Sky Blue from Blue Skies

It doesn't rain in the summer here in Israel.  It's something we have to get used to.  The skies are beautiful, but the ground gets terribly dry.

 

Not a cloud in the sky.

And sometimes it's awfully dusty, which decreases the efficiency of the solar panels which we use to heat our water.  By the end of the summer, the water only gets hot if we've cleaned the solar panels and in recent years I don't have anyone around to do it for me..

But the sky is so beautiful...

And More Presents, Arts & Crafts

Even more successful a gift for the grandkids than painting shirts was beading with pipe cleaners.

These old-fashioned, classic crafts are fantastic activities for the kids.  My grandchildren really enjoyed them.

Celebrate July 4? Not Me, But Yes to Yocheved's Havel Havelim and World's Fair Memories

Even when I lived in the USA, I don't remember big July 4th celebrations.  I don't know why.  Though I do have memories of fantastic fireworks displays at the World's Fair.

Well today is July 4, and today Yocheved posted her latest Havel Havelim which is a celebration of Jewish and Israeli blogging which has little to do with the United States Independence Day except for the fact that almost (if not all) the bloggers participating are or once were Americans. 

I can't believe it, but I actually found a youtube of fireworks at the 1964 World's Fair!  Of course, they were prettier and more exciting in my memories, but I do remember them at that location, by water.



Just proof that you can find almost anything on the internet.

Going to the World's Fair was one of my favorite pastimes as a teenager.  I just had to hop on the Long Island Railroad, and within a few minutes I'd be there.  My friends and I always had a good time wandering around at the exhibits, looking at the people, just savoring the atmosphere. Could I even be in the film?

For more information about Havel Havelim and how to and who is hosting, check out, meaning join our facebook page/group.  And submit your posts, or any you find which would suit the eclectic though Jewish and Israeli spirit of the blog carnival via the blog carnival form.  Besides HH, there are two other Jewish blog carnivals, JPIX and the Kosher Cooking Carnival.  Enjoy and join our community.

And Finally.... The Presents

It seems like a million years ago, when I visited my parents in Tempe, Arizona, just after my sister moved them to Clare Bridge.  Just before I went back home, my sister and I got my grandkids some presents.  I think we just went into Target and looked for the washable markers my daughter had requested.  Then we saw the fabric paint markers and bought shirts for the kids to decorate.  I figured that it would be a great school vacation activity.

Who would have guessed that right after I got back home our mother would die and then we'd  meet back up in New York for the burial etc.?  So, after the shiva and my return to work and real life, it ended up that the first time I got to visit the grandkids to babysit was the day school let out.  So I brought one of the packages of fabric paint markers and some simple t-shirts for the kids to decorate.

There's more packed away for them.  These are great vacation gifts.  And there's more to come...

JPIX! It's Back!

After a long, long break, JPIX, the Jewish, Israeli blog carnival which focuses on picture posts is back. 

Rush over and check it out.  You're sure to find links to some great posts, full of gorgeous pictures.

If you want to submit to a future edition of JPiX Jewish Photo Bloggers Carnival, the form is on the JPiX page. The next edition will probably be in December 2013. If anyone would like to volunteer to host, you can let Leora know by comment or by the JPiX form.

Leora, thanks!!

PS please don't forget there are two other Jewish blog carnivals, Havel Havelim and the Kosher Cooking Carnival.

Getting Through Mourning, With a Little Help From My Friends

It's just over two weeks since my mother passed away.  According to Jewish Law, I'm not even half way through shloshim, the thirty days of mourning restrictions counted from burial, not death.  That is unless the mourner doesn't attend the funeral,  a situation in which the mourner begins shiva and shloshim with the announcement of the death. 

Two days after I got up from shiva, the seven days of mourning in which the mourner is supposed to be cared for to facilitate mourning, I was back at work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin.  Of course I could have delayed my return to work, but lihavdil like napping and sleeping late when suffering from jetlag, it wouldn't have done me any good.  Well, davka, on that day, when I was trying to reorient myself to the new stock, sales etc. in addition to jetlag and my mourning status, halachik (Jewish Law) and emotional, I suddenly noticed that my shirt, which has the store's logo, had a seam ripped. 

