Molly Holzschlag

Molly and my friendship ebbed and flowed for over 20 years. We became somewhat closer just before she got sick. During that period I only got to see her face to face once (when she was living in Las Vegas and I was there for a conference). We did have many conversations (both on the phone and via messages). Towards the end of her days on this planet many of our conversations was about how she wanted her memory to be treated.

Molly was always proud of her Jewish background and when her mother died in 2017, she (in a roundabout way) asked me to say Kaddish (the Jewish Prayer for the dead) for her mother whenever I was in the synagogue. Which I did for the 11 months after her mother's death. A few weeks before Molly passed away, I asked about this for her. In her typical way, she said, she didn't want anything special done for her, but loved the gesture and acknowledged that she'd like that.

In Molly's memory, I've been saying this prayer for her the past few weeks, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep it up for the full 11 months (the traditional duration). There are services out there (I've used them family members of my family to supplement for when I can't say the prayer. The cost for this service is $500 US (approx. $700 CDN). With the $500 service not only will they say the Kaddish prayer for Molly every day (3 times a day) for Molly but as well on the anniversary of her death perpetually.

Here is a link if you're interested to learn more: https://www.chabad.org/library/howto/kaddish_cdo/aid/378357/jewish/Kaddish-Service-Arrange-Kaddish-for-a-Loved-One.htm