{"id":2143,"date":"2022-07-07T13:08:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T17:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2022-07-07T13:08:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T17:08:18","slug":"woman-of-valor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/woman-of-valor\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman of Valor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A tribute to Mrs. Gitty (Wahl) Greenberg A\u201dH<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elisheva Braun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGitty was normal, fun, friendly, and full of energy. She loved life and she loved people. Inside, she was an off-the-charts tzadeikes.\u201d <\/em>\u2014R\u2019 Yechiel Wahl, Gitty\u2019s oldest brother<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connected to others<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone in Gitty\u2019s life was warmed by her positivity, kindness, and humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A patient and loving mother, Gitty invested tremendously in her children. She would tell her kids as she put them to bed each night, \u201cTatty loves you, Mommy loves you, and Hashem loves you most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty\u2019s deep loyalty to her siblings and parents knew no bounds. \u201cIt was ahavah nafshi<\/em>,\u201d her brother says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her father, Rav Feivel, relates, \u201cOn the day of each of her siblings\u2019 weddings, Gitty would wake up at neitz <\/em>to daven<\/em> for the couple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because she truly loved, appreciated, and valued everybody, Gitty\u2019s friends spanned a wide spectrum. \u201cI once met her in the grocery store,\u201d shares her friend, Rivky. \u201cShe greeted me with such warmth and enthusiasm. I still remember the compliment she gave me that day; Gitty always knew exactly what to say to make you feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty ran a playgroup in her Raintree home, where she was a dedicated and beloved morah<\/em>. One student lived in Toms River, a long drive from the playgroup. \u201cMy wife drove my child in every day,\u201d said the father. \u201cA neighbor once offered to carpool, but my wife said, \u2018Morah Gitty always has something nice to say. I don\u2019t want to miss speaking to her every day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connected to Hashem  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her Sefer Tehillim<\/em>, Gitty highlighted the pesukim <\/em>that spoke to her; pesukim <\/em>of emunah<\/em> and bitachon<\/em>. She had a natural connection with Hashem, and she spoke to Him all the time. \u201cThis was years before she was sick. It was just the way she lived. She lived with Hashem, with real bitachon,\u201d <\/em>says R\u2019 Yechiel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty\u2019s husband, R\u2019 Avrohom Greenberg, is a noted talmid chacham<\/em> and rosh chaburah<\/em> in Bais Medrash Govoha. Gitty was completely devoted to enabling her husband\u2019s Torah learning. Quietly and without fanfare, she babysat her husband\u2019s chavrusa\u2019s<\/em> children when they didn\u2019t have school during Covid to enable him to learn with her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her sister Chani illustrates Gitty\u2019s inextinguishable ahavas haTorah. <\/em>\u201cShortly before my sister\u2019s wedding, Gitty still didn\u2019t have a gown. Knowing that her kids wouldn\u2019t do well with a babysitter and being unwilling to cause her husband to miss night seder<\/em>, she davened<\/em> that Hashem send her a gown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer prayers were answered when our mother\u2019s neighbor realized that a gown she owned would suit Gitty perfectly. Gitty loved the gown, and she never had to leave home to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because BMG enforces a no-phones-in-beis-medrash <\/em>policy, R\u2019 Greenberg didn\u2019t carry his phone in yeshivah, even during the worst days of Gitty\u2019s illness. Instead, he gave his wife BMG\u2019s emergency phone number\u2014which she never used. He also returned the beeper he\u2019d borrowed because Gitty never paged him. When her husband was learning, nothing could make Gitty disturb him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diagnosis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just months after giving birth to her now nine-month-old baby, Gitty found out that she was sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She never asked a single question about her doctors, medical care, or treatments. Mrs. Malky Wahl, her mother, explains why. \u201cFirst of all, Gitty trusted her husband with her life. She knew he was doing what was right and she never questioned him. She also never imagined that hishtadlus<\/em> made a difference to the outcome. She believed with perfect faith that Hashem, and not the doctors, determined her medical journey.\u201d A sign hanging in the Greenberg home quotes the Chovos Halevavos<\/em> that a person can be healed through natural means or bilti sibah, <\/em>without external intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they received bad news, the couple would say, \u201cNow we\u2019re in the stage of bilti sibah.