I kept hoping that it wasn't noticeable to others, but everyone saw it.  My boss told me to get another one, even two new ones, since that one was two years old.  I've been working there two and a half years.  One of the restrictions on mourners during shloshim and when mourning parents for a year is not getting new clothes.  I felt paralyzed and just couldn't go through looking for another shirt that fit in the same size and color.  My friends who work with me took over.  One found a shirt and another wore it, so it wouldn't be halachikly new.  They ironed on the store logo and told me that the shirt was ready.

Thank G-d for good friends!

Totally Amazing Challah Shaping Tutorial

I found this on facebook.  It's making the rounds.  I hope this works for all of you.



I learned a lot watching it and didn't even put on my earphones.

Perfectly Pickled

It's really amazing how easy it was to make these pickles.  Contrary to what's written in other places, I discovered that the cucumbers don't have to be perfect.  When I got up from sitting shiva for my mother last week I found that we had too many cucumbers in the fridge, and even worse was that some were frozen.  I kvetched about it on facebook and a friend suggested pickling them. I did some Google searches for easy pickles and eventually came up with this method.  I boiled them, because I was afraid of spoilage.  The whole business didn't take long.  Here, "watch."

I rinsed off the cucumbers.  The dark color is from the iciness.  They were otherwise fresh and had no smell.  As per instruction I saw on the internet.  I cut off the ends.  Then I sliced them the long way and placed them in a pot.

I added, coarse (aka kosher) salt, white sugar, peppercorns, dehydrated dill and garlic.

I cooked the cucumbers and spices up with some plain vinegar and water until the color changed.  Then I left it to cool a bit until it was safe to put them in glass (from instant coffee) jars.

My husband and I both like the flavor.  Normally I don't like pickles.  But these are good.  The hardest thing is now remembering to eat them, since I never buy any; they're not on our regular menu.  Next time I pickle,  I'd like to add some different veggies, such as carrots.  Yes, I'm planning a next time.  It's really easy and a good way of using vegetables before they "go bad."

Easy, Homemade Lox

I had mentioned on my facebook page that I had too many cucumbers, so someone suggested that I pickle them.  Somehow that discussion developed into other homemade tricks, foods you can make easily and another friend sent me this, her daughter's recipe, and I got her permission to post it:

easy homemade lox - in case anyone is interested. basically - you take frozen salmon and soak it in salt and it turns into lox. even though lox is called "smoked salmon" it is "cold smoked" after being brined. the smoking step is actually optional. so just soaking the salmon in salt for a few days in the refrigerator turns it into lox.

in fact - it's best (safest) to use frozen salmon for this purpose. you can buy a whole frozen salmon fillet when it's on sale; make all (or part) of it into lox; and then freeze the lox in smaller packages, to take out as needed. the reason it is ok to thaw the salmon and then refreeze as lox, is because the brining kills the bacteria. just as you could thaw frozen food and then refreeze after cooking. but you wouldn't thaw frozen food and refreeze without cooking or brining.

so here are the instructions as I received them:

It is called "gravlax" and you can look up instructions online. Here is an easy version.

Buy a whole fillet of salmon and let it thaw out. Don't buy anything with bones because they'll be impossible to remove later. Also it's possible to do with pre-cut fish, but they're small and therefore harder to manage.

Take a bowl or preferably rectangular plastic box and start cutting the fish to size. Stack the fish as you do - first slice with the skin down, cover it all with kosher salt, then the next slice skin up. You can spread some more salt on it before turning it over, but I'm not sure how much that's necessary. If you still have more fish, continue stacking. At the end I put the last slice skin down too, and spread some more salt just to be sure.

You can also put dill or sugar or pepper between the slices. I don't usually do so.

You can put a weight on it, but it's not necessary. The stacked fish itself is heavy enough.

Leave it in the fridge for three days. Technically you need to drain it every day, but I only bother after the first day when the most liquid comes out. It should also be technically ready to eat after the first day if you're rushing or if you like rawer fish. (I once tasted it like that and it was ok.)

After three days: wash the salt off, and cut the fish - use a sharp knife and slice as thinly as you can. If you find the right angle, it shouldn't be too difficult, but sometimes it takes a while and it is the part with the most work in this recipe. You can cut it all up and freeze most of it in sandwich bags. The fish is still very salty, so when thawed, it will still keep for a while.

