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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

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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 embarassment, but I always told her that I would NEVER stop, she is my Bubbe, and I will love her truly always...

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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! A typical morning in Bubby’s house that we can all relate to: waking up in the early morning hours to the smell of toast. Bubby is sitting in her long night-shirt at the kitchen table, eating her bagel smeared with her fake margarine squeeze, cup of diet coke and reading the newspaper. As soon as she would hear our footsteps approaching, she would jump up with a big smile and say: “Good morning my honey, what can I make you for breakfast?”. We would then sit at the kitchen table and Bubby will tell us stories about her family and she would want to know everything there is to know about us. I will forever miss those visits in Houston. I will miss her house, her pool, her yummy food, and most importantly her.I had the privilege of spending the last month in Miami with bubby. Now this visit was a little different. Unfortunately bubby could no longer talk for hours about her family, and friends, and what she had read in the newspaper. But I got a chance to sit and talk to my bubby about anything and everything. I got  a chance to take care of her in times when she coulnd’t, and I got to try and give back a sliver of all the love and caring she has given me my whole life. I admire my father and his siblings as I watched them fulfil the mitzva of כיבוד אב ואם  to the fullest. Throughout the day, my Bubby was always surrounded by her family that loved her so much, taking care of ALL of her needs!Bubby will forever be my all time roll model. Her love for Israel, and her commitment to Torah and Mitzvot will always be something I look up to and aspire to. She grew up in a traditional family and she herself became very religious and wanted to pass that passion and love for Torah and Mitzvot to all of her children and grandchildren.Bubby I will miss you so much. I will miss you waiting by the window for our car to pull up from the airport, and you running to the door when you saw us to give us this big warm hug. You would hug us soo tight. I will always remember that hug.  Just a couple of weeks ago before I left Miami, I came to say goodbye. This time, I gave the big squeeze hug. I hugged you so tight. I told you how greatfull I was for everything you had done for me. I thanked you for being the greatest roll model, and the absooute best bubby. I told you how much I love you, and I just couldn’t stop hugging me. You then whispered to me : thank you, I love you truly sweat heart. Bubby I will miss you forever, and I love you truly.

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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! A typical morning in Bubby’s house that we can all relate to: waking up in the early morning hours to the smell of toast. Bubby is sitting in her long night-shirt at the kitchen table, eating her bagel smeared with her fake margarine squeeze, cup of diet coke and reading the newspaper. As soon as she would hear our footsteps approaching, she would jump up with a big smile and say: “Good morning my honey, what can I make you for breakfast?”. We would then sit at the kitchen table and Bubby will tell us stories about her family and she would want to know everything there is to know about us. I will forever miss those visits in Houston. I will miss her house, her pool, her yummy food, and most importantly her.I had the privilege of spending the last month in Miami with bubby. Now this visit was a little different. Unfortunately bubby could no longer talk for hours about her family, and friends, and what she had read in the newspaper. But I got a chance to sit and talk to my bubby about anything and everything. I got  a chance to take care of her in times when she coulnd’t, and I got to try and give back a sliver of all the love and caring she has given me my whole life. I admire my father and his siblings as I watched them fulfil the mitzva of כיבוד אב ואם  to the fullest. Throughout the day, my Bubby was always surrounded by her family that loved her so much, taking care of ALL of her needs!Bubby will forever be my all time roll model. Her love for Israel, and her commitment to Torah and Mitzvot will always be something I look up to and aspire to. She grew up in a traditional family and she herself became very religious and wanted to pass that passion and love for Torah and Mitzvot to all of her children and grandchildren.Bubby I will miss you so much. I will miss you waiting by the window for our car to pull up from the airport, and you running to the door when you saw us to give us this big warm hug. You would hug us soo tight. I will always remember that hug.  Just a couple of weeks ago before I left Miami, I came to say goodbye. This time, I gave the big squeeze hug. I hugged you so tight. I told you how greatfull I was for everything you had done for me. I thanked you for being the greatest roll model, and the absooute best bubby. I told you how much I love you, and I just couldn’t stop hugging me. You then whispered to me : thank you, I love you truly sweat heart. Bubby I will miss you forever, and I love you truly.

