-My Eulogy I gave at the end of my mother, Dr Eva Katz Orlow’s funeral.

As we have heard today my mother was so many things to so many people:

• To us she was our mother.  I just called her Ma
• To others in the family was a Wife, Daughter, Sister, Cousin, Mother-Law, Oma, Dr Muti, Bubu, the matriarch of this clan
• To Friends, she was a trusted Confidant, Convener, Travel Companion, and even on occasion Shadchanit 

(A special thank you to Dr. David Golinsky for this borrowed time)

• Professionally she was a Psychologist, Therapist, Leader in her field of family law
• As a Volunteer, Community Leader filled every moment working for the causes she cared most about of which we have heard about today
• She was a committed Jew and very proud of her/our community here, in Israel, and around the world. She expressed these commitments in many ways we have heard about today from missions to the cosmic stage of her weekly Shabbat Dinner Salon around her Nakashima table

• And sadly over the last few years as she withered away- she has morphed into an impatient patient

Here at the end we pause to look back and remember Eve in all of of vim and vigor

Here at the end we pause to remember Eve with her limitless vitality, style, and grit.

Here at the end  we go back to the beginning:

What to call her? 

וַיִּקְרָ֧א הָֽאָדָ֛ם שֵׁ֥ם אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ חַוָּ֑ה כִּ֛י הִ֥וא הָֽיְתָ֖ה אֵ֥ם כׇּל־חָֽי׃

(In the Garden of Eden) Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.  

Genesis 3:20

But before we go all the way back to the beginning, lets go back to her beginning:

Here at the end  we think about her parents , our Oma and Opa. They had such robust lives in Germany and just like that it was gone. They were lucky to get out. Strangers in a strange land here to make new lives for themselves. You can only imagine the aspiration, conviction, and hope in that time of darkness. I imagine that they named their child Eve in an effort to reboot Eden.

My mom lived her life with a sense of urgency to live out that vision. She brimmed over with vitality- a life force. Despite or maybe because of the horrors and hardship- greatness was and had to be attainable. Her can-do conviction was infectious. This spark drove her to build family, to build friendship, to build community, to rebuild a broken world bringing us closer to Eden. 

• I am who I am because she believed in me and my capacity to build a better world with the foundation of a better me
• She would have been happy if I were a garbage collector, as long as I was the best one in the whole world.
• She used to say, “The harder you work the luckier you get”
• But we all know “she” is your mother

• Eve was my/our mother-She-  literally – gave us life
• When Opa died she became the matriach of this clan of which I was the baby
• Figuratively she was the mother to so many of her patients,  who were seeking a a therapist /a good Jewish mother of their own 
• She played this role of mother hen to so many of her friends 
• And she also played the role of mother for so many of our childhood friends growing up- as is evident from the messages we have been receiving expressing their own loss on her death
• In this my mom/our mom/Eve has “mothered” many of us here today

Eva was called Hava because she was the mother of a living community

Reflecting on her life is truly bittersweet.– In her absence we long for Eve and her vitality. And in this longing we find belonging. We have lived out the dream of Oma and Opa. We find ourselves closer to Eden. We manifest this living community/this clan.

As Hava goes back to Adam/Adama-  we all feel a certain urgency to continue this work of building and rebuilding eden.
May the memory of Hava Bat Avraham v Rut – Dr Eva Doreen Katz Orlow z”l – will be a blessing.

• Funny, Fierce and Feisty: My Sisters Eulogy for Our Mom
• Another Minute: Daniel’s Eulogy for Our Mother
• The Owl and Pussycat: Michael’s Eulogy for our Mother

Please join us in learning the bible in preparation for our mother’s Shloshim. You can sign up to learn a chapter/book through here: http://hadranalach.com/2848