To serve - wash it thoroughly in water. Then leave it to soak in water. The more you soak (and possibly change the water), the less salty it will be, and also the faster it will go bad. But even then it can last a few days in the fridge. If you want to serve it immediately, you can soak it for just a few minutes before eating. You can also leave it in the fridge still soaking, and finish it off in the next few days.

It doesn't have the smoked flavor of store-bought lox, but it's close enough.

One Person's Cultter is Another's Treasure

When my sister moved our parents from their first "old age home," where they had a nice big one bedroom apartment to a more caring facility where they had a large "L" shaped room, there were lots of things they no longer needed.  Some things we divided and others were brought to one of the enormous Good Will stores/centers in the Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale area.  Books none of us wanted were donated to the public library, which has receptacles in various convenient places.

I described Good Will to friends in Israel as a "goyish g'mach."  That's what it is.  I wouldn't be surprised if the people who first established Good Will had gotten the idea from what the Jewish community did in the various "g'machim."  A  g'mach is a very necessary sort of charity, that can give/sell/rent services and things to others in need.  The services or things can be anything from money to cars to diapers, pacifiers, clothing, furniture, wedding gowns, decorated pillow cases for a Brit Milah, books, talents and more.  There is no end to the possibilities.

Many people (including myself) I know donate perfectly good, but personally useless, clothing to a g'mach.  It's much easier to clean out unnecessary clutter when you know the items will be used and treasured by other people.  As hard as we try, we still end up with unneeded stuff in our homes and closets.

When I was flying into New York for my mother's funeral, I noticed that the zipper on my good backpack, the one I'd been using the past couple of years to take my books etc when studying in Matan, wouldn't stay closed.  That backpack had been from my son's closet.  He gave it to me when I sent out an alert to the kids asking if they had one they weren't going to use again.  I think it was one of the freebies he had been given when in the army.  There were ads on it; tzanchanim, paratroopers got quite a few of these sorts of sponsored freebies.  It was pretty obvious that the bag hadn't been in use for awhile by all the dust.  I enjoyed it; it was well-made and orthopedic.  But what's the point of a backpack that doesn't stay closed?

A rushed visit to anyplace for a funeral doesn't include time for shopping, so I asked a friend I'd be seeing at the funeral who had offered to help in whatever I needed, to buy me a new one.  She said that she'd first go through her closets.  And she discovered this bag.

It had been her son's.  He's now married and neither needs nor wants it.  It's in too good condition to give away and the g'machim  in her area wouldn't be interested in it.  For me it's perfect, B"H, thank G-d.  And she's overjoyed that it's finally out of her closet.  She knew it was worth saving.

A New Type of Nosh

I didn't even get to post all the posts I had planned from my last visit to Phoenix, before my mother died.

When I was in Phoenix, we bought a new for me type of nosh, the type of thing you can eat instead of pretzels or potato chips.

They are maki rolls, seaweed wrapped rice crackers.  They do taste a bit like seaweed and "ocean".  I decided to get them, because I thought it would "balance" me, since I would be traveling twice almost half way across the world, in barely a week.  That's from Israel to Phoenix and back.   They have the OU, so they are kosher.  I've never seen them in Israel.

Trying to Get Back on Track

As many of you know, I just got up from sitting shiva, the weeklong Jewish mourning practice, for my mother yesterday.

After getting up from shiva, which is literally how shiva ends, it was very hard to dive into the household tasks, do an inventory of the food in the fridge, freezer, closets and piled all over the place.  In all honesty, it wasn't because I was miserable, it was physical.  First of all it was a fast day yesterday, the 17th of Tammuz, and my energy levels are always very low without starting the day drinking lots of water and coffee.  I have to flush out my system.

Why was there food piled up, ok, mostly juices and soda?  I received a "shiva package" from work.  I guess it pays to be associated with a major supermarket chain.  I have to figure out what to do with the leftovers.  If I had sat all the shiva at home, much more would have gone.  My kids, neighbors and other visitors were also very generous, bringing lots of food and stuff.

Another reason, I'm having trouble doing everything is that those four long airplane trips in recent weeks sure made me feel like a cripple.  The good part about the flying was the long walks I took in the airport.

There will be a new "normal" now.

One of the very last pictures taken of me and my mother together less than a week before she died.

"Get Up" From Shiva קומי Kumi

קומי Kumi, Get up

That's what's said to the female mourner to her up from shiva.  Then you're supposed to literally get up and leave the house, at least to walk around the corner.

