Bitter and Sweet

My father-in-law had lost his dear brother, and my mother-in-law her beloved sister.

Now we joke that my in-laws, by definition one team, even underwent this dark period together: different shivah homes, same covered mirrors.

My father-in-law’s brother, our Uncle Nota ztz”l, was a force to be reckoned with. Rav Nota Schiller was a leader of the teshuvah movement, a talmid chacham. An orator. A poet. A husband, father, and grandfather. An uncle. And a brother. When my father-in-law heard that his brother was ill, he jumped onto a plane and didn’t leave his side until it was all over.

And this wasn’t the first time my mother-in-law’s sister, Tante Rivky, was on her deathbed. The last time, Mommy brought her back to life. You don’t argue with Mommy — if Mommy says that someone needs to live, well then, they pull through. But Mommy wasn’t here this time. And Rivky slipped away before she could arrive.