversations with us or understand much of what was being said. But now that you are in the עולם האמת, you are now able to hear and see much better. So I want to tell you that I miss you so much and love you so much. You have always been God’s faithful servant, even from a young age when you decided to be more observant than your family, which must have been extremely challenging. You have always been driven by an אמונה פשוטה – a solid and unbreakable emunah in הקדוש ברוך הוא. You instilled this hashkafa in me at a very young age, always pushing me towards spiritual growth and connecting with Hashem. …”
“Jenny's Hesped. . . Mom was a talented writer, and a fantastic interior decorator with an unusual sense of color. She could take one look at a color and retain that exact shade in her mind and match it perfectly to anything without needing to bring along a sample. She was a master at needlepointing, an avid reader, she dabbled in ceramics, read 2 newspapers cover to cover every day, swam laps and had beautiful taste in clothing and home fashion. Our home was clean and organized and always had the most incredible aromas coming from her delicious cooking and baking. In essence, mom was the ultimate balabusta which extended even to the outdoors. She could make anything grow. All over the property, there were plants and trees grown from little nothings. There are still plants on the kitchen windowsill that have been growing for 40 years. Ok, they were cacti, but that's still pretty impressive. But at the end of the day, like Avraham, our mom was simply a parent and that was her greatest talent of all. And Judaism sees parenthood as the greatest challenge there is. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks alav hashalom, who will now have a yitzheit close to our dear mother's explains it is no coincidence that on the first day of Rosh Hashanah – the anniversary of creation – we read of two mothers, Sarah and Channah and the births of their sons, as if to say: Every life is a universe. Therefore if you wish to understand the creation of the universe, think about the birth of a child. And if I may respectfully add to that, if you wish to imagine ultimate joy, think of the love of a mother.
There was nothing sweeter and more delicious in the world than our mother’s hugs. They were warm and tight, and the whole world was better when wrapped in her warm embrace. She nurtured and loved us and encouraged each of our individual talents. We are all who we are professionally and we are all devoted Jews because of both our parents. Mom and Dad gave us a life steeped in Torah values that has enriched us all beyond measure. They sent us out of town to religious high schools and I can now as a parent appreciate how difficult that must have been to be separated from teenage children. Raising religious children devoted to Torah, was the single most important thing to both of them and we in turn have tried to pass that mesorah to our own families. Shema beni mussar avicha v’all titosh torat imecha. Mom would say “The Jews aren’t the smartest, there are plenty of smart people out there. The Jews aren’t the kindest or the most righteous. We have a monopoly on only one thing, and that is the Torah.” On Shabbos morning, she would wake early and sit with a chumash on her lap and read the weekly parsha and when she lit candles on Friday night, the spirit of Shabbos was palpable. The whole house glowed and was sparkling clean, the smell of chicken soup permeated the walls, fresh challah was baked and everyone’s favorite dishes were made with genuine love. The shabbos queen was welcomed with open arms, but as an adult, I now see the shabbos queen was really my mother. . .”
“My Amazing mother in law How can I begin to describe my mother in law? For one thing, she was a woman of words and I feel like a fool, standing before you today and I can’t seem to find the proper words to describe this Giant of a woman! My mother in law lost her father when she was just 2 years old. She grew up in a house with her mother, her baby sister and her grandparents AND aunts and uncles and cousins… So many family members… so many stories… she loved telling us stories about all of her family members – we could sit for hours either at the kitchen table or the couch in the family room and listen to her stories… And then there were her friends – so many friends!!! I have never in my life met a person like my MIL, who kept in touch with every single friend she has ever had since primary school! She would talk to her friends on the phone. She would visit them if she was visiting in the area where they lived. She would go to their Smachot and she would lend support during hard times. She was a FRIEND with capital letters! . . .
But what I admired about my MIL the most: was her undying love and admiration for her grandkids!I can still hear it in my ears today: the shriek that she gave when we told her that I was pregnant the first time – and then every subsequent pregnancy after that… I mean, it wasn’t like it was her first… Her sheer happiness and glee every time we would come to visit. And with every phone call: “tell me how are my babies?” That’s what she called them all – my babies, my honies – from the 33 year old to the 14 year old – they were all her “babies and honies”… And nothing gave her more pleasure than to hear stories about them and their successes and how GOOD they are… Oh and they were ALL GOOD! If you ever dared to say anything bad or negative about any of her “honies”, well you had it coming – my MIL would never listen to anything negative about her grandkids – they were perfect! Just perfect! They were the most beautiful, the most well-mannered, sweetest…and on and on – you get the picture! So you see, today is a really hard day for us. We will miss our cheerleader and our greatest fan. I will miss seeing her run out to the car port when we first arrived for a visit in Houston and I will miss her waving goodbye as the car pulled away on our way to the airport. I will miss the big big hugs that use to linger a little extra long and made you feel truly loved. . .”
To see the complete Hespeds, go to https://padlet.com/shiraklein10/gjwmh5tm6m7v9z24
And you are invited to add your own memories in the “Comments” here.
