Dr. Eileen Weiss, 86, OBM

Dr. Eileen Weiss, a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, passed away on Tuesday morning, 14 Adar, 5786 — the holy day of Purim.

She was 86.

A devoted educator who earned a doctorate in education, Mrs. Weiss was the matriarch of a magnificent family and a strong Shlucha of the Rebbe who devoted her entire life to her family and students.

Her life itself was a living miracle of the Rebbe’s blessing.

In 1957, shortly after her wedding in Miami Beach, the then 18-year-old graduate of Beis Yaakov Schools received devastating news from one of the leading gynecologists in Miami. “Your womb never developed and therefore, it is physically impossible for you to become pregnant. You’re going to be sterile for the rest of your life.”

Her husband, Rabbi Meshulom Weiss, immediately called the Rebbe’s secretariat at 770 Eastern Parkway. “A month later my wife became pregnant with our oldest son, Mordechai,” Rabbi Weiss recalled in an interview with JEM’s My Encounter team.

The Rebbe’s blessing proved eternal. The couple went on to be blessed with 15 children. Years later, during a routine checkup, a doctor examining Mrs. Weiss told her, “I see you have an infantile womb which tells me you never had any children. It must be disappointing to you.”

The miracle had never touched the physical — only the Divine.

As Rabbi Weiss explained: “The Rebbe gave you a blessing two days before your wedding that Hashem will bless you with many children — and that’s why you have your children, because of the Rebbe’s blessing.”

That she was taken from this world on Purim — the day the Kabbalists call greater than Yom Kippur, the day the Arizal says carries the most exalted spiritual light of the entire year — is a comfort to her family and all who knew her.

Mrs. Weiss was predeceased by her husband, Rabbi Meshulom Weiss, and four children: Isaac Weiss, Shimshon Weiss, Avrumi Weiss, and Rabbi Moshe Weiss.

She is survived by her children: Rabbi Mordechai Weiss, Mrs. Esta Sitrin, Rabbi Yosef Weiss, Yehoshua Weiss, Dovid Weiss, Rabbi Mendel Weiss, Leah Brown, Devorah Lunger, Shaina Knobloch, Rabbi Yaakov Weiss, and Shmulie Weiss; together with a large family of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

She is survived by her brother Mordechai Greenfield, and sister Renee Welfeld.

The levaya and kevurah will be at the Eretz HaChaim Cemetery in Beit Shemesh, Israel, on Friday morning.

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.