Droshos - The Simple Heart | The Rav's Eulogy Of His Mother

“Beloved and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths not parted” (Shmuel II: 1:23).

Ima….When you were clothed by a physical body, we spoke the same language. But now, when you stand here before me, with your revealed neshamah, I will speak to you in the language of the neshamah.

There were so many details that you exerted yourself so much to give. But what I received from you - it just isn’t possible to receive more. Who truly recognized who you were? You knew of the depth of the soul, of a deep bond. What I received from you, was the heart you had! It was an inner reality, a lev pashut (simple, earnest heart). It wasn’t a heart which is found in our generation. It had a simple earnestness (peshitus) to it, a peshitus/simplicity that cannot be described in any words. This heart is what you gave to me, from when I was a fetus in the womb! And with it I came out, into the air of the world!

It was not merely given to me by you – rather, it was the basis, the basis, which you gave to me. I received your heart. This was the greatest gift which I could have ever received from you for all of my life.

This simple earnest heart (lev pashut), in order to acquire it from the outside, needs so much hard work to get. But this peshitus/simplicity is what you gave to me, as a gift, as part of the design of Creation, in Hashem’s wisdom. Since then, whatever I have, even if only a little – that peshitus/simplicity of the heart, as I grew older, I understood more the depth of the gift, how good it was to me and how good it was to others. Whatever little bit I have, any little bit which I have merited to give to others, is your earnest simplicity! It is yours! This was the most basic tool which, through it, the inner light of the neshamah could be revealed.

You were born wherever you were born, you have gone through all the different steps of life, and there is no tzaddik in the world who only does good and never sins. But there are two parts which you are taking with you now to the Heavenly Court.

Firstly: I have never given to you from myself - rather, it is all yours! Whatever little bit I have merited with your peshitus/simplicity to give to myself and to help others with, it is now yours as gift, to be used for all your needs, to merit a worthy judgment, and to ascend to your place in the higher Gan Eden. In depth, it is not a gift – it is all yours, it is yours, it is yours! I am obliged to you in a very big part from all of life.

The second part is that Hashem sees the heart of a person, and Hashem knows all you have been through, until the tiniest detail, of all the suffering, of all the different steps until the final step. My heart was bewildering over you! Sometimes it was with tears, over the pain, it was not always easy to express this with my mouth, but you deeply felt that our hearts were bound together, deeply. The suffering! So encompassing! And it was all with a silence, in relation to how much awesome and difficult suffering there was. With my own eyes I could see, and I can say it with my mouth, that this suffering created the necessary purification. We were saying it with our mouths: It is purifying, it is purifying, it is purifying. And just as this is the ruling below, so is this the ruling Above. Now that step is over, and now you are going to the next step.

Firstly, from that peshitus/simplicity, you taught us the soul of life, and this is the simple way to live, and it is also the proper way to live at a time like this. After the burial, when the grave is closed, you will then begin to ascend higher. Don’t forget, even for a moment, of the absolute truth, that Hashem did, does, and will do everything. Only He is in control….for His messengers are commanded to protect you on your way. These are the thoughts of emunah which will escort you, to your higher place. Don’t forget even for a moment of the truth. That will be your protection.

We, who are here, will do our part, to escort you – not only to your proper place of serenity, to your resting place in the grave, but to escort you to your true place, with pleasantness. Anything you need, please inform us, through any of the known ways, so that we can be of utmost help.

What is mine is yours, it is yours, it is yours.

You know that it is very difficult to describe in physical terms of how all these words will be actualized. You were honorable in your life, but even more so in your death, where the true honor is.

In the name of my brother-in-law and sisters who aren’t here, they asked forgiveness, from the depth of the heart. I also ask forgiveness, because I know that there were various responsibilities of life which prevented me from honoring you properly. May Hashem give strength to Abba, that he should pass through this easily, with all of its complexity, and that you should go higher and higher, as is the way of tzaddikim, who don’t have serenity in this world or in the next world.

Our bond was not mainly a physical bond, and that is why we have not become disconnected now. Either we will meet soon, by techiyas hameisim, or after several years, if Hashem wills it, in the higher world. Rest in your resting place, with peace, go higher and higher, reach your higher source, and enjoy the rays of the Shechinah. Live the emunah which you yearned for so much, for it to be revealed and sensed. Arise again to receive your allotted portion at the end of time. May you be among the righteous Matriarchs, in whose merit the Jewish people will be redeemed.

“May death become swallowed forever, and may Hashem erase all tears from all of the faces, and may we all say, Amen.”