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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Many friends and admirers the world over are |
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mourning the loss of Maryasha Garelik of New York who passed away on |
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January 10, 2007; and |
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WHEREAS, Born in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, |
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Maryasha Garelik never lost sight of her orthodox Jewish faith, |
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though she and her family suffered anti-Semitic persecution under |
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the Russian Empire, the Soviet regime, and the Nazis; her father was |
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killed in a pogrom when she was five, and her grandparents, with |
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whom she and her mother and older brothers had gone to live, |
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subsequently perished in a fire ignited by their neighbors; years |
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later, under Soviet rule, she and her husband, Elchanan Garelik, |
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and their children were evicted from their apartment into the snow |
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for her husband's refusal to work on the Jewish Sabbath; when he was |
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eventually arrested and detained, Mrs. Garelik was left to raise |
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their six children alone; and |
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WHEREAS, She moved her family many times over the next few |
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years as harassment by Soviet authorities continued; in 1941, faced |
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with the impending Nazi invasion, they escaped to Uzbekistan, where |
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they clandestinely made and sold socks as a means to survive; as the |
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war came to an end, they set out for France, traveling west through |
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Poland and Czechoslovakia, and spending time in a German detention |
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camp, before finally arriving in Paris; there, Mrs. Garelik went on |
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to found a Lubavitch Jewish school for girls that still exists |
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today; and |
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WHEREAS, In 1953, she immigrated to the United States and |
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settled in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn; deeply |
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involved in the Lubavitch Jewish community, she helped establish a |
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boys' school as well as an organization whose members visited and |
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cared for the sick; known affectionately as "Bubbe," or grandmother |
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in Yiddish, she was treasured for her insight and wisdom by |
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Lubavitch Jews throughout the world; and |
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WHEREAS, Although Mrs. Garelik lived for more than six |
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decades without certain knowledge of her husband's fate, she |
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finally learned in 1998 of his death at the hands of the KGB; and |
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WHEREAS, The beloved matriarch of more than 500 descendants, |
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Maryasha Garelik lived through some of the most harrowing events of |
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the 20th century; her remarkable survival was no doubt due in part |
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to her unflagging faith and to her immense powers of perseverance, |
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resilience, and hope, and her life will forever serve as a stirring |
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example to people of all faiths and backgrounds; now, therefore, be |
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it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas |
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Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Maryasha Garelik and |
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extend sincere sympathy to the members of her family, her friends, |
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and to the many Lubavitch communities around the world; and, be it |
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further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for her family and that when the Texas House of |
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Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Maryasha |
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Garelik. |