Rosalie Archshoefer

Information courtesy of Randy Long.

EULOGY GIVEN BY RABBI ISSERMAN at Final Services for ROSE ARCHSHOEFER on December 11, 1934” “In the dark ages, Jewish home life was so beautiful and noble that it aroused universal admiration. Yet Jews lived in narrow ghettos, occupied dingy quarters and were dreadfully impoverished. What made Jewish homes appealing? Not the physical externals, but the spirit of love and of self-sacrifice and a regard for spiritual values that most frequently emanated from the mother, who, in the home, was like a priestess at a shrine. Rose Archshoefer was a medieval Jewish woman, living as a modern in our America. She was not old-fashioned. She loved baseball as much as her pal, her grandson. But in the mad swirl of American life, she preserved the poise, the soft radiance, the loving-kindness of the medieval Jewish mother. For those she loved, for the ideals she treasured, no sacrifice was too great for her to make, no task too difficult for her to undertake. Whom did she love? Not merely her own immediate intimates, her husband and comrade, whose life was enriched as he enriched hers; her son and daughter whom she guarded from the day of birth to the day of death; her grandson, to whom she was bound by hooks of steel. Her sister’s children were like her own and also her husband’s family. Under her roof, they found a generous welcome. With her in illness, they found healing; in storms, refuge; when helpless, strength. Her heart, like her home, was open to them. With her own hands she ministered and gave to them of herself and her service, not grumblingly as one performs a difficult duty that harsh destiny has imposed, but as an offering of affection that she happily made. But her love could be imprisoned neither by the confines of her home nor by the ties of blood. It reached beyond to all men and women, to all in need and suffering. She was like a social agency herself. She comforted mourners. She assuaged pain. She brought relief. She made comfortable the uncomfortable. She founded a great organization, in whose benevolent ministry she is immortalized. Thence the secret of this kindness, the inspiration for this selfless life, but from the Father in heaven. From her praybook, she gained new strength. Through it she purified her vision, energized her spirit, and was impelled on and on to love and to labor. As long as strength remained, she communed with God, and when too feeble to utter prayers herself, she besought her daughter to seek God for her. For such a woman, death holds no terrors, and becomes a triumph. Though she cannot speak, God sees and knows her. She is well in the everlasting arms. She is safe with the Eternal. She is part of His divine love, and she leaves to all a living example of the values of Judaism and an inspiration to live nobly. Truly she is immortal – And now I see with eye serene, the very pulse of the machine; a being breathing thoughtful breath, a traveler between life and death; the reason firm, the temperate will, endurance, foresight, strength and skill; a perfect woman, nobly planned, to warn, to comfort and command; and yet a spirit still, and bright with something of angelic light.” [From the Collection of Rabbi Ferdinand M. Isserman filed at the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio; Isserman Collection, series “B”, box 13, file # 9 - 1934 Nov.