Dear Zlata,
Today, Gimmel Tammuz I drive home to Maryland. My thoughts are with you in New York. It was only yesterday, erev Gimmel Tammuz, that you were interred close to our Rebbe’s resting place.
No, you never rested. Nor, will you stop to rest.
About 28 years ago, you and your husband Rabbi Bentzion ybadel lchayim tovim, became the first Shluchim to join our Chabad Maryland region. You have paved the way for many others who are BH doing the Rebbe’s work.
One of the women who knew you well said, “Zlata did her work quietly without fanfare and did not seek publicity, and that is just the way she left this world”. I cannot agree with her more. Your deeds were for Hakodosh Boruch Hu only.
Your persona of great Kabolos Ol was so clear. You took on your responsibilities with great focus, determination, and with steadfastness. You carried through what you set out to do and stayed on course until your work was thoroughly completed.
As I ponder the loss of a Shlucha in our state of Maryland, I understand the importance of each and every individual who has undertaken this great life’s mission. Although life may be laden with bumps and bruises, along the way we manage to pick ourselves up and to rise above life’s travails. Although our lives as Shluchim may be challenging, it is nevertheless rewarding. At the end of the day, we are bound up with our mishaleach.
So how am I to make peace with the tragedy that has hit us all so hard?
As I ponder the reality of what has happened in our midst I hear the phone ring in the car. It is my daughter. She wants to know where Zlata is interred. She is almost there. She mentions names of other markers and I realize that she is close. I tell her so, and she finally gasps that she has found it.
My daughter sent me the message I was looking for. She gave me the assurance that your memory will live on.
Zlata, you have touched so many lives in your short lifetime. And I know that those lives will continue to grow and find nurture in your embrace. Vhachai yiten el liboh. The seeds that you have sown will grow and mature continuing to flower until moshiach.
Sincerely yours,
Rochel
http://www.facebook.com/shalomchabad
and
Stories for her children
http://zlatasimpact.blogspot.com
BS”D please help me show support for the family, MJBHA, Zlata’s Mikvah, and the community by bringing awareness to all that Zlata taught each of us. The center has a facebook page as well as the blog post at zlatsimpact.blogspot.com where we are trying to gather stories, photos, to show the family the level of impact Zlata had on so many people. If you are on facebook please join our page – http://www.facebook.com/shalomchabad. Many many thanks.
I feel your pain very sad we shouldn’t hear of any more pain
I feel your pain
Please, write all of the wonderful things you remember about Zlate on the Blog. It would mean a lot to her family.
zlatasimpact.blogspot.com
There is nothing to say. There is nothing to explain…
We cant accept such insanity..
we cant simply “move on” “remember “-
I also spent a summer with Benny and Zlate and can’t imagine why Hashem allows such a tragedy to happen????
How will this family move on??? How?
For the family and all the people that were affected by Zlate there is no “moving on”-
ZLATE!!! it cant be true…
Eli B. I agree with you, very well said.
THE PLACE WHERE SHE IS BURIED IS THE ANSWER U WERE LOOKING FOR (BESIDES FOR THE FACT ONE SHOULD NOT GO TO THE SITE IN THE FIRST 12 MONTHS)??!! ITS ALITTLE EARLY TO TALK ABOUT US PICKING OURSELVES UP!!! WHY ARE U TALKING ABOUT URSELF AND UR SHLICHUS AND HOW REWARDING IT IS?? WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH ZLATA BEING RIPPED FROM OUR LIVES SO PREMATURELY, BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF HER LIFE, SHLICHUS AND BRINGING UP HER KIDS AND REAPING THE MANY MANY MORE REWARDS YET TO COME HERE IN THIS WORLD TOO!!! WHAT U SHOULD BE… Read more »
For anyone that knows how to read, the author’s intentions are very clear.
Immediately after pondering the loss of her fellow shlucha she gets a call from her daughter who is thinking and looking for Zlata.
She sees this as a message that Zlata will continued to be thought of and missed.
One can discern that the letter was written with genuine and heartfelt feeling.
Zlata’s burial coincided with the death of Miriam Haneviah in the parsha. Just as the Jewish people in the midbar were blessed with the well in the zechus of Miriam, the Jewish people are blessed with the living waters of Torah in the zechus of nashim tzidkonius, especially the shluchos.May Zlata join with Miriam Haneviah and all Jewish women in singing with the tambourines with the geula shlaima now.
The pain is so raw, it all seems unreal, untrue. Sometimes, the best thing is simply silence. Talking about how Zlata is remembered, how we will go on – while the earth is still fresh – was too painful for me to read. It is too early to make peace and to rationalize. I can only summon up tears and questions when I am confronted with the fact that a woman, young with unmarried children, a giving person, a person full of love, laughter, friendship and joy, is suddenly ripped from this world. For me, as a one time counselor… Read more »
No one i rationalizing. Mrs Kaplan wrote some beautiful words from the heart reflecting the reality that even as Moshe couldn’t go into Eretz Yisroel he still kept serving Hashem diligently. Even as we don’t understand why Zlata was taken frtom us – we still carry on her work just as she would have wanted – just as the Rebbe is demanding – until we get to Eretz Yisroel. The road is that much more hazy as we struggle to navigate through the tears welling in our eyes, but we keep groping in the darkness, kindling lights, knowing that the… Read more »
I think in Zlata’s memory we should all try to go out in the world and look for the places that need improvement and do what we feel is necessary to solve those things we feel should be fixed…I really think that is waht Zlata lived up to and in her memory we should all do just as she did!
To read more about Zlata and the impact she had on others, go to zlatasimpact.blogspot.com
To read more about Zlata and the impact she had on others, go to zlatasimpact.blogspot.com
no, proof is not the marker – it is the daughter, member of a younger generation, remembering her and caring enough to look for the marker
You are right! It has to do with next generation young person taking the time to visit the kever, onher own initiative,and appreciating the loss so much, to do just that, to console her own self.
Sorry – but are we to be comforted by the passing the untimely and shocking passing of a a wife, mother, leader, mentor – in her very prime – because there is a tombstone to mark her memory?
The author certainly seems to have meant well but her words do not resonate with me.
Please dont rationalize tragedies.
BEAUTIFUL!
I am hoping that proof of Zlata’s memory living on, is not associated with something like a marking in a bais hachaim.
I shall NOT be satisfied with memories-we need her back NOW!!!!
Oiy Rebbe, when will the hisgalus be?????
May there be only simchois.
Moshiach NOW!!
Thank you Rochel for your very apt description of our friend and fellow shlucha Zlata.
baruch dayan emes
moshiach better be more than on his way.