BDE: Mrs. Ilona Schick, Eldest Women in Boro Park, Hailed from Kerestir

By: Yehuda Alter

This week, the Boro Park community lost its eldest resident, Mrs. Shick, at the age of 108. She was born in the Hungarian town of Kashau, and vividly recalled the Yiddishkeit that thrived in Europe in her youth.

A zechus that she cherished for her entire life was the fact that a guest in their home in the year 1925 was none other than Rav Yeshayale of Kerestir. Mrs. Shick would always relate his tzidkus and the glow that emanated from the holy tzaddik.

“She would sit on her porch on her porch and read,” related Reb Chaim Perlowitz. “I realized that we had a gem within our midst. And I would urge people from the neighborhood to go and meet this special woman.”

“She would speak about the special times back home in Kashau. The way her family would light Chanukah licht, the Pesach sedorim. I would go up to her and hear so much about the Jewish life that thrived back home in prewar Europe,” recalls rabbi Perlowitz who has a special passion for meeting and caring for Holocaust survivors.

The Levaya took place in Shomrei Hadas on Monday morning.

Yehi zichra baruch.