Legacies: Rita Lurie and Leslie Gilbert-Lurie

Well, I think that it affected my mom both for the positive and the negative. I think for the negative, I think she's always-- she was traumatized as a child. And one of the questions was, was it a good age for her? Would there have been a better age for her to be hidden in an attic and experience what she experienced?

And I would say, from what I've read, that because she was such a young child, because her brain was not fully developed, the parts of the brain that experienced trauma were not fully formed. And it made her more susceptible to post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression and all kinds of things that impact adults. So I would say that she is more susceptible to depression that she is more anxious because, of course, the worst thing that anyone could fear happening happened to her as a child. So how do you ever relax and think that couldn't happen again?

But, on the other hand, she's a really strong person. And one of the reasons that she wanted us to write the book we wrote is to show that people could go through the worst experiences imaginable and not only survive but survive well. And I think that whereas some Holocaust survivors never shook off the bitterness and the anger, my mom was determined to raise us in a very positive way. Like she always wanted us to have all the things that she never had.

And so I think there is this real love of life with my mom too. Even today, if I-- and she has various heart things and all kinds of stress-related adult illnesses. But if I said to her today, do you want to get on a plane tonight and go to Africa and go on a Safari? She would say yes.

Like there's almost nothing she wouldn't do. She's very adventurous. And I think she definitely has that sense that she wants to get the most out of life. And she transmitted that to her three children too. We're all impacted by being the child of a Holocaust survivor.

I grew up really afraid to ever be away from my mom. I never wanted to go to sleepaway camp. I never wanted-- I went to UCLA. I didn't want to go away to college. I'm very aware of my mom and her safety and her health, but also-- and my sister and brother have their own issues. They both suffered also from some bouts of depression.

My sister said-- my sister who's also very successful, she's a screenwriter. She was the student body president at UCLA. But yet she would say that when she walks into a room, she would always look at where the exits are and how she could escape quickly from a situation.

But I would also say that we all grew up being strong people. We definitely have an awareness that we don't know what the future's going to bring, so we want to make the most of today. And we also-- I think we're very aware from the beginning that we were born into a fractured world. Like for us to feel safe and for us to feel like our lives were worth surviving for, we were all very determined to make the world a better place I think from the very beginning.

Thank you.

We thank you so much for honoring us with your presence here today. You have given us your words, your heart, and your soul. Your story is now our story. Now it's our turn to do what Jews have done for centuries. It is now up to us to tell our story to our children so that they can keep it alive for generations to come. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to fulfill this amazing mitzvah.

[SPEAKING HEBREW]

Blessed are you, Adonai, our god, ruler of the universe, who has made us holy with mitzvah and commanded us to tell our children our story.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

That was wonderful. That was beautiful. Thank you.