Mrs. Rachel Zlotowitz was a model of emunah and generosity, able to find the good in every situation and every individual   

You didn’t need to speak to Mrs. Rachel Zlotowitz for more than 60 seconds to realize that you were in the presence of someone truly extraordinary. She was regal and approachable, all at the same time. She was an educated woman and impeccably turned out, but the emunah and temimus she radiated could light up an entire room. Just talking to her was a delight and a privilege, and yet she made it clear that she felt honored to be speaking with you. Her warmth and ability to find the good in every situation and every individual, enriched the lives of those who were fortunate enough to make her acquaintance.

Learning by Example

Growing up in the 1940s in East New York, it was clear that there was something special about the girl who would grow up one day to become Mrs. Faige Rachel Zlotowitz. The daughter of Chaim Chaikel and Chaya Schulman, Faigie, as she was known then, was raised in a home where emunah and bitachon permeated the walls, and where the words “gam zu l’tovah” were an oft-repeated mantra. While shemiras Shabbos wasn’t a given for many in America back then, the holiest day of the week was nonnegotiable in the Schulman home. When the family moved to Flatbush, Reb Chaim Chaikel joined Rav Avigdor Miller in his Kings Highway “Shabbos parades,” cajoling Jewish shopkeepers to close their stores for the day.

Expressions of gratitude to the Ribbono shel Olam were many and heartfelt in the Schulman abode. When a serious setback wiped out his business, Reb Chaim Chaikel ignored the advice of well-meaning friends who suggested he declare bankruptcy, explaining that a Yid doesn’t pass his losses on to others. Instead, Reb Chaim Chaikel took on extra work in order to pay back every cent he owed, and after finally wiping the slate clean, he made a seudas hoda’ah to thank Hashem. Sharing the story with her children after hearing of it for the first time in recent years, Mrs. Zlotowitz observed, “If you come from a house like that, how do you not have emunah?”

Cousin Naomi Brody recalls young Faigie as a ray of sunshine who was perpetually surrounded by friends and extremely respectful of her parents. A family-oriented person, Faigie took particular care of Aunt Rose, her mother’s widowed sister, and was so attentive in shul to both women’s needs, that onlookers couldn’t always tell which of the two was her mother and which was her aunt.

As a girl, Faigie would go window shopping with her mother at high-end stores, acquiring an appreciation for beautiful things without developing the need for luxuries. She was vigilant about tzniyus at a time when many others weren’t, and a friend brought a picture during shivah showing Faigie surrounded by her short-sleeves-clad peers, while her elbows were discreetly covered. As the granddaughter of Reb Yisroel Yehuda Zaltsman, the founder of Montreal’s first cheder, as well as an eighth-generation mother-to-daughter descendant of Rav Yehonasan Eybeschutz, Faigie was extremely proud of her roots, and she understood and appreciated that her lineage brought with it a greater personal responsibility.