My mother is now with her old friends and neighbors of the Oakland Jewish Center, Bayside, NY.  My ripped shirt is in the trash.  I've showered and put on clean clothes.  There's a wash in the machine.  Life is sort of returning to "normal."

Why "sort of?"  Well, it's a new "normal."

Mourning a parent doesn't end at the cemetery, nor at the end of shiva, the Jewish ritual of seven days of mourning.

Jewish Law takes mourning very seriously, and mourning a parent is the most extensive mourning period.  It's supposed to last a year.  Other close relatives, a child, sibling or spouse are only halachikly (by Jewish Law) mourned a month.

During the first month for a parent, there are many restrictions, such as no swimming.  After the first month there are fewer.  I'm not an expert.  No doubt I will blog more. Today is doubly difficult because it's the fast of the 17th of Tamuz and I don't functions well without drinking water and coffee.

My eyes keep closing....

Like an Epidemic of Deaths, Another Eulogy for My Mother

In on of the Matan courses I've been taking, the one about ספר במדבר, Sefer Bamidbar, The Book of Numbers taught by Atara Snowbell, we've mentioned the subject of how/when the generation of the Exodus died out.  A punishment for their sins, for supporting the ten tribal heads who discouraged the immediate entering of the Land of Israel after G-d performed the great miracle of freeing them from Egyptian slavery, was that their generation would have to die out before the Jewish People could finally enter.  There's a question I remember her asking or talking about.  Did everyone die about the same time, or was it spread out over the forty, or more exactly about thirty-eight years?

The Chumash, the first Five Books of the Bible which recounts the beginnings of Jewish and World History, from Creation until the death of Moshe, Moses.

Deuteronomy Chapter 34 דְּבָרִים

ד  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלָיו, זֹאת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב לֵאמֹר, לְזַרְעֲךָ, אֶתְּנֶנָּה; הֶרְאִיתִיךָ בְעֵינֶיךָ, וְשָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲבֹר.	4 And the LORD said unto him: 'This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying: I will give it unto thy seed; I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.'
ה  וַיָּמָת שָׁם מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד-יְהוָה, בְּאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב--עַל-פִּי יְהוָה.	5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.

There has been something strange going on among neighbors in Shiloh and among even other friends of mine.  For the past couple of months, it seems there always seems to be someone sitting shiva, sometimes even more than one at a time.  All of the people I know of who have died, died of natural death.  They didn't die in accidents or terror attacks.  There was no great drama involved with their deaths.  Their deaths had been expected.  All were ill, suffering.  When people ask me about my mother's death and I describe old age and physical deterioration, the accumulated cholesterol (like sludge) in the circulatory system and not waking up from sleep, so many people have similar stories about the recent death of their parents.

Yes, G-d controls coincidence the timing of life and death. Doesn't G-d have reasons?  Coincidence isn't random.

My mother lived longer than anyone in her family.  To reach the age of eighty-eight in her family, her parents and siblings, it's like living until one hundred and twenty one (121.)  Her younger sister by five years, my Aunt Natalie Rosenberg, died just a few months ago.  Only one other of their seven other siblings had passed her eightieth birthday, and if I'm not mistaken only one other even made it past seventy.

One thing many mentioned was that my mother was concerned about the importance of eating healthy food, whole wheat, fruits and vegetables and raw salads long before anyone else they knew.  It obviously made a big difference.  My mother had a very active life well into her eighties, but there's a limit how much we can improve our genetic make up.  My mother's long active life was a triumph over nature.

She loved museums and volunteered as a docent in the Nassau County Art Museum.  She had a special cane which could be opened into a chair, and that's how she got around when she needed to walk a lot.  She stuffed everything she could into her life until she could no longer control her mind and body.

One thing for sure.  She was a tough act to follow.



My parents and I at the NCSY
Ben Zakkai Honor Society Dinner when
I was inducted into the society.

Baruch Dayan Ha'Emet

 

Shirley Spiegelman

שפרה בת אברהם וחיה ריזיה

Shifra bat Avraham and Chaya Raisia

 

לעילוי נשמתה

Li'ilu'i Nishmata

May her Soul be Elevated

 

 

Pictures from the funeral and cemetery

 

As usual, I had my trusty old camera with me at my mother's funeral.  I may have taken some of the pictures, for sure those before the actual funeral.  Then I'm pretty sure I handed it to a friend.  My mother is buried in the New Montefiore  Cemetery out on Long Island.  We got off at Exit 49 on the LIE and drove south.

