In loving memory of Milka Burstein - Obituary Baldwin Brothers

Obituary

Milka S. Burstein, of 2108 Villa Way in New Smyrna Beach, died on the evening of Sunday, April 11. She was 90 years old.

Mrs. Burstein was born in the town of Afula, in British Mandate Palestine (since 1948, part of the State of Israel). She was raised on Kibbutz Heftzi Bah, a community which her parents, Rachel Schorr and Avraham Katz, had helped to found in the 1920s, after immigrating there from Czechoslovakia and Austria, respectively. Her parents were early adherents of the Zionist movement, and Milka imbibed their love of the land and the people of Israel. Hefzi Bah is located at the foot of Mount Gilboa, whose beautiful wildflowers enchanted her childhood.

Mrs. Burstein travelled widely throughout her life. Before she was twenty years old, she had visited both England and the United States, among other countries. She was especially passionate in her enthusiasm for Italy, where her father had taken her when she was a young girl. She was a lifelong devotee of the art of the Italian Renaissance, as well as of the Italian language, and classical music, and she visited Italy (as well as France, Switzerland, and her native Israel) as often as she was able. Well into her eighties, she took all three of her grandchildren with her on her European tours.

Milka was married twice, first to Dr. Henry D. Hoberman and then to Dr. Meyer L. Burstein, who passed away in New Smryna Beach in 1999. Dr. Burstein was a prominent scholar and professor of economics. During her marriage to Dr. Burstein, Milka revived a relationship between him and the Cambodian girl he and his first wife, an Englishwoman, had adopted in the early 1970s but had been forced to give up when he was widowed shortly afterwards. Notwithstanding the span of time that had passed, Milka’s relationship with Li-Da (Kruger) blossomed and grew closer over the many years that passed since Dr. Burstein’s decease.

Mrs. Burstein’s two children, to whom she was endlessly devoted, are Kathryn (Kitty) Musante of New Smyrna Beach and Michael Hoberman, of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Della Green and Langston Hoberman, both of New York City, and Jessica (Poncharik) Katz, of New Smyrