I don't have a namesake, but my daughter was named after her great aunt Eva, z"l. Her story breaks my heart.
Their family was from Hungary/Romania. My father-in-law, his mother, sister, and father were sent to a concentration camp, wherein they were separated into different lines. Mother and son were together, and daughter was with other kids. She slipped out of the line, rejoined her mother and brother. Mother told her she should do as she's told, and go back with the children in the other line. She was murdered later that day. I think she was 12.
I don't understand anything about it. I'll never understand the cruelty. I can't comprehend the mother's strength to carry on after that moment. I don't know how she pulled through with her son. Her husband got ill with typhoid, and the Hungarian army burned down the infirmary ward he was in. How can you carry that knowledge, that burden, and still push for a new day? That eternal hope.... unreal.
B"H, she and her son survived, moved to Israel, then to Canada.
From the stories my father-in-law has told, Eva was strong, brave, playful, and loving. She always coaxed a smile out of him (he is quite serious). We see every day how our Eva honours her great aunt's memory with her joyful and adventurous spirit. We also added a middle name -- Ma'ayan (spring) -- in the trust that our Eva will be a source of comfort, regeneration, life, and a beacon of hope. She is all of that and more 💕
Thank you for sharing your personal, and very real, story of wonderment and hope. We are strong people culturally, and stories like yours are inspiring for those that follow in their larger-than-life footprints. 🙏💕
Wonderful remembrance , thank you! Just a note, in the Sephardic tradition, we regularly name children after living relatives. I'm one as is my son. Cheers-
Thank you for another beautiful post. I am named for my maternal grandfather, who died five years before I was born. He and my grandmother were Austrian Jews, proud and according to my mother, EXCEPTIONALLY stubborn. So, the fact that my mother was the same way should hardly be a surprise! He was also a survivor, which is why late in 1938, after the Anschluss, he packed up my grandmother and his then three-year old daughter and snuck across the border into Switzerland, apparently just weeks before the Swiss sealed the border so as to "protect their border's integrity" (translation: They didn't want any more Jews coming in). He correctly foresaw what was going to happen to the Jews of Austria and knew that they had to get out while they still could. They then spent the next 11 1/2 years in Switzerland before my grandfather and grandmother decided that they needed to start their lives over in Canada, where I was born.
I'd like to think that I have SOME of my grandfather's qualities, even though I am certain that I can't come close to measuring up to him.
Magen David looks made for you on your photo. Side note: my daughter is Evelyn named named after for deceased grandmother Eva. Sending lots of big hugs to you.
My story is so similar, I can feel the energy you get from the chain. Our ancestors are healing from their traumas watching current events unfold. The empires are falling, the magnates and Churches are being exposed, atrocities are again committed, but now we have the internet and voices like yours. That is allowing the world to see and react as humans in real time. I’m hopeful (of course I am!) that good will prevail. Maybe the Jews will win! At least not blamed. The necklace looks good. Wear it in good health. 🙏🇺🇦🇮🇱
Beautifully written, as always.
I don't have a namesake, but my daughter was named after her great aunt Eva, z"l. Her story breaks my heart.
Their family was from Hungary/Romania. My father-in-law, his mother, sister, and father were sent to a concentration camp, wherein they were separated into different lines. Mother and son were together, and daughter was with other kids. She slipped out of the line, rejoined her mother and brother. Mother told her she should do as she's told, and go back with the children in the other line. She was murdered later that day. I think she was 12.
I don't understand anything about it. I'll never understand the cruelty. I can't comprehend the mother's strength to carry on after that moment. I don't know how she pulled through with her son. Her husband got ill with typhoid, and the Hungarian army burned down the infirmary ward he was in. How can you carry that knowledge, that burden, and still push for a new day? That eternal hope.... unreal.
B"H, she and her son survived, moved to Israel, then to Canada.
From the stories my father-in-law has told, Eva was strong, brave, playful, and loving. She always coaxed a smile out of him (he is quite serious). We see every day how our Eva honours her great aunt's memory with her joyful and adventurous spirit. We also added a middle name -- Ma'ayan (spring) -- in the trust that our Eva will be a source of comfort, regeneration, life, and a beacon of hope. She is all of that and more 💕
Thank you for sharing your personal, and very real, story of wonderment and hope. We are strong people culturally, and stories like yours are inspiring for those that follow in their larger-than-life footprints. 🙏💕
Wonderful remembrance , thank you! Just a note, in the Sephardic tradition, we regularly name children after living relatives. I'm one as is my son. Cheers-
Thank you for another beautiful post. I am named for my maternal grandfather, who died five years before I was born. He and my grandmother were Austrian Jews, proud and according to my mother, EXCEPTIONALLY stubborn. So, the fact that my mother was the same way should hardly be a surprise! He was also a survivor, which is why late in 1938, after the Anschluss, he packed up my grandmother and his then three-year old daughter and snuck across the border into Switzerland, apparently just weeks before the Swiss sealed the border so as to "protect their border's integrity" (translation: They didn't want any more Jews coming in). He correctly foresaw what was going to happen to the Jews of Austria and knew that they had to get out while they still could. They then spent the next 11 1/2 years in Switzerland before my grandfather and grandmother decided that they needed to start their lives over in Canada, where I was born.
I'd like to think that I have SOME of my grandfather's qualities, even though I am certain that I can't come close to measuring up to him.
Magen David looks made for you on your photo. Side note: my daughter is Evelyn named named after for deceased grandmother Eva. Sending lots of big hugs to you.
My story is so similar, I can feel the energy you get from the chain. Our ancestors are healing from their traumas watching current events unfold. The empires are falling, the magnates and Churches are being exposed, atrocities are again committed, but now we have the internet and voices like yours. That is allowing the world to see and react as humans in real time. I’m hopeful (of course I am!) that good will prevail. Maybe the Jews will win! At least not blamed. The necklace looks good. Wear it in good health. 🙏🇺🇦🇮🇱