It was a hard week's night

Last week was a difficult one for me personally and I think for a lot of my friends, people in my community and Jews in general. I will not dwell on the obvious reasons for sadness in my community; my previous posts explain it all and at the same time only barely touch the surface of sadness and the feeling of tremendous loss. This post deals only with my experiences and feelings.

So here's my week in review. My great-aunt's husband passed away on Thursday, my grandmother was hospitalized with - guess what? - her first vertigo on Saturday, Rabbi Berenbaum passed away on Sunday, and on Monday I found out about Mrs. Dimarsky. This loss was the hardest to bear, still is. It was more personal. It was unexpected. It didn't seem right or fair. It raised a lot of questions, some more appropriate than others: why her? why now? what's next? what can I do? how can I help?

Right before I found out about Rabbi Berenbaum's death, I had completed a funny post. It didn't seem appropriate to post it then. It still doesn't seem appropriate to post it. It will have to stay in the draft form a bit longer. I was thinking of writing something about Sherry, but couldn't find the right words. For the first time in a very long time I don't want to be funny. Right now I just want to be sad, to ponder on the questions in my head, to think of the things that I can do to honor the memories of Rabbi Berenbaum and Sherry Dimarsky. And maybe reflect on why my week was surrounded by three deaths. Is this a message? A wake-up call? Or a simple reminder that I don't have all the time in the world?

Pictures from Rabbi Berenbaum's zt'l levaya

This is the casket with the Rav's body. People walked with it for quite a few blocks, and then it was taken to JFK to be buried in Israel.



Many people came from upstate New York, New Jersey and different boroughs of New York. Many came by buses (you can see them in the background). My husband said that it was extremely hard to ride a car that time of the day because both Coney Island Ave. and Ocean Parkway were full of buses and cars all coming for the funeral. There were so many cars that there was no parking in the 10 block radius.

Many people spoke about the Rav's many deeds of loving-kindness and dedication to G-d, Torah and commandments.

I saw that many people visited my blog in the past few days. My best guess is that they were looking for the news and articles about the Rav. I am sorry to disappoint all of you. I hope that these pictures will serve as at least some consolation for the time it took you to come to this site.

B'sorot tovot.

Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum, zt'l

I just heard this from my husband. Rav Raphael Shmuel Berenbaum, zt'l, had passed away today. The Jewish world had lost one of the greatest sages of our time. My husband said he had never seen so many grown men cry.

I never know what to say during these times, so I won't say anything... My heart goes out to his family, friends, students and anyone mourning him. :'(

Update: The levayah will be held at Mirrer Yeshiva starting 8.45 am until about 11 am, and then the body will be flown to Eretz Yisrael for burial.