God said multiply, and did she ever!

 

God said multiply, and Did She Ever

Author: Joseph Berger

Published: February 19, 2010

            Yitta Schwartz was a 93 year old woman who gave birth to 15 children, 200 grandchildren, and who could claim 2,000 living decedents. Before passing away last month, she told her children that she didn’t want them to keep any pictures of her. Instead, she told them to keep her in their hearts. 

Mrs. Schwartz was very devoted to her family and religion. She believed that bearing children was a tribute to God. It’s said that she never forgot any of her family’s names or their faces. Although she gave birth 18 times, she lost one in a summer camp accident and two in the Holocaust. During World War II, her and her family was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Some things I find interesting are after so many children and grandchildren, she didn’t forget their names. She went to every wedding, engagement, and other any religious get together. She even had her son arrange a calendar for the family so that she could spend equal amount of time with each of her children’s families. She was a genuine caretaker for her children and believed that family always comes first. As a stay at home mom, she didn’t leave the house very often. This made her very committed to the well being of her family. For these reasons, I admire her.

While reading this article, it made me wonder how it was like raising a family of that size. They obviously had a strain on income and food because of it. However, what I’m more curious about is how the children felt about it. Did they like having such a large family? Did they feel like they never got enough attention?

If you want to find more information on Yitta Schwartz and her family, you can research them using any news websites or even Google.