My parents had bought their burial plots there in the Oakland Jewish Center section in about 1959. 

I'm pretty sure they lived next to us when we
were in the five room duplex in Bell Park Gardens.

They were founding members of the shul, Oakland Jewish Center, Bayside NY.  I was hoping to see lots of people I knew, I mean their names on tombstones.  No doubt I'll be back, and then I'll find their old friends.

My father has a lot of relatives in the Neshelsk (a city in Poland that once had a very large active Jewish community) section of a different cemetery.  A cousin was there visiting her parents and grandparents in between my mother's death and funeral.  She told them the news about my mother.

My mother's grave is near one of the outside walls.  It was pretty noisy, but that shouldn't bother her now.

Covering the grave was a group effort.  Due to a shoulder injury I was pretty useless with the shovel.  But I did drop a stone from Shiloh into the grave.  I had brought it with me to make sure my mother had something special from ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.  Most of my mother's grandchildren and all of her great-grandchildren are in Israel.

I was surprised at how much deeper she's buried than we do here in Israel.  There are other differences, the American legally required coffin versus just the shrouds wrapped in a Tallit.  No, I didn't take up the offer to check/see the body.  My brother was pleased at how the shroud covered her.  She was in the simple coffin as all traditional Jews request.  There are many more "traditional Jews" when it comes to burials than living and breathing Jews.

In my community, Shiloh, Israel, actual "kri'ah," ripping of the clothes is the accepted standard.  My high school friend, with whom I had become religious almost fifty years ago,  did the first cut with a knife and Rabbi Dale Polakoff of the Great Neck Synagogue supervised, making sure that the rip was long enough.

Rabbi Polakoff made sure that my mother was well covered.  When the family and friends were gathering to leave, we could still he him heaving the earth onto my mother.  He was overheard telling the cemetery workers that he would take care of it himself.  I'd say that the Great Neck Synagogue is in good hands.

Baruch Dayan Ha'Emet

 

Shirley Spiegelman

שפרה בת אברהם וחיה ריזיה

Shifra bat Avraham and Chaya Raisia

 

לעילוי נשמתה

Li'ilu'i Nishmata

May her Soul be Elevated

The Blessing of a Full Shiva

"Shiva" is actually the Hebrew word for seven 7 שבע sheva.  The same linguistic root for week שבוע shavu'a and oath שְׁבוְּעָה shvu'ah. And just to make things more interesting, the letter שְׁ the "sh" sound has a little dot on the top right.  If you move it to the left, the sound is like an "s." Then the Hebrew שבע sava  means satisfied.

So since my mother died on the 7th of Tamuz, and there's no Jewish Holiday to cancel shiva I get the full seven days, including a Shabbat and time to have been at the funeral, sat with family, was comforted by friends in New York, then flew to Israel to be home in Shiloh, and I still have a full two days of shiva left.

I'm back in my "shiva uniform," ripped shirt and all.

Taking a break from sitting shiva

We're not supposed to do overt public mourning on Shabbat.  So after landing  in Israel and getting home and sitting a couple of hours and being comforted by neighbors, I was finally able to take a shower and put on clean clothes and wear shoes.

After Shabbat I will take off my clean Shabbat clothes and put back on the clothes I wore to the funeral and had been wearing also on the plane.

My kids are taking good care of me.

I was picked up at the airport and bought coffee so I wouldn't fall asleep too early or too late.  When I got home, I could see that the house has been scrubbed and the livingroom rearranged.  We'll be eating a combination of the food brought in by neighbors and cooked by my kids.

I am not interfering.  Yes, I admit that not interfering is tough for me.

I really am sincerely grateful.

I have a super wonderful family and community.

Shabbat Shalom to all

Amazing Funeral, Great Tribute

cross-posted on Shiloh Musings

great-grandmother

Yesterday was my mother's funeral at the Oakland Jewish Center section of the New Montifiore Cemetery.  It was conducted by a Rabbi  ?Klein and with the participation of Rabbi Dale Polakoff of the Great Neck Synagogue. My many cousins plus some friends and other family members attended.  My brother, sister and I really appreciate it.  I was told that it was considered a large group.  I guess it was, because Rabbi Klein had asked if there would be a minyon of men, and we certainly had that.

