(VINnews) — For her 104th birthday, Shoshana (Reizel) Ovitz had a special dream. The Auschwitz survivor, who had seen Josef Mengele send her mother to her death, wished to gather all of her over 400 descendants at the Kotel Maaravi, the Western Wall in Jerusalem. After the Holocaust, Ovitz, who was already over 30 years old, married Dov, a survivor who had lost a wife and four daughters in the Holocaust. They settled in Haifa where she had four children and worked as a seamstress, at the same time assisting her husband in his poultry store. The family lived in Shikun Vizhnitz and were affiliated with the Saret-Vizhnitz rebbe in Haifa.

Ovitz’s wish was fulfilled as the family all gathered including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-greatgrandchildren. She went up to the balcony overlooking the Western Wall to survey her entire family. The children all said Tehillim together and then came to receive a blessing from their illustrious ancestor.

It is fortunate that Ovitz gathered her family for her 104th birthday in August 2019, since in 2020 such a gathering would have presented a serious challenge with the COVID-19 lockdowns. Ovitz passed away Monday at the age of 105, attributing her long life to the way in which she honored her parents before and during the Holocaust. It is appropriate that she passed away the week after the reading of “Honor Your father and mother in order that your days be lengthened.”