All of us excuse ourselves
With reasons not to do
But there have been so many
With less than me and you
Who managed despite obstacles
To surpass expectation
As paradigms of Yiddishkeit
The pride of our nation
And no one will ever say
“I was too poor or rich”
For acts beyond
Our human strength
They somehow found a niche
One day in annals of our lore
Someone will stand out
A paradigm of chassodim
I know without a doubt
Her name was Mrs. Lubling
Who left a legacy
One we’ll strive to emulate
But impossible to be
For decades an almanah
Who survived the Nazi rage
Yet nothing stopped her mission
Not protocol or age
Day and night her life was just
To aid the weak and sick
It seems to get her “cousins” help
She did not miss a trick
No big degrees
Or waiting rooms
Receptionists up front
Could stop her fearless push to help
They could not stop her brunt
The greatest doctors stood in awe
When she walked through their door
They could not say, “There is no hope”
“Your cousin is too poor”
She’d raise the cost of surgery
She’d force them to relent
No matter what it cost her
Or all the time she spent
This tiny woman stormed the halls
For any Jew in need
Providing hope despite despair
When all would just concede
Like Miriam, her namesake
She’d daven and she’d wait
And only for complete refuah
She would anticipate
The stories they are endless
I simply do not know
How such an old and frail woman
Could be this dynamo
The strength she garnered from her faith
And passed it on to all
In lonely rooms of NYU
Or waiting on a call
She set a standard
I believe
No longer shall we see
Like Hillel who had set that mark
Despite his poverty
Mrs. Lubling set a mark
We’ll only hope to be
A standard that will live and live
Indeed eternally