Message to sponsors

My mother-in-law, Mrs. Chava Heftler z”l, was a big supporter of our lifesaving work at United Hatzalah. Together with her husband, Rabbi Yaakov (Mel) Heftler z”l, they were the first to donate an ambulance to United Hatzalah. In her honor, we are launching a special campaign to dedicate an ambulance in her memory.

Please join us in this meaningful initiative to honor her legacy.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

With a heavy heart, we share the passing of my dear mother-in-law, Chava Heftler, of blessed memory- Gitty’s beloved mother. She passed away this morning in Jerusalem at the age of 84.

My mother-in-law, Chava Heftler z”l, was a true Eshet Chayil—a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother—who dedicated her life to her family and the Jewish people. Since the passing of her beloved husband, my dear father-in-law, Rabbi Yaakov Heftler z”l, not a day went by when she did not think of him and miss him. This past year, despite enduring tremendous suffering, she waited for the moment she could be reunited with him. This morning, that moment arrived; her soul merited to return to him and reunite in Gan Eden.

My mother-in-law was a Holocaust survivor- her life was a story of unimaginable loss, unwavering faith, and incredible resilience

At the age of three, she was found in an orphanage in Europe, at the end of the Holocaust, and was adopted by Leo and Gitel Gartenberg z”l of New York, who raised her with boundless love. For her entire life, she searched for any trace of her biological family, but she never found them. The Nazis, may their name be erased, wiped out her entire family when she was an infant, leaving her as the sole survivor of her family.

This morning, at 7 AM, in the holy city of Jerusalem—the city she loved so dearly—she passed away in her sleep. Her soul has now reunited with her beloved husband, Rabbi Yaakov (Mel) Heftler z”l, with the parents who raised her, and with her biological family- the parents and siblings who were cruelly murdered and whom she never had the chance to know.

May her memory be a blessing.

Eli Beer