Tel Aviv's oldest woman, 104-year-old Esther Lustgarten, passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning surrounded by her loved ones.
Lustgarten was born in Poland in 1918 and immigrated to Israel with her family in 1924. She moved to Venezuela with her husband and children in 1951 and returned to the Holy Land in 1975.
Her granddaughter, theater actress Lilian Barreto, spoke of the bond they shared: "I was a single child to a single mother, so my grandparents were like my second parent. My grandmother changed quite a bit during her life. She always sought out constructive criticism and asked where she needs to improve. She was an inspiring, optimistic woman."
Lustgarten only started celebrating her birthday at 93 years old. Up until that point, she didn't know when exactly her birthday was. She was the fifth child of a religious family, and her parents could not recount her exact date of birth, but her granddaughter traveled to Poland and despite the name of the street her grandmother lived on as a child had changed, she managed to track it down. Unfortunately, it was leveled during World War II.
Unrelenting, Barreto then went to the city archives and found her grandmother's birth certificate, with August 8, 1918, listed as her date of birth. Ever since, the family made it a point to celebrate each birthday, up until she became the oldest living woman in Tel Aviv.
Despite her advanced age, Barreto says her grandmother remained lucid until the end.
"Until she turned 100, I didn't even think she was aging. She was always inquisitive and took every suggestion I made to heart, including when I suggested she take painting and pottery classes. She kept fit her entire life and worked out four times a day. She taught me everything about family, love, determination and connection, which is very dear to us."