From The Bimah: Jewish Lessons For Life

This week, we laid to rest a pillar of our community, our beloved Channah Berkovits. As we were reflecting with her family about her incredible life, I kept thinking about what a powerful teacher she was for me and for our whole community. Channah radiated positive energy. I remember when I first met her—she was this petite woman dressed in a bright purple suit, who seemed to always be here for every class and every service. Whenever she saw me, she would call me over and would start speaking to me in Hebrew, usually to give me a heartfelt blessing. If I asked her how she was doing, she would always say something positive about how grateful she was to be here, about her wonderful family, about the beautiful day. And she always ended every conversation with her trademark phrase, חיבוק של אהבה. She was so positive that at some point I asked my colleagues if they knew her secret. I remember them saying to me, “I don’t know what her secret is, but you should know she is a survivor.” At her funeral, I heard f