Sandy Klugman, who passed away on Shabbat in Seattle, was one of the first ladies of Emek Beracha. Her husband Eliot succeeded Stan Sussman as president of the Shul and was the Gabbai, the energy behind Seuda Shlishit, a Minyannaire, and the resident all-around good guy for decades. All of that said, everyone knew that the Klugman’s migration to the Minyan came at Sandy’s behest (some might say insistence). After a term serving as president of Beth Jacob in Redwood City, Eliot found Sandy’s thirst for more and more engagement with Judaism to be an irresistible force. They sent their children to SPHDS (where Eliot was also president) and Sandy was delighted when they came home in search of more.
At the Minyan, Sandy was among the first at so many classes and community events. She loved to absorb a Jewish vibe of any kind -- a Simcha, a song, a Minhag, a Mitzva. She also encouraged, in her gentle way, the community to take care of the needy.
Because of her constant involvement, her warmth and her smile -- and her laugh and her hopefulness -- were like a community mascot. She loved to add her sense of color and design to occasions. She decorated the Shul before Shavuot, added candles to a Melava Malka and flowers to a dinner.
Among the founders of the Shul no one wanted the Minyan to grow into a real community more than she did, and she was an early advocate for the hiring of a rabbi. She served as an assistant to R’ Pinchas Lipner in San Francisco and was the first of the EB secretaries. When the Shul honored the Klugmans at the old Hyatt Rickey’s, she asked that R’ Lipner speak and she called herself a “collector of rabbis.” She engaged with the school rabbis and their families, the Shul rabbis and rebetzins, the Chabad Shluchim and their families, and the visiting scholars. It was never enough and it brought her strength and comfort and inspiration.
The Klugmans left Palo Alto in 2012 to join children and grandchildren first in San Diego and then in Seattle. The growth of her children’s families was her greatest joy and she became deeply enmeshed in their lives. The birth of great-grandchildren was her latest source of Nachas. First granddaughter Galit and her husband Yitzhak welcomed children. Then grandson Avraham and his wife Olivia welcomed their first child, a boy, recently. That Bris was celebrated during Sandy’s last illness in the last fortnight, a final family Simcha for her. Several times over, the first lady had become the first great-grandmother. Yehi Zichra Baruch.
