She Was Rabbi Yitzi’s Best Friend

By Dina Hurwitz

This week our special friend Chaya Spalter passed away. She was one of the most incredible people I have had the pleasure of knowing. She touched more people in her 11 years then most could. We loved her and we will miss her terribly.

Here I sit with my pen and paper, trying to put a broken heart to words. We moved into an apartment in Los Angeles just under 2 years ago. Right across the hall from Chaya and her family. Chaya and my daughter Chava became friends rather quickly.

They got that life is full of challenges and there was no pretending here. They also got that being happy and positive made everything better and more meaningful. Chaya came over every Shabbos and became part of our family.

When Yitzi came home from the hospital he was hooked up to a ventilator 24/7. Most of the kids were quite intimidated by this. Not Chaya, she just marched in with her beautiful smile to visit him. She came every Shabbos and together with my daughter sang songs and made dances for Yitzi.

They called it their “show”. Sometimes other little girls would join in, but always Chaya and my daughter Chava. When my daughters were not in the mood of entertaining my husband, Chaya would jump up and say, “Let’s do a show!” She saw how tired I was and made it easy for the girls to spend time entertaining.

VIDEO: Chaya Spalter (right) and friends sing for Rabbi Yitzi

When we had to put my husband’s beard in a pony to keep away from the tubes, Chaya walks in and takes one look. With a twinkle in her eye, she says “Rockin beard”. Yitzi twinkles right back at her. Chaya was not just my daughters’ friend, she was my husband’s friend and we all loved her for it.

For the past month, my kids have had the Chickenpox. I kept them locked inside so nobody else would get it and in the process, they couldn’t see Chaya. We had no idea how bad things were.

When we heard that Chaya had returned to the world of truth, we all cried bitterly. But no one as hard as Yitzi. He cried for hours and days. He cried out to Hashem “How could this happen? Why Does Hashem continuously break us?”

I don’t have words of strength or inspiration. I am heartbroken. But I am also so grateful. We got to know an angel.

Dina Hurwitz is the wife of California Shliach Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, who is battling ALS. Her blog is The Caffeinated Thinker. Support the family at HurwitzFamilyFund.com.