I first met Yadviga at Friday worship services at Village Shalom, where I serve as a lay leader. It was instant friendship and the bonding of two souls! I noticed that Yadviga was always there early to attend the classes led by either Alan Edelman or Bob Gast. So during one Oneg Shabbat I broached the subject of her becoming a Bat Mitzvah. Her eyes sparkled and her face beamed as she said "Oh! I don't think so! It is not possible." I was undaunted. We kept talking. And over the weeks as we talked, it not only became possible, I learned it would also be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

"Yes!" She said. "I will do it!" So we started looking at the calendar and I suggested January 2005. That would give us 11 months to study and prepare. She laughed and said, "I am 91. I don't have the luxury to debate 'If not now, when?' We should do it soon!"

So we set out on our journey. And our journey has been rewarded with far more than an Aug. 14 Bat Mitzvah date. Both of our lives have been enriched beyond the goal of a Bat Mitzvah. We laugh, we talk, and we share. Yadviga's positive, loving nature is contagious. She invites me frequently to have lunch or dinner with her in the dinning room at Village Shalom, and it is obvious that the residents and staff feel the same way about her as I do.

She is a remarkable person who does not let age set limits for her. Her apartment is filled with oils and watercolors that she has done. She makes beautiful note cards and pictures from flower petals, and she has created a beautiful flower garden on one of the balconies of Village Shalom. And still she finds time to study Torah and Hebrew. Her commitment to living a Jewish life came 50 years ago when she married her first husband, Solomon Temchin, who was a journalist and an economist in Warsaw. She converted to Judaism in 1959 to provide a Jewish home for their son, Henry, and her pursuit of Jewish learning has continued.

Her strength and commitment to live life to the fullest were also evident in her early years as an underground activist during World War II. During the war, in addition to the main conflict with Germany, there was much civil war going on in Poland. Yadviga's parents and 21 members of her family were killed by Ukrainian rebels who were trying to take over eastern Poland. After the war, she and her husband fled Poland in 1948 and settled in the United States in 1950. After Solomon's death, Yadviga married Chaim Finkelstein and lived in New York for many years. Before coming to America, Chaim worked for Yivo (Institute for Jewish Research). He was also a journalist in both Warsaw and New York. When Chaim died in 2001, Yadviga moved to Overland Park, where she now lives at Village Shalom.

So Aug. 14 will not really be the end of the journey. But it will be the time to fulfill a lifelong dream as her son, Henry Temchin of Shawnee, Kan., her stepdaughter, Aviva Blumberg from New York, and the residents of Village Shalom attend her Bat Mitzvah. Then it will be time for Yadviga to move on to other goals and new horizons.... time for her to take on new challenges and to fill every minute of every remaining day with life, laughter and love.

Margaret Lange is a former director of education at the Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah, is an active lay leader at Village Shalom, and is currently volunteer coordinator for the Yachad food pantry's simcha box delivery program. ©Kansas City Jewish Chronicle 2004

Yadviga Finkelstein was born August 1, 1913 in Poland. Before World War I, her father was a miller and her mother and brothers worked on the farm. As a child, Yadviga collected medicinal herbs, using what she learned from books to help cure family and neighbors. This continued to be a lifelong interest of hers. During the war, Yadviga lived in the city and was a helper to her pregnant sister, after which time she worked as a nurse (by necessity) in the underground army. After the war and while working in Warsaw, she graduated from the School of Political Sciences.

She married her husband, Solomon Temchin, in 1947. They met working in the Polish government where he worked in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and she worked as a secretary, first for him and then for an associate.

After the war ended, there was still a great deal of anti-Semitism in Poland. The 1946 pogrom in Kielce killed the remaining Jews there and scared others into fleeing the country. In 1948, her husband was fired because he was not a communist. He was unable to find a job elsewhere and they were advised to leave. With their newborn son, Henry, they fled the country, crossing four borders during the process. As they did not have papers, this was a difficult task, but Yadviga attributes their success to her son; “99% of our luck was by the beauty of our son.”

They managed to come to the United States in 1950 and lived with her husband’s brother in New York for the first few months. Her husband worked for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union as a controller. When her husband passed away in 1955, Yadviga began working as a social worker to support her and her son.

In 1959, Yadviga converted to Judaism in order to gain more knowledge about the Jewish religion and culture. She wanted her son to be brought up a Jew and have a Jewish atmosphere in the house. When her husband was still alive, she did not feel the need, as he was able to pass on the traditions and knowledge to their son. Shortly after her conversion, in 1960, she married Chaim Finkelstein. With him, she had her second child, a daughter named Aviva. That marraige lasted 41 years. Besides working, Yadviga and Chaim traveled extensively both inside and outside of the United States, visiting such countries as Israel, France, Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, and the Caribbean. Her favorites were Venice and Florence in Italy, as well as the countryside of Scotland. After Chaim Finkelstein passed away in March 2001, Yadviga moved to Kansas City to be closer to her son and two of her three grandchildren. She moved to Village Shalom in September 2001. She resides in one of the Enhanced Living Apartments (assisted living) and has plenty of things to keep her busy. In her room, she reads, is learning Hebrew, paints and makes greeting cards out of pressed flowers. Her artwork, as well as the plates and seashells she collects, decorate the walls of her apartment. She also attends many of the programs Village Shalom has to offer, such as art and music, as well as the Jewish education classes taught by Alan Edelman (Associate Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City). She used to help in the library and she works as much as she can in the Mitzvah (good deeds) garden, a community collaboration at Village Shalom designed to grow fruits and vegetables and donate the harvest to local food banks throughout the year. Always friendly, Yadviga gets along well with fellow residents and staff. “I have a friendly approach toward my fellow man, and I consider each stranger as a friend I have not yet met.”