Unveiling Eulogy for Abe and Fanya Jachniuk

I know where my mind will go anytime I see a bowl of glass fruit or faded old war medals.

Anytime I taste a Jewish apple cake, well spiced and moist

If I hear the right Klezmer song my mind’s eye will immediately remember.

As if it was just yesterday.

Sitting in Bobbi and Zeidi’s house, their faces wide with beaming smiles.

Smiling because their grandchildren and great-grandchildren are there.

Smiles full of pride

Full of wisdom...a wisdom that runs deep and a wisdom that came at a high cost.

A wisdom that is echoed in gratitude.

True gratitude at what has been gained.

That is what I remember

That’s what memory does.

Keeps an image or a thought alive.

But a legacy goes beyond a memory.

Abe and Fanya were two souls so enduring.

So much taken from them…

And look at how much they’ve given us, never asking anything in return.

There is so much of them in Eda and Jake, clearly.

Whole pieces of them in Seth and Jeff, of course.

You can see them braided through Rachel, Zach, Adina, and Evan

Their great-grandchildren. Their living legacies.

They prayed for them, they worked for them, they ached for them, and they celebrated them every chance they had.

But, there is more.

More to their legacy.

Because people like Fanya and Abe are rare.

They leave their mark in everyone lucky enough to have known them.

Whether it was a happy occasion or a touching moment or many small moments put together.

We are the lucky ones.

Greatly inspired by their spirit.

Abe with his natural perspective--always void of anger and impatience. His reactions full of dignity.

Fanya with her generosity. Generosity of time, generosity of love, generosity of self.

Their hardworking days

Their humble life.

Their faith.

Everyone of us has a part of them in us.

Not that we could ever possess those exact traits, but they inspire us to be better versions of ourselves.

So in those days we would normally go to them for advice or counsel, we can look to each other.

And we can look within.

To find what they’ve left for us.

We are all their legacies.

We are fortunate beyond words.