Mexican National was Just Days From Celebrating Son’s 18th Birthday

Friends and family remembered Norma Shvartzblat Rabinovich, whose life was cut short by terrorists’ bullets at the age of 50, as an idealistic, adventurous and thoughtful woman.

A Mexican citizen, Rabinovich was supposed to immigrate to Israel on Dec. 1 and join her son 18-year-old son Manuel – who started studying two months ago in a yeshiva in B’nei Brak – and her 24-year-old daughter Jean, a philosophy student living in Tel Aviv. A younger daughter, Orly, 21, attends culinary school in Mexico City.

Rabinovich had been staying at Mumbai, India’s central Chabad-Lubavitch center while she sorted out her immigration paperwork. She was among six victims recovered from the building after Indian commandos raided the location last Friday. The other victims included Chabad House directors Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg; kosher supervisors Rabbi Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum and Bentzion Kruman; and Israeli grandmother Yocheved Orpaz.

A naturally friendly person, who liked to laugh and talk, and meet new people, she helped the Holtzbergs in their activities at the Chabad House.

She was “a very intelligent person, always trying to make things better for people in the world,” said her brother, Jose Shvartzblat. “She cared about justice and about the environment. She was studying biology because she loved [nature].

“When she saw someone acting unfairly, she spoke up,” he added. “She was a good woman.”

One recent visitor to the Chabad House remembered meeting the woman in the building’s courtyard, where she was sitting with Rivka Holtzberg. The three enjoyed a lively discussion about encouraging volunteerism.

A cousin recalled that she treated guests in her home in Mexico “like king and queen. She was very welcoming [and] did everything she could for them.”

According to the Jewish Agency, Rabinovich planned to take the Dec. 1 flight to Tel Aviv in order to arrive for her son’s 18th birthday. In the end, an Israel Air Force jet transported her body on the same date.

In addition to a son and two daughters, Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich leaves behind many friends. She was buried at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery overlooking the entrance to Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Click here to read a moving tribute to Norma by a friend of hers, Gil Zohar.