Letters to the Wise One

As a Jewish pre-teen in Germany in 1942 Helga Hoflich suffered the unspeakable horrors of the concentration camps during the holocaust while her father and most of her family were exterminated. <P>In 1945 she and her mother who survived were freed by the Russians and they made their way to America to begin a new life. Helga met and married a young jewelry maker Eric Newmark also a holocaust survivor. As Helga Newmark she and Eric proceeded to raise a family. <P>But memories of the holocaust continued to haunt her resulting in several attempts at suicide. Eventually she found more spiritual meaning in her life and went on to become a respected principal of a synagogue religious school and then earned a master's degree in social work. But this was not enough for Helga. With so much experience to offer the next generation she felt called upon to become a rabbi and after extensive study was ordained in the year 2000.