Rav Menachem Schrader’s Eulogy for Sara Blaustein:Sara
Blaustein, the mother of Atara, Sammy, Yoni and Adena, Sara was a Brooklyn girl from Bensonhurst, going through the schools of Ohel Moshe, Central and Brooklyn College. Her dedication to Torah, Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael was evident already then. Her home growing up was filled with Zionism and she was a central contributor to that sense. Her attachment to Eretz Yisrael was through the Torah and therefore the places in Eretz Yisrael most prominent in the Torah were most special to her. It is no wonder, then, that she was so attached to Kever Rachel, which she visited with friends every week, to Chevron, and of course the old city of Jerusalem, which she was on her way to yesterday afternoon. On the day she came to Eretz Yisrael to live, her face glowed with the spiritual uplifting and happiness expressed in the word aliya. Her aliya was a culmination of a lifelong goal. Sara’s dedication to G-d was expressed in many ways. It included davening on a daily basis, and frequent Torah study. She had her priorities. She was a regular attender of the Rabbi’s classes in Staten Island and Lawrence, and of the Beit Midrash Lenashim here in Tifferet Avot. But her study did not take precedence over her child. If Atara needed her at home, that came first and at home she stayed. She was always happy, the kind of happy that made others happy with her. She was the centerpiece of Norman’s life, and an important part of many others as well. Sara and Norman would learn Nach (nevi’im-k’tuvim) together. They were in the middle of a discussion about Shimshon Hagibor yesterday in the car, when her Divrei Torah were brutally interrupted. Her Torah arguments with her brother David combined religious dedication with family love. She took care of her mother with the utmost respect, and it was appreciated. She always remembered her father’s chesed and was not interested in being deterred from donating to those causes and poor that she felt were worthy. She represented the Jerusalem Renewal Project and Yeshiva Ateret Cohanim in America before she made Aliyah. These past 11 months were retrospectively her introduction to Gan Eden. She felt more at home with her neighbors on Rechov Halamed-hey almost right away, than she ever felt in Lawrence. She was the binder that turned the Blaustein’s and the Unterberg’s into one family. This past Pesach, Sara and Norman brought in the children from America, and all together the family exulted in unified happiness. Yesterday, Sara and Norman bought a Sefer Torah. It was with that act that she culminated a lifetime of Torah dedication. May the memories of Sara fill the gaping hole her death has left, and may she be melitz yosher on Norman, Atara, Sammy, Yoni, Adena, her grandchildren, and all the Jewish people. The Horror of Her Death is Truly Overshadowed by the Greatness of Her Life. |