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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.  I recall when I was 12 years old and started putting on tefillin before my bar mitzvah, you encouraged me to go to shul across the street every weekday morning (at the crack of dawn), to daven there before going off to school.  Indeed, my connection with tefilla today, which is an extremely important part of my life, is a gift from you.  You planted the seeds when I was very young to connect with tefilla, and my current relationship with tefilla is a direct result of your profound influence on me.  	I remember a song that you used to sing to me when I was a little boy, and it really moved me.  Last month, when you were very sick, but still able to speak and converse a bit, we sang this song together several times, so I will sing it again for you now, one more time.  Before Yom Kippur the holiest dayThe people in shul were surprised in this wayA simple boy entered, no one knew whyHe could not read a siddur but this was his cryHashem Hashem please help me nowI want to daven but I don't know howAleph Bais Gimmel Daled HeiIf only I knew the words I should sayVav Zayin Ches Tes and YudI want to thank Hashem as I shouldHis plea he said again and againHis Tefilla went up straight to HashemWe see, said the Rav, what Kavanah can doLet's learn from this boy to daven well tooWe see said the people what Kavanah can doWe'll learn from this boy to daven well tooLast month, during our time together, we sang this song together many times, and it moved me to tears each and every time.	When I was a young boy, you decided that every young boy should know how to read פסוקים with trup (טעמי המקרא), so you hired someone to teach me trup many years before my bar mitzvah, and then you incentivized me every Friday night to read the parsha from a chumash (with the trup), and my reward was as much cholent as I wanted.  I enjoyed laining the פסוקים from a chumash for you at such a young age, and I enjoyed the Friday night cholent.  What I enjoyed the most, was eating the cholent in your company, knowing that you were schepping nachas.  I could see it in your smile…Such strong memories that I will never forget.  These influences in my early life have had a profound impact on the person that I have become today, and they remind me of yet another song that you would regularly sing to me as a child:  “שמע בני, (שמע בני), מוסר אביך, ואל (ואל) תיטוש תורת אימך”You have taught me so many lessons throughout my life, and it would be impossible for me to enumerate all of them here.  But I will name just a few.  You taught me at an early age always to be respectful and considerate of other people.  So, for example, when someone is waiting for you, you don’t keep them waiting.  And if you are in a grocery store, and someone else is coming down the aisle, you should move out of the way before they arrive, so that they should not have to ask you to move (I wish you had taught this rule to people here in Israel!). Whenever there is a conflict between two people, you taught me the important principle of “You’re right, and you’re right too” - the ability to see a conflict from both perspectives is a gift that not everyone has, and it is a skill that is absolutely necessary for building shalom, both in the house (שלום בית) and building shalom in the world at large.  This skill is just one of the many gifts that you have given me, for which I will be eternally grateful.  From a young age, you taught me to love Shabbos and Torah and mitzvos, and that love has enriched my life beyond words.  You always insisted on “doing the right thing” as defined by halacha in all situations.  You taught me to have respect both for the experts in spiritual health - Rabbis, as well as respect for the experts in physical health - doctors (as long as they aren’t chiropractors or podiatrists!).Most importantly, you have served as a role model for being an השם עבד, and I hope to always honor you by walking in your footsteps and doing my part as an השם עבד. These basic lessons, and so many others, have shaped who I am, and I owe all of my best qualities to you and the way that you raised me.  It is hard to believe that I wont be able to learn more life lessons from you, but I do hope to succeed in passing on all of these positive traits and skills to the next generation, to your grandchildren, who have always admired you, and who still do, more than ever.   Every year, before Yom Kippur, I would always ask you for מחילה (just a blanket request, nothing specific).  Then, when I was learning in Skokie yeshiva, my rebbe (Rabbi Twerski) once explained to me that when asking for מחילה, it is best to list specific transgressions and request מחילה for those specific transgressions.  But when I told you what he said, you insisted that I continue to ask you for general מחילה before Yom Kippur, every year.  So I continued to do so each and every year, because that is what you wanted.  So I would like to ask you one last time for general מחילה for anything that I might have said or done to be פוגע in your כבוד.  I love you.  Your last to words to me were: “I’ll miss you”.  I miss you too. 

