[Nfbj] An amazing woman

[Judith Bron]

Sorry about the last message.  I'm pasting it below.  Enjoy, Judith



On many occassion on my visits to Mrs. Margalit Brand, AH, I wished & longed to  





question her on the secret of her longevity. According to the many stories of  





tzaddikim I heard this sounded like its one of them. A woman is zoche to a ripe  





old age surviving 3 wars, bombing in Budapest and is still on her two feet. Yes,  





she used a walker for balance and support. She was in her own home, eating  





everything we wish we could goulash, paprikash, apple shtrudle, polachinta and  





hobort krumpli - potatoes. No allergies, hypertension, diabetes, heart  





condition. The only thing she needed was a laxative. Probably fiber in diet... 





The secret of her Arichas Yamim was disclosed to me when I went to be menachem  





avel her children. The story is as follows: 





Many, many years ago, about 100 years ago, give or take a couple years, my dear  





friend Margalit was a young girl in a Shtetle in Hungary. One day a boy was  





fooling around with a leather strap whishing and whipping it in the air.  





Unfortunately a tragedy occured, the whip hit her eye directly and she was soon  





blinded in one eye. Lo Oleinu. In their limited circumstances not much could be  





done about it. She was barred from school, the doctor fearing strain on her  





remaining eye might damage remaining eye. But she secretly read... 





Her father disheartened and broken asked the Rebbe Yeshayele Kerestirer if they  





should pursue the boy and his family for the irreperable damages done to their  





young and innocent daughter? Summon them to Din Torah or perhaps sue them in  





court for damages? 





No, said the Rebbe, don't do that. "Don't worry, she will live a long life!" the  





Rebbe exclaimed. What a zchia!  





And so it was, besides for cataract surgery and after the first 100 years  





subsequent blindness, she lived 107 1/2 healthy years and passed away this past  





Thusday (June 17) Beshaiva Tova with Nachas, grandchildren and great  





grandchildren living and learning in Lakewood.  





Until age 90 she kneaded her own dough and baked her own Challos lekovod  





Shabbos. What a zchia!   





A real Uriember, proper and decorous, she offered a chair and choclates or  





cookies to her visitors and thanked us profusely for coming to see her. She sang  





us Sol O Kokosh and truly waited for the redemption-ven es vet lichtig veren.  





The darkness (blindness) frustrated her so.  We also sang Nemles Mindig: Es vet  





nisht altz tinkel zein, es vet nuch lechtig veren, a folk song my grandmother  





taught me that she sang as a young girl with the other girls, fellow inmates in  





the concentration camps while doing grueling labor for the Nazis. What darkness!  

















We had the zchia to know her. She had the zchus of a Rebbes brocha! Until  





Nowadays-Heintige Tzeitten! CSR