This brief piece of writing is dedicated to Sophie Silfen who died in her sleep at the age of 97 just two weeks ago. I met Sophie when I began working at Gan HaYeled pre-school. She volunteered every Monday as a helper in the Triangle class with Mary Lynn. Sophie would greet the children as they came, set up cups and napkins for snack and wash the dirty dishes afterwards. When noon came she would leave and go on to whatever she had planned for the rest of her day. Sophie was not interested in getting her photo taken but I managed twice to get her to pose for me; once when she was wearing some pearls and once on a motorcycle during our school Truck day. I managed to take a photo of her hugging the children when she wasn't looking.
Sophie was born in New York city in 1913. She spent 23 years in the army and retired as a Master Sergeant. For most of the 14 years I knew her Sophie lived by herself in an apartment not too far from synagogue and not too far from where I live. We often met on the L2 bus en route to work or when I would be coming home. I know Sophie came to Adas Israel to be part of the prayer minyan at least once a week and to volunteer to answer phones at the front desk on Sundays. One time she listed all the places where she volunteered, going somewhere different everyday. She would tell me about swimming laps early in the morning at the local college pool and going for movies or lectures at the Library of Congress. There were also the bus trips on Greyhound taken to New York city to visit her "baby" sister and the occasional flight when she was invited for a bar or bat mitzvah.
I never heard Sophie complain and never heard her say she was going to do something she didn't do. Everyday was a day to be lived, to make a plan and then follow through. Don't think about doing but just do it. Once when I mentioned watching something on TV she told me she was too busy to bother with television so she didn't own one. Sophie never married but she touched so many children's lives and so many adults as well. If I can live my life with as much intention as Sophie and as fully as she did, it will be a blessed life. Sophie Silfen, your memory is indeed a blessing.