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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.  I recall when I was 12 years old and started putting on tefillin before my bar mitzvah, you encouraged me to go to shul across the street every weekday morning (at the crack of dawn), to daven there before going off to school.  Indeed, my connection with tefilla today, which is an extremely important part of my life, is a gift from you.  You planted the seeds when I was very young to connect with tefilla, and my current relationship with tefilla is a direct result of your profound influence on me.  	I remember a song that you used to sing to me when I was a little boy, and it really moved me.  Last month, when you were very sick, but still able to speak and converse a bit, we sang this song together several times, so I will sing it again for you now, one more time.  Before Yom Kippur the holiest dayThe people in shul were surprised in this wayA simple boy entered, no one knew whyHe could not read a siddur but this was his cryHashem Hashem please help me nowI want to daven but I don't know howAleph Bais Gimmel Daled HeiIf only I knew the words I should sayVav Zayin Ches Tes and YudI want to thank Hashem as I shouldHis plea he said again and againHis Tefilla went up straight to HashemWe see, said the Rav, what Kavanah can doLet's learn from this boy to daven well tooWe see said the people what Kavanah can doWe'll learn from this boy to daven well tooLast month, during our time together, we sang this song together many times, and it moved me to tears each and every time.	When I was a young boy, you decided that every young boy should know how to read פסוקים with trup (טעמי המקרא), so you hired someone to teach me trup many years before my bar mitzvah, and then you incentivized me every Friday night to read the parsha from a chumash (with the trup), and my reward was as much cholent as I wanted.  I enjoyed laining the פסוקים from a chumash for you at such a young age, and I enjoyed the Friday night cholent.  What I enjoyed the most, was eating the cholent in your company, knowing that you were schepping nachas.  I could see it in your smile…Such strong memories that I will never forget.  These influences in my early life have had a profound impact on the person that I have become today, and they remind me of yet another song that you would regularly sing to me as a child:  “שמע בני, (שמע בני), מוסר אביך, ואל (ואל) תיטוש תורת אימך”You have taught me so many lessons throughout my life, and it would be impossible for me to enumerate all of them here.  But I will name just a few.  You taught me at an early age always to be respectful and considerate of other people.  So, for example, when someone is waiting for you, you don’t keep them waiting.  And if you are in a grocery store, and someone else is coming down the aisle, you should move out of the way before they arrive, so that they should not have to ask you to move (I wish you had taught this rule to people here in Israel!). Whenever there is a conflict between two people, you taught me the important principle of “You’re right, and you’re right too” - the ability to see a conflict from both perspectives is a gift that not everyone has, and it is a skill that is absolutely necessary for building shalom, both in the house (שלום בית) and building shalom in the world at large.  This skill is just one of the many gifts that you have given me, for which I will be eternally grateful.  From a young age, you taught me to love Shabbos and Torah and mitzvos, and that love has enriched my life beyond words.  You always insisted on “doing the right thing” as defined by halacha in all situations.  You taught me to have respect both for the experts in spiritual health - Rabbis, as well as respect for the experts in physical health - doctors (as long as they aren’t chiropractors or podiatrists!).Most importantly, you have served as a role model for being an השם עבד, and I hope to always honor you by walking in your footsteps and doing my part as an השם עבד. These basic lessons, and so many others, have shaped who I am, and I owe all of my best qualities to you and the way that you raised me.  It is hard to believe that I wont be able to learn more life lessons from you, but I do hope to succeed in passing on all of these positive traits and skills to the next generation, to your grandchildren, who have always admired you, and who still do, more than ever.   Every year, before Yom Kippur, I would always ask you for מחילה (just a blanket request, nothing specific).  Then, when I was learning in Skokie yeshiva, my rebbe (Rabbi Twerski) once explained to me that when asking for מחילה, it is best to list specific transgressions and request מחילה for those specific transgressions.  But when I told you what he said, you insisted that I continue to ask you for general מחילה before Yom Kippur, every year.  So I continued to do so each and every year, because that is what you wanted.  So I would like to ask you one last time for general מחילה for anything that I might have said or done to be פוגע in your כבוד.  I love you.  Your last to words to me were: “I’ll miss you”.  I miss you too. 

