She had the illness, but it never had her
MYmother, Nechama Witler, was known as the “Ayin Tovah Lady” of Manchester.
As a kid, I took it for granted that my mother was always thanking, praising, seeing the good. It took me a while to appreciate that she didn’t exactly have an easy life. During the war, she’d been evacuated from London, while her parents, older and already infirm, stayed behind. She never saw them again. Parnassah was a constant struggle, and my father passed on 30 years before she did, leaving her a widow for decades.
During Mommy’s final illness, I traveled from my home in Beit Shemesh to Manchester to be with her.
My mother sat on the sofa and said to me, unexpectedly, “When I pass on, don’t mourn my death.”
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