There was a feeling of peace, serenity, and holiness. That’s what the guest saw that night, and what family and visitors experienced every Shabbos.
“Ein haShechinah shorah ela mitoch simchah.”
Rebbetzin Zahava Braunstein was a nurturer and a giver, and the food she cooked for others was a physical, nurturing backdrop to the love and warmth she doled out in her role as wife, mother, grandmother, camp director, principal, and teacher of thousands of women.
One of the refrains I kept hearing about Rebbetzin Braunstein was that she was calm and b’simchah — even on a hectic Friday afternoon, preparing for Shabbos with lots of family and guests. There was never stress in the preparations leading up to Shabbos and Yom Tov, even if it was busy and things were flying.
She would say that if the home is a mikdash me’at, then the women who manage it are like the Kohanim. The Kohanim’s job would certainly get messy — shechting animals, cleaning up blood — but no one pitied them that work; rather, they were envied. It was a privilege — and so is being the mother of a home, including both the messy times and the shining moments.
When Rebbetzin Braunstein spoke to married women, she would encourage them to come into Shabbos calm, whatever it took. “Your husband would rather enter the house and see your face shining with joy than see the floor shining,” she’d say. “And if the difference between coming into Shabbos calm or stressed is that last dessert or kugel, skip the kugel and be calm.”
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