It is so amazing to note the special name that Adam called his own wife; Chava, life—simply because she was the one who is the mother of all the living. Chava epitomizes the first mother of history, because in a sense she is the ultimate of motherhood and what a mother is meant to be: a giver of life.
That giver of life, though, is not only true in the most basic understanding, but it is also a factor in the emotional and spiritual realm as well. For the life source of every Yid is his mother, in every sense of the word “life.” A mother who gives strength and encouragement, who is there to heal and uplift, to listen and understand, to teach and to respect—that is the giver of life for a lifetime. For even as their children grow older, their mother’s words will continue to reverberate as the Toras Imecha.
And thus, as my own mother’s yahrzeit draws near—the emotions already begin to run as the clocks hits the month of her passing...and even though a decade of years have passed since that fateful day of 24 Tammuz 5775—life-filled images of her smile and her magical words continue to be there for me and my family....
A great chacham was sitting shivah for his saintly mother, and tears were falling from his eyes; even though she was quite old when she was nifteres and at that point he was already a great-grandfather himself.... “Still and all,” he said so aptly, “no one can ever take place of a mother; to whom will I ever be her little boy again?!”
No one can take the place of a mother; no love can equal that love, and no chizuk can compare to the one that she gives—for she gives life and for that she is called and known as the eim habanim semeicha for all eternity.... B’Siyata DiShmaya.
