בשביל החסד העולם מתקים

The world exists because of loving kindness. (Rashi)

My husband and I were in Holland last week as guests of the Kalff family. Our hosts were the children and grandchildren of Mr. Joan and Mrs. Christiana Kalff, the couple who hid my (late) first husband in their home during the Shoah.

The Kalffs, along with eleven other Dutch families, were honored with Yad Vashem's "Righteous Among the Nations" award. The very moving ceremony was hosted by Israel's Ambassador to The Netherlands. who is shown giving the medal and certificate to Frits Kalff and Mary Hoekstra-Kalff in this photograph.

Needless to say, it was a very emotional five days. My first husband and his parents moved to the US after the war and had minimal contact with the Kalffs.

He was four years old when he was brought to them one night in 1942 – just a few years younger than Mary and Frits Kalff. For them, he was one of the family – another sibling who, three years later, after the war, disappeared from their lives. So they had many questions for me. And they shared their own stories of life during the war. They dug out old photographs and we walked through their childhood home.

It was a beginning as well as a closure for all of us. They welcomed us into their family, much as they had welcomed my first husband as a brother.

I remember when Frits Kalff first made contact with me a few years ago – just after the birth of my first granddaughter – the daughter of my son from my first husband! And why didn't my son join us for the occasion? Because he and his wife are expecting their second child any day now!