The cousins, from both sides (to tell the truth, a stranger would not have been able to tell if they were my father's or mother's nieces and nephews) really enjoyed Rabbi Polakoff's description of my mother as "feisty."  This was a great tribute to their Aunt Shirley whom they obviously adored.

Observing my absolutely wonderful cousins in action together, I have no doubt that they all are a tribute to my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents who produced this wonderful family I am privileged to be one of.
There aren't many families as amazing as mine.

My Cousin Howard opened his home to us for the post-funeral shiva.  He set it up as a proper shiva home, covered the mirrors and had water for ritual hand-washing outside the door.  One is supposed to wash one's hands when leaving a cemetery, but since he knew that we'd be going into the cars straight from the gravesite, he was prepared.  My sister-in-law brought low chairs from her Young Israel of Scarsdale, and my friend Rose made sure there was the traditional "seudat havra'ah" for the mourners to eat.  There was also kosher food for all, since many traveled long distances and we were all mourning.

It was truly a celebration of who and what my mother was and no doubt my mother would have greatly enjoyed the "party."

Afterwards I got back to my sister-in-law's and on old friend from Great Neck came over to "linachem."  His parents had been very generous to me in the years I had needed a place for Shabbat and holiday meals.  We hadn't seen each other for over forty years, but have had occasional email contact.  The Jewish World is amazing.

The day before, on Tuesday, there was a funeral ceremony for my mother in Phoenix Arizona, which my father was able to attend.  My NY daughter was there, too and stayed with my father after my sister and her husband traveled to New York for the burial.  Some of my mother's former caregivers joined the friends my parents had made in a Conservative Scottsdale Synagogue my parents have joined since their move from New York.  Also attending were many friends of my sister, her family and more.

Today the shiva continues at my sister and brother in law's home, then to JFK and my flight home to Shiloh where I will continue sitting until I get up on Tuesday morning, G-d willing.

li'ilu'i nishmata

May her soul be elevated...

Shifra bat Avraham and Chaya Raisia

Shirley Shankman Spiegelman

My Mother's Funeral Today

Shirley Shankman Spiegelman, 1925-2013
Shifra bat Avraham and Chaya Raisia
Brooklyn, Bayside, Great Neck, all in New York and finally Arizona
last surviving of nine children
wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend to many

Volunteers don't take days off.

My Mother's Obituary

Now I'm an "onennet," the term for a mourner who hasn't yet started the "shiva" period.  Today I'll be traveling to New York for my mother's funeral and the beginning of the "shiva."  I'm lucky that there's a full seven day "shiva." No Jewish holiday reduces or cancels it.

What's really strange is that I "get up" from "shiva" on "Shiva Assar b'Tammuz," the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz, and then I end the "Shloshim," thirty day mourning period around "Tisha B'Av," the most intense day of national mourning on the Jewish Calendar.

My mother's mother died sixty-one 61 years ago on the day before Passover.  There is no real shiva in such cases, and I think that my mother suffered that loss of being together with her siblings at such a traumatic time.  She was only just short of her twenty-seventh birthday and in about her eighth month  pregnant with my brother, her second child.

Here's the obituary my brother-in-law wrote:

Spiegelman, Shirley

Shirley passed away at age 88 Saturday June 15, 2013, in Tempe, AZ. Born in Brooklyn in 1925, she moved from Great Neck, NY, to Arizona in 2010. Devoted to her family and community, Shirley had a lifelong passion for dance, theater and the arts, making the most of the cultural offerings in New York and wherever she traveled. She put her experienced eye and mind to work for many years as a docent at the Nassau County Museum of Art, on Long Island. She was pre-deceased by her parents and eight brothers and sisters.  She is survived by her adoring husband of 65 years, Sidney, her loving children, Vivian, Hal Thomas Spiegelman and Batya Medad, seven grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. All will treasure her spirited love, beauty, warmth, fairness and good cooking. A service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 18th, at Sinai Mortuary, 4538 North 16^th Street, Phoenix, AZ. A graveside ceremony will take place at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday June 19^th at the New Montefiore Cemetery, 1180 Wellwood Avenue, West Babylon, NY.