AT THE UNVEILING: NAOMI BAR-YAM — Sister-in-Law
As I tried to explain Aureet's death to my children, 2 1/2 years ago, my daughter Shlomiya asked me, "Does all of you die? There isn't anything left?" In describing the soul or nefesh, which lives on, I borrowed an image from Shlomiya's kindergarten teacher in Israel. She explained soul in terms of drawers: Deep inside each of us are drawers. There is a happy drawer, a sad drawer, a curious drawer, an angry drawer. When we are happy, our happy drawer is open and when we are sad, our sad drawer is open. I explained to the children that there is also one drawer for each person that we love. A little bit of each of our nefashot souls was in Aureet and some of Aureet's nefesh remains in each of us. When Aureet died, it felt as though her drawer had been opened and emptied suddenly. It seemed to lock all of our other drawers - as though our happy or curious or wondrous drawers would never open again.
After several months of talking about Aureet's life and her death, Shlomiya remarked to me, "The drawer in my nefesh for Aureet is empty now. No matter who else I meet and no matter how many other drawers I will have, this drawer will always be empty. Well, it's almost completely empty. It still has in it all the love Aureet had for me."
Over the last 2 1/2 years, as we have shared stories, memories, writings, love and sadness with the family and Aureet's friends, we have each added to one another's "Aureet drawer" in our souls.
Today, on Aureet's birthday, we remember the blessing which was Aureet's life - her energy and devotion, her talents and skills, her humor and insight and the personal gifts she gave to each of us by her presence.
May we, Aureet's community of family and friends, continue to learn from the example of Aureet's life. May each of us continue to draw strength and insight from our individual relationships with her. May we be able to offer and accept from one another comfort in this loss which affects us all together and yet each of us so personally.
