Shaina Malka Klein o"h from Rechovot, Israel, the 10-
year-old daughter of Dovid and Leah (nee Elefant) Klein
(originally from Boro Park), was tragically killed on 2
Tammuz 5764, when crossing the street while having the right
of way for pedestrians, when a large van violated the traffic
laws and sped around the corner, struck, and killed her while
she was in the crosswalk.
Since it is now 6 months from the terrible tragedy, we wanted
to share thoughts about this special girl, that were written
by one of her siblings (translated from Hebrew) and may it
serve as an example and chizuk for others.
It is difficult to put on paper a lifelong tale of goodness
and kindness. What can one write? That all her life was spent
on doing good for others and helping her friends? What an
inadequate brevity that is! To take years, made up of
hundreds of days, each and every day with its good deeds,
each and every day with its shining countenance — and
consolidate them into a small number of mute lines?
This writer feels (at least for himself) that it is easy to
get excited about great and recognizable deeds of goodness
and kindness, such as charitable funds and the like (may
Hashem bless them that they should grow and expand their
deeds), but to get excited about the everyday activities of a
young girl requires clear and incisive observation as well as
the ability to grasp details of the entire picture.
Little acts may seem small in our eyes, but in truth they are
very big! Who can properly appreciate every bit of help given
to a friend to prepare for a test? And not just one single
time! Every single day! Providing material that someone was
missing, and we'll never forget — the pictures she
would draw for friends on the front page of notebooks.
Why, that's what she asked forgiveness for . . .
Her best friend, who had a soul-to-soul relationship with
her, related the following story:
On the night of the funeral, a short time after the burial,
Malka appeared to her friend in a dream and asked forgiveness
for not managing to finish a drawing for her as she had
promised . . . Malka also said that her (Malka's) scissors
were in her friend's belongings and she (Malka) forgoes the
scissors, her friend may keep them.
It seems to the writer that one should not jump to conclude
from this story what transpires in the Heavenly court before
entering Gan Eden, for do we really know what transpires? It
is known that most dreams are products of the person's
thoughts. Nevertheless, we should mention that many people
take the dream at its face value, that indeed her judgment
before the Heavenly court was swift and simple and, after two
simple settlings of accounts, she quickly was granted her
rightful place of rest in Gan Eden to enjoy the splendor of
the Shechinah. Happy is he who knows!
A point worth mentioning was made by the rosh yeshiva of
Ateres Yisroel, HaRav B. M. Ezrachi, that even if the dream
were a mere product of the friend's thoughts, one certainly
can conclude how Malka was perceived by her friends —
her righteousness and honesty!
She was outstanding in her perpetual shining countenance and
joie-de-vivre. Chazal say, "The person who shows
smiling teeth to his friend is greater than one who gives him
milk to drink," and all the more so when the milk is served
with a smile!
All her acts were carried out with simplicity and matter-of-
factly — a girl of her age does not yet know what it
means to "work" on modesty. when people praised her, she
didn't know why.
As a matter of fact, while writing these lines the writer
feels a certain difficulty to get excited over her acts and
learn from them, due to the nagging feeling that it isn't
such a big deal to do such lofty acts when the person [Malka]
seemingly was born with natural instincts to do such acts,
and that Hashem endowed her from birth with a good heart. And
the writer does not know what to say . . .
It is probable that the day-to-day acts of kindness were not
always easy and that many times there were difficulties. The
first instinct may have been to say "No," but nonetheless to
act and do kindness. But who knows? No one knows the
mysteries of the heart of someone else, and more so in this
case since the writer was far from the scene and did not even
see the external acts of goodness.
However, for sure we can say that we should and can learn
from her wonderful acts what proper behavior should be. As
HaRav Ezrachi put it, even many adults don't act this way
— but we surely should start acting that way! And if
any reader can tell the writer how to go about it, it will be
a pleasure to hear!
Who ever heard of it or saw such a thing? A 10-year-old girl
who consistently and frequently would say to the teacher at
the end of the lesson, "Thank you for the wonderful lesson!"
Of particular significance is the fact that she used to do
this in English lessons too, despite knowing English and not
really learning anything new in the class!
And what about us?
She used to do this in every place and with everyone.
One young kollel man told us during the shiva,
that when he picked up his girl from nursery school, he
would hear Malka complimenting one girl on her dress, another
girl on something else and so on. No wonder that everyone who
met her even just once felt a tie to her.
Despite her being intelligent and diligent, it made no
difference in her relationships with others if they were also
intelligent or diligent or not. Quite the opposite. If they
were not, they may have gotten even warmer treatment.
Her waves of hello or good-bye and smiles to all she knew . .
.
By way of her mother, Malka got to know a family of orphans.
Malka would play with the daughters of the family in our
home. We all knew this. But during the shiva, one of
the nursery school teachers told us that Malka would come
every day to check if the orphan girl arrived and how she was
doing!
Malka would frequent a store opposite the Beis Yaakov school.
On her way home she would buy with her own money (how much
did she have already?) surprises — small gifts for her
younger sisters so that they would behave properly and not
bother their mother when she would try to rest.
On the morning of the day of the accident, a girl came back
to school after being out for quite a while recovering from
serious burns, lo oleinu. That girl is not in the
fourth grade with Malka, but who is it who ran to greet her
with a warm and enthusiastic welcome back? Of course,
Malka.
"Teacher, can I help you carry your books? Is the teacher
sure she doesn't need help?" Such phrases and more were
commonplace on her lips.
Boys from the cheder said they miss Malka. How can
that be?
Boys and girls go to the kindergartens to fetch their younger
siblings, but the door to the kindergarten doesn't open until
twenty minutes after one o'clock. Malka also was among the
children waiting for their siblings. The other children,
being children, do not have all the patience in the world and
buzz the bell of the kindergarten incessantly, which surely
doesn't please the kindergarten teachers. Malka took charge
of the situation and every day would tell a story to the
waiting children to keep them quiet and occupied!
And who will now help the one who cleans the school to lift
the chairs and the papers from the floor?
Minutes before the tragedy, Malka and her friends got a
little lost on the way to their destination, and Malka asked
them for forgiveness for the mistake . . . and she included
in her request forgiveness for anything else she may have
ever done to them . . .
Her last seconds of consciousness . . . Malka is on the
ground and even now she is particular about modesty. She
makes sure that, Heaven forbid, her skirt shouldn't move from
its place!
"Nefesh Noki Vetzaddik" — A Pure and Righteous
Soul
That's how HaRav Avigdor Nebenzahl (the rov of the Old City
of Yerushalayim) described her. He said, "The gemora
says (Moed Katan 25b), Hashem who "rides the
heavens" is jubilant when a pure and righteous soul returns
to Him. There are some who are righteous but we don't know if
they merited to be pure, while there are others who are pure,
they didn't manage to sin, but did not reach the level of
being righteous. But a girl who did good deeds and did not
yet reach the age of sin, that for sure is a pure and
righteous soul."
May it be His will that we should awaken to learn from her
ways and walk in the ways of Hashem. "Just as He is merciful,
so you should be merciful; just as He does good deeds so you
should do good deeds," and in that way we should merit to
cling to Him and merit to the swift coming of the Moshiach
and Techias Hameisim, Amen and so should it be His
will.
