Shoshana Ovitz asked for an original gift: That all her descendants come together for prayer at the Kotel
August 7. 2019Original A7 article posted at:
bit.ly/holocaust-survivors-birthday-request
The family at the Western Wall
Photo source: Facebook page of Sivan Rahav Meir
To celebrate her 104th birthday, Holocaust survivor Shoshana Ovitz asked for an original gift: That all her descendants come together for prayer at the Western Wall (the Kotel).
Her grandson, Meir Rosenstein, told Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav Meir: "My grandmother, Shoshana Ovitz, survived Auschwitz. In front of her eyes Dr. Mengele took her mother. After the war, she met Grandpa Dov, who lost his wife and four daughters in the camps.
"They got married and went to Haifa. She worked as a seamstress and helped him run the chicken shop. Now Grandma celebrated her 104th birthday and asked for a gift: That all her descendants come together to the Western Wall," Rosenstein said.
"We do not have an exact number, but there are probably 400 grandchildren and descendants," Shoshana's oldest granddaughter, Panini Friedman, told Israeli news site Walla.
"It wasn't a simple thing to organize this rare event," said Friedman, who lives in Belgium.
Even the approximately 400 people at last Wednesday's gathering didn't cover everyone, said Friedman.
"We're missing about 10% of them."
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