Amina Rachman z"l

The congregation, Board of Directors and clergy of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives mourn the passing of our long-time, beloved member and Board member Amina Rachman (z"l), who died after a brief and intense struggle with cancer on Sunday, September 25, 2011.  She is survived by her son Joshua Gordon Rachman; her daughter Sabra Pacheco-Batjiaka and son-in-law Sean Batjiaka; her former partner and longtime companion Leonore Gordon; many family members and a large community of dear friends.

Here we include remarks made at her funeral, along appreciations written to Amina by Kolot Chayeinu members.

EULOGIES

APPRECIATIONS

Amina's D'var Torah, Delivered at her Bat Mitzvah

Our Torahs are old,

One on permanent loan

And one from a now-defunct shul.

The velvet torah covers

And the silver plate that hangs over the velvet

Both covered in names

Of donors long gone,

And their honored loved ones, gone even longer.

These names mean nothing to us:

We ignore them

While we parade around the shul.

On Selichot we put aside the old velvet

And dressed our Torah in fresh white covers,  only a year old,

Donated by a beloved member,

Amina.

She died this year, four days before Rosh HaShanah.

Tonight it’s Simkhat Torah.

So we take off Amina’s white covers

And put on the old ones,

Gold and blue, embroidered with strangers' names. 

Then we will dance around the shul.

We will think of Amina every year at this time of year

From now on, until none of us are here, 

Until no one alive remembers her. 

Or us.

Then others will carry this scroll with the white cover

Donated by a Jew they never knew,

Our loved one, Amina,

While they parade around the shul.

We give thanks to the ancient Yud-Hey-Vuv-Hey, telling the story even when we can’t, keeping our loved ones’ memories as blessings and giving us Torah from the beginning, every year. 

---WE PARADE AROUND THE SHUL:  A Prayer for Simkhat Torah, by Trisha Arlin

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