By:Jeff Lipton
Before former Lawrence resident Sara Blaustein was brutally murdered in a drive-by shooting in Israel last week, she discussed with her husband, Norman, what would happen if she were a victim of the violence that has torn apart the region.
"She said, 'God forbid, if something happened to me, I would want the whole world to know about it,' " Anne Fuchs, Sara's niece, said. "She lived there and died for being a Jew. Unfortunately, the whole world did find out about it. The whole world has been shocked by all that has happened.
"Hopefully, the whole world will take notice and some good will come from it for Israel," Fuchs said.
The Blausteins were driving from Efrat to Jerusalem, with one of her sons from a previous marriage, when they were ambushed with gunfire on Tuesday, May 29. The gunmen, reportedly Palestinians, shot and killed Blaustein, 52, and a woman whom she and her husband picked up at a bus stop. Mr. Blaustein, 53, was hit in the eyes and face with flying glass. Sammy Berg, 27, a son from Sara Blaustein's first marriage, who was visiting from Long Beach, was shot three times in the back. Both men have been released from the hospital and will recover from their injuries, family members said.
About nine months ago, Sara Blaustein moved away from her neatly-kept home on Broadway, near Sealy Drive, in Lawrence, leaving behind many beloved friends and family members, to follow her long-held dream: to live in the Land of Milk and Honey.
After talking about moving to Israel for many years, she finally found the opportunity and grabbed it, putting up for sale the Lawrence home in which she lived for about nine years. Taking with her Atara, her 13-year-old daughter, she rented a house in Efrat, a settlement south of Jerusalem, while her husband stayed behind to complete the sale on their Lawrence home. She wanted Atara to spend her freshman year of high school in Israel. And Norman would join them shortly thereafter.
Her brother had moved to Israel in 1995 and she visited the country annually.
"She was nourished by the air of Israel. Every breath she took there she cherished," said Rabbi Shneur Wolowik of the Jean Fischman Chabad Center on Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, who had grown close to the family for the past five years. "She lived for Israel and she expressed everything for the sake of the country.
"She felt Israel is a place a Jewish person should be living."
In a split second, those dreams to live in peace in the country she relished were shattered by an assassin's bullet. She was one of the latest casualties of the violence that has racked the region since September.
Rabbi Wolowik said he was told on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. about the ambush. "It's just shocking, sad and horrific that she could be taken away at such a young age by cold-blooded murderers," he said.
Hannah Reich Berman, who had known Sara Blaustein for 25 years, said she moved to Israel as soon as she could. "That's all she ever talked about, was about going to Israel. It was her lifelong dream. It took her 50-odd years to get there. It took her all these years to get there and she was not even there a year to enjoy it."
Debra Drellich of Cedarhurst, another niece of Sara's, said the past nine months in Israel had been the happiest of her aunt's life. "Sara's mother said she looked like a bride. She had this glow about her since she's been in Israel," Drellich said.
Drellich said her aunt lived without fear in Israel. "She believed 'When it's your time [to go], it's your time.' Wherever she was, she believed God would find her."
Sara did pray at the Tomb of Rachel for the safety of her family, Drellich added.
"Sara didn't sweat the small stuff. She didn't get bent out of shape over things that were not important," Berman said. "She was a gentle, gentle soul, very spiritual and idealistic and she loved to laugh. She was very relaxed and an easy-going kind of person. She did not get worked up easily."
In a few weeks, the Blausteins and their daughter were supposed to spend the summer in a bungalow colony with other relatives at Beaver Lake Estates in the Catskills. "We were all supposed to be together for the summer," Drellich said.
"We're all taking this day-by-day," she added. "It's a tragic loss for all of us."
The news of Blaustein's death sent shock waves through her former neighborhood in Lawrence, where she was known as a loving and charitable person. "It's just a waste of a life," said one neighbor, who did not want to be identified. "It's a shame. She was a wonderful person. It's a terrible loss."
Said another neighbor, "It's just horrible. It has shaken me up. The whole situation in the Middle East has shaken me up."
Dr. Mark Rosenberg, a chiropractor whose office is located across from Sara's former home, called it a "terrible tragedy. Unfortunately, they are on the verge of war in the Middle East. She was a lovely lady. They're very quiet people."
One neighbor, who shared a backyard with the Blausteins, said, "I went over there when they first moved into their house to welcome them to the neighborhood. I told them they were going to be very nice neighbors.
"Then I saw the moving truck. She said she was going to Israel and said she always wanted to go."
At the time, Blaustein's house was not sold and her husband stayed behind to finish the deal.
"It's unreal. You hear these things happen but you never think it would happen to someone you know," the neighbor said.
Wolowik, who is extremely close with Blaustein's daughter, Adena, and son-in-law, Jeffrey Mark of Woodmere, described Blaustein as the kindest and gentlest person he knew. "She was kind, giving, loving, caring, just an unbelievable human being. She was a family person who believed that the family should be together for Passover in Israel. She loved her husband, children and grandchildren."
The rabbi said Blaustein knew that Israeli soldiers were fond of American candies and instructed her husband to bring them back the next time he visited her in Israel. "She loved to see the smile on the soldiers' faces. They knew she was coming and that put a smile on their face."
Blaustein also was charitable and helped establish a library in Israel so members of a congregation could study where they prayed every day, Wolowik said.
Despite the violence, Blaustein never regretted moving to Israel, "not for one moment," he added. "She was totally non-violent. The concept of violence was non-existent in her life. There was always a big smile on her face. She was a happy and cheerful person."
The rabbi said calls have been pouring in from Five Towns residents, asking what they could do to help the family. A memorial for Sara Blaustein will be held at her temple, Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence on June 20.