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter a few months of illness, the doctors were stunned to get a clear PET scan. They called Gitty\u2019s recovery miraculous. Gitty told me, \u2018I don\u2019t feel any different now. I don\u2019t feel happier than I did when the doctors were saying it was over. I don\u2019t trust in anyone but Hashem,\u2019\u201d Chani shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never afraid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the dreaded call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day at 1:00 in the afternoon, the doctor called to inform Gitty that tests had come back with terrible news. The disease had spread to Gitty\u2019s brain, and she needed to check in to the hospital immediately. Gitty\u2019s family wanted to call R\u2019 Avrohom home, but she insisted on waiting. \u201cHow will another forty-five minutes hurt me? Let him finish first seder<\/em> before I call,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chani shares, \u201cJust after that second diagnosis, Gitty was alone in the hospital. One after another, doctors came to tell her it was all over. Gitty was terrified. She was shaking with fear at the thought of leaving this world, of leaving eight young children behind. She decided to daven<\/em>. While reading the words of Hodu<\/em> in which Hashem\u2019s complete control over the world is detailed, Gitty became calm. A week later, she spoke at a gathering for women via recording. \u2018It\u2019s been a week since that Hodu<\/em>, and I have not felt a smidgen of fear since then,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Gitty told me the story,\u201d Chani continues, \u201cshe added an account of a man who stood at his wife\u2019s sickbed. A voice in his head told him, \u2018You passed the test of bitachon<\/em> that your wife would live, now it is time to believe that it is good.\u2019 I believe Gitty wanted to tell me that the bitachon <\/em>I had achieved was not for nothing and to prepare me in case she wouldn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty was always encouraging others, even when she was intensely ill. She sent upbeat texts from her hospital bed, and told her sister, \u201cIf I don\u2019t make it, I have a great sheitel<\/em>. Please take it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, on the way home from surgery at Sloan Kettering, Gitty called to thank a doctor who\u2019d connected her with her surgeon. He told the family, \u201cI\u2019ve gotten many thank yous over the years, but never before from the patient herself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty\u2019s and her husband\u2019s calm strength carried the family through to the end. Even in the final few weeks, the atmosphere at the Greenberg home was positive and relaxed. R\u2019 Avrohom would calmly tend to the children, then return to deal with the most difficult of situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When his brother-in-law asked, \u201cHow can you be so strong?\u201d he replied, \u201cHashem is giving me strength to get through today. I don\u2019t know how I\u2019ll make it through tomorrow, but I can survive today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty\u2019s classroom was turned into a bedroom for her. In the end, Gitty was nifteres <\/em>in same spot where she taught her playgroup students about Hashem and instilled in them a lasting love for Yiddishkeit<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never forgotten<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGitty was a happy person,\u201d says R\u2019 Yechiel. \u201cShe would never want anyone to be sad. It was so meaningful to her when people shared the kabbalos<\/em> they had taken on in her zechus.<\/em> The Raintree neighborhood and all of Lakewood stormed the heavens for her, and she was very appreciative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGitty was deeply connected to the Eibeshter<\/em>; she was a very real person. I think she would want people to reinforce their connection to Hashem; to deepen their bitachon; <\/em>to focus on what\u2019s real; to love their children and be loyal to their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just after Gitty\u2019s petirah<\/em>\u2014before the levayah<\/em> took place\u2014her sister Esther gave birth to a baby girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the haskamah <\/em>of Rav Shmuel Kamenetzky, they named her Gittel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gitty\u2019s name lives on in her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her love lives on in the hearts of all who knew her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her message of bitachon <\/em>and of connection\u2014to Hashem and to others\u2014lives on in all of Klal Yisrael as we mourn the loss of an incredible, larger-than-life woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tribute to Mrs. Gitty (Wahl) Greenberg A\u201dH Elisheva Braun \u201cGitty was normal, fun, friendly, and full of energy. She loved life and she loved people. Inside, she was an off-the-charts tzadeikes.\u201d \u2014R\u2019 Yechiel Wahl, Gitty\u2019s oldest brother Connected to others Everyone in Gitty\u2019s life was warmed by her positivity, kindness, and humor. A patient […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[20],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2145,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}