The fact is that
Golda Litwen of blessed memory taught very many people a lot of things by
either example or persuasion or a combination thereof.
We are speaking
here, however, about a particular case in which the power of her personality carried
the day in the most unlikely of circumstances, which resulted in a very great
Kiddush Hashem.
The day after
her recent passing, the administrator of the adult home in which she resided
received a phone call from one of the people who used to transport Golda to and
from the hospital where she underwent dialysis three times a week.
Shlepping sick
people back and forth to their various treatments day after day can desensitize
one to the fact that they are dealing with human beings as opposed to goods
that need to be moved from one place to another. And in such a situation a person can say and
do things that he would otherwise forgo if a real person was before him.
And so it was
with Golda.
There were many times when the two people that transported her to dialysis would argue on the way. These were proste
mentchen that didn’t have much of an understanding of how to speak to
one another or how to accord each other even a modicum of respect.
This is pretty
much the story that was told to the administrator of the home. And then the person on the phone added:
We would like
to send flowers and come to pay our respects to her daughters because she
taught us how to speak to each other and how to give.
Anyone who knew
Golda well wouldn’t be surprised by any of this because when faced with such
situations she would always take them firmly in hand by admonishing anyone who
had crossed, what was in her eyes to be viewed as, the line of basic decent
behavior.
She also taught
them to have a sense of appreciation, one for the other and she taught it by
example. It seems that in the course of
regaining his sensitivity to those around him one of these workers began to empathize
with Golda’s condition and he remarked that it was a pity that she had to undergo
dialysis three times a week.
“It’s not a pity
at all,” she said. “Dialysis is keeping
me alive.”
And they understood
that Golda was keeping them alive in a certain sense, so when she died they
took matters into their own hands and resolved to keep on living. In the memory of all she taught them they took upon themselves to always work on getting along.
