In Memorial: Fraida Nathan
Written by Erica Pelman, Founder of SHIFRA
Fraida Nathan
June 12 1954 – October 29, 2022
I am heartbroken to announce the loss of our dear colleague and friend, Fraida Nathan, this past Saturday night.
We hired Fraida as our ISA counselor more than nine years ago. Without her, there would be no In Shifra’s Arms. Period. Her wisdom, compassion, and “real practical” ways have helped mothers and babies across the US and abroad.
I will be writing more in the coming weeks about her extraordinary legacy. The testimonials we’ve received from her clients have been profound and heartwarming. I know that I am a better human being because I worked with her, and I am not alone.
In this last year, despite being in tremendous pain from cancer treatment, she still managed to make a life-saving difference.
On behalf of our team, we send our sympathies and condolences to her extraordinary family. I read once from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks that the qualities people remember at a funeral differ from those qualities recorded on a professional resume. Meaning: people at a funeral talk about personal qualities like kindness or authenticity, not how clever someone was at selling stocks.
But for Fraida, her professional accomplishments were directly correlated to her personal accomplishments- because her compassion, authenticity and wisdom allowed for both. In her personal life, she had an amazing marriage to Yohanan Nathan for more than 45 years. In her work at ISA and as therapist, she helped save many marriages. In her personal life, she was a devoted mother of five children, and in her work at ISA, she helped so many women embrace their motherhood journeys.
Equally important, she was an ever-vibrant woman of diverse interests. She modeled for our ISA moms that you can be a good mother without losing your sense of self as a person and as a woman.
In this time of grief, we especially send our condolence to our dear colleague, Menucha Robeson, who is Fraida’s sister-in-law.
I look forward to sharing more insider stories about working with Fraida in the coming weeks.
For now, may her family be comforted alongside the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.