Shifra Quotes
Regarding someone who is always getting taken advantage of and turning the other cheek Shifra would say:
You know there is a saying if your too good your half stupid.
Shifra sometimes said:
When you’re right no one remembers. When you’re wrong no one forgets.
I asked Shifra if a particular indecisive person had confirmed if they were coming to an event. She answered: Varshlechta Krank
A Yiddish saying like the illness lingers on; Monday they are married, Tuesday they have a fight, Wednesday its back on etc…
Another Shifra Saying:
Some say ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is hell. Innocence is bliss
Shifra told me the Rabbi (Rav Kahane) used to say:
The world is not logical its psychological.
She would add:
The first thing people look at on a newspaper is letters to the editor. They want to know what other people are thinking.
Once an admirer of her articles asked her if she had gone to a prestigious college because she wrote so well. She answered that she never went to college and then added. ‘You don’t need to be in who’s who, to now what’s what.’
Another quote of the Rabbi Kahane she liked was how he described a simple Jew who had not gone to college but had common sense. He would say their good fortune is they were ‘Untouched by college professors.’
Rabbi Kahane criticized professional pulpit rabbis who were more interested in profits than prophets. He told Shifra ‘A Rabbi is not a profession, it’s a calling. Your responsible for your flock.
Another story I recall. Shifra told me a story of a Black Preacher who visited the Rabbi and said ‘Rabbi, I think you are the Messiah’ He answered, Thank You. Try telling that that to the World Jewish Congress.’
In the last few years Shifra suffered from bad circulation. She went to the doctor and told him that her hands would get cold and sometimes blue. He said there is not much you can do and suggested she sit on them for a while. She turned to him and said ‘For this you went to Medical School?’
She would often say:
I came to Eretz Israel not Eretz Ishmael
Another good quote:
Majority rules is sometimes majority of fools
Stories and Memories
Shmuel Sackett on Shifra:
Some Shifra Stories:
She said that every time an Arab murdered a Jew the media would report that he was crazy. She said that “a crazy Arab kills his mother, a normal Arab kills a Jew.”
Another one:
The media would talk about the part of Jerusalem which they said belonged to Arabs called “Abudis”. She would say; “Adudis, Abu-THAT…”
Darla Stone Writes:
Among so many unforgettable aspects of Shifra, as much as she tried heart and soul to help all of Am Yisrol she never forgot to try to help every individual that came her way as well, no matter what their particular need was.
Darla recounts a personal story:
Once Shifra had a radio broadcast throughout the entire USA not just in her usual local area. It was during a period when the media was going crazy about the Charedim not helping Israel. My Father was a teen in a very high profile American Yeshivah during the war for Israel’s independence . Their Charedi European Rosh Yeshivah got the students to collect arms to be sent to Israel ( which actually wasn’t too legal) because Jewish lives were at stake. My Father agreed to do the interview but he couldn’t use his name because he wasn’t an official spokesman for the Yeshivah and anyone who heard his name would know exactly which Yeshivah it was. So Shifra interviewed him as Yerachmil Ben Yehudah.
The next morning after the broadcast, when my father came into Shul at that Yeshiva, everyone said “0h Yerachmil Ben Yehudah from the radio.” They recognized his name because that is how he was called to the Torah . It also showed how all these seriously “ fanatic” American born Jews truly felt about Israel Zionists w/o flags and were following Shifras radio shows because they knew it was Emes . Bless them all.
We cant begin to imagine their Gan Eden.
The Birthday Party
I think it was at a birthday party for Shifra in a Manhattan restaurant . It must have been close to midnight when Rav Kahane was able to get there. It was stunning how enthusiastic he came in then, obviously he wasn’t able to come sooner but it was obvious how much he wanted to be there . I can only begin to imagine what extraordinary respect and admiration they had for each other in terms of Moshe RABBENU and his brother Aaron and/or Moshe RABBENU and Yehoshua. Totally pure and sincere . How blessed anyone is to have had the awesome privilege to have known them on any level.
(Note: This is a work in progress. Please share your stories – info@shuvatzion.com.)