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The first paragraph is a quote from Rabbi Sacks

The most influential person who ever lived, ruled no empire, commanded no army, engaged in no spectacular acts of heroism on the battlefield, performed no miracles, proclaimed no prophecy, led no vast throng of followers, and had no disciples other than his own child. Yet today more than half of the 6 billion people alive on the face of the planet identify themselves as his heirs. While Avraham was the father of Judaism, at the end of the day, he was simply a parent.

I have often thought our mother, Buba Pesa Dena bat Dov Ber, was like Avraham. This may sound a little funny to compare one's mother to Avraham, but when our children would ask us, how Bubby came to have such a strong belief system, during a time when so many families, including her own, were moving away from religious observance, I could only respond that she was like our own personal family Avraham.

Her belief in G-d was total and complete and came entirely from within. As a child growing up in Chicago, she would take 2 buses to an after school talmud torah program, but mostly her religious training was self taught. And like Avraham's tent, her home was a haven to friends and family. The many mostly glass doors located on every side of our Houston house, were, until more recent times, always left open so that guests would feel welcome at any hour. Many years ago, when our childhood home was flooded for the very first time, my brother Kevin and I were at the movies as the streets began to fill with water. Our mother drove to pick us up at a nearby theater but we had to abandon the old station wagon when it stalled mid-street. We walked home in waist-high sewage water, my brother leading the way slashing a stick in the thick brown water to ward off snakes. We finally arrived home to find friends who also had to abandon their car in the flooded streets. They let themselves into our house and were busy making hot dogs. Mom wasn’t upset, she was impressed they found the fleishig pots.

When we were growing up, it was common to see visitors sitting at the breakfast room butcher block table with a hot drink or a soft drink and a piece of cake enjoying mom’s hospitality and friendship, sharing stories while sorting through life’s challenges and struggles. Often, those guests were teens craving a motherly ear, a holocaust survivor who needed to talk about her horrific experience, friends in need of some solid advice or a good laugh, and rabbis and educators who knew mom would be an excellent sounding board. There was always a can of pringles in the pantry for a friend who loved them, a refrigerator specifically devoted to a variety of cold drinks, and a freezer with cakes and cookies on the ready. In the kitchen, many shelves of a cabinet were devoted to an assortment of medicines mom was happy to share. Our mother was your doctor, your therapist, in many cases, your mikveh lady, and your very best friend. The very walls of her home oozed hospitality with furnishings chosen to feel warm and inviting and large windows that were installed in the family room to let in sunshine. A window over the sink allowed mom to see people entering the carport to the back door which was used as our family’s main entrance. They were always greeted with a wave and an enthusiastic, “come in, come in!” It is no wonder that friends from every stage in mom’s life, no matter the distance between them, have been in regular touch with her through all the years.

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.

She had a fierce sense of right and wrong and she knew how to stick to her guns. She was generous to a fault. I could not say I liked something or admired it because she would want to give it to me and she would make me crazy until I took it. So now, I would like to give something back to her. I wish it were an insightful dvar torah on the parsha because she would love that, but the plane had no wifi and in truth, our Mother WAS a dvar torah. So Mommy, this is for u: I want you to know that I have been listening to you, really listening. I have taken your lessons, your mussar and your Torah to heart and I have tried my hardest to pass that all down to my children and grandchildren. I know all of your children feel this way and I hope that you see this as the ultimate reward. May your children and their families always be close with one another and may You and Daddy shep nachas from above.

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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! In fact, I can think of numerous examples where she was close to the parents of her friends – as with Irene Goodman… or take under her wings the children of her friends who had passed away – as with the Chapmans or Dina Redinsky (who is here today). For 48 years she lived in the same house in Houston, Texas – the house where most of the kids grew up after moving from Berkley, California. 48 years! She had arrived to a community with so little Orthodox Jewish presence and together with many friends, she built the community up! My in-laws bought a home across the street from the shul. For decades, they were the “quick stop” for kiddush on the way home from shul. They watched the shul grow and turn from being conservative with just a small orthodox minyan to being a fully orthodox shul. My MIL ran a home of Chessed – she excelled in the mitzva of Hachnasat Orchim – hosting countless people over the decades who were vising in Houston and needed a place to sleep; she would visit the sick and cook meals for whoever needed… My MIL held Jewish education to the highest standard. I don’t think I can begin to adequately describe what she has done over the years for the Orthodox Jewish Day Schools in Houston. I can go on and on about my MIL’s strong and steadfast Emunah in Hashem… So many memories… so much love for Yiddishkeit, for Torah, for Jews, for Israel. 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. I will miss her good food – whether it’s the quick steaks on the grill or the exquisite Shabbat meals that she would whip up in 2-3 hours in the early hours of Friday mornings. I will miss her warm smile and the occasional frown or the raising of her eye brow when she didn’t quite approve… I will miss her hospitality at home in Houston. I will miss her saying: “what can I do to help?” every time she came to visit. I will miss her taste on anything and everything that has to do with home-design. I will miss this Giant of a Lady – the matriarch of our Klein Clan. The woman with the huge heart who always shied away from attention… hmmm, I’m thinking she is not very happy with all this attention right now….Mom, you are going to be so missed! תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים

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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! In fact, I can think of numerous examples where she was close to the parents of her friends – as with Irene Goodman… or take under her wings the children of her friends who had passed away – as with the Chapmans or Dina Redinsky (who is here today). For 48 years she lived in the same house in Houston, Texas – the house where most of the kids grew up after moving from Berkley, California. 48 years! She had arrived to a community with so little Orthodox Jewish presence and together with many friends, she built the community up! My in-laws bought a home across the street from the shul. For decades, they were the “quick stop” for kiddush on the way home from shul. They watched the shul grow and turn from being conservative with just a small orthodox minyan to being a fully orthodox shul. My MIL ran a home of Chessed – she excelled in the mitzva of Hachnasat Orchim – hosting countless people over the decades who were vising in Houston and needed a place to sleep; she would visit the sick and cook meals for whoever needed… My MIL held Jewish education to the highest standard. I don’t think I can begin to adequately describe what she has done over the years for the Orthodox Jewish Day Schools in Houston. I can go on and on about my MIL’s strong and steadfast Emunah in Hashem… So many memories… so much love for Yiddishkeit, for Torah, for Jews, for Israel. 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. I will miss her good food – whether it’s the quick steaks on the grill or the exquisite Shabbat meals that she would whip up in 2-3 hours in the early hours of Friday mornings. I will miss her warm smile and the occasional frown or the raising of her eye brow when she didn’t quite approve… I will miss her hospitality at home in Houston. I will miss her saying: “what can I do to help?” every time she came to visit. I will miss her taste on anything and everything that has to do with home-design. I will miss this Giant of a Lady – the matriarch of our Klein Clan. The woman with the huge heart who always shied away from attention… hmmm, I’m thinking she is not very happy with all this attention right now….Mom, you are going to be so missed! תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים