KIDS Issue 1017 · June 26, 2024

The Moon by Night      

Through the night of Parkinson’s disease, Debbie Shapiro casts a glow of quiet strength

The Moon by Night      

As told to Rivka Streicher by Debbie Shapiro

I’ve always been a woman of the sun; strong, bright, warm, positive. I grew up in San Francisco and made aliyah in 1971. I arrived at BJJ, before it was even called that, when it was being constructed in what people thought was a desert — now the center of Sorotzkin. In my second year there, Rebbetzin David took over the program, teaching us so much Torah.

I was part of the coming of age of this fledgling country of ours. As a young woman, I was involved in the Yom Kippur war effort, distributing food and clothing to the soldiers.

I wrote and wrote. My husband and I raised a large family in Ramot. I had the sun in me; I worked hard, I shone brightly.

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