Life of Spud

In memory/honor of Leibka Feiga bat Chanoch A”H (Laura Faye Topper) This week marks the 9 th anniversary of my mother-in-law’s passing. Laura suffered most of her adult life from Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that slows down or blocks messages between the brain and the body and causes – amongst other symptoms – visual disturbances, muscle weakness and thinking and memory problems. While there are treatments that can slow the disease, there is no cure for it. I was only privileged to meet Laura during the final months of her life. But while I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her, I was privy to observing her recite Birkat Hamazon numerous times. Being in her company during those moments was inspirational, as it seemed to me that I was in the presence of a Tzadika (righteous woman). The term tzadik shows up for the first time in Jewish literature in the first verse of this week’s parsha, as follows: “ אלה תולדות נח : נח איש צדיק , תמים היה בדורותיו