Today is a milestone birthday for my mother, Baruch Hashem. She was born during the Holocaust while her parents were in hiding from the Nazis in Czechoslovakia. She was an only child, born to an only child.
She was also the ONLY CHILD in her family that survived the war. The only one. At our family smachos we have exactly zero relatives from my mothers side. Zero. She has upwards of forty descendants and counting. Just days ago another great granddaughter was born and with close to ten married grandchildren, all of whom are Bnei Torah, there are always more coming. Baruch Hashem and Bli Ayin Hara.
During the war while in such a precarious situation, it was seemingly not a prudent time to have a child. What will be? Will we be able to feed her? Will the Nazis find us and deport us to our deaths?? Do you think my grandmother considered for a second terminating her pregnancy?? I would venture a guess that not for a second. Yet, the powers of the sitra achra would surely have encouraged her to do so - presenting her with all of the available options, assuring her that it is totally safe and better for all involved. "Don't worry", they would have told her. "You can have more children when it is convenient for you". They have so many elegant words and evasive words for it, such as "reproductive health". Killing a living being is now considered health.
Baruch Hashem that these enemies of Hashem weren't around yet. And Baruch Hashem that my grandmother was brave enough to become pregnant, carry the baby to term and raise her to be a faithful member of Klal Yisrael. Every day, well over a thousand hours are lived thanks to my parents and grandparents. Was it easy? No. But life is not SUPPOSED to be easy. Life is supposed to have meaning and we *create* that meaning. Literally.
So a Happy Birthday to my holy special mother. And many brachos to her and to Jewish mothers worldwide. You are the GREATEST!!! All of you. The greatest cooks, the greatest homemakers and most of all - the greatest human beings and women. Every male that has any measure of success in life is due fully and wholly to you to whom he owes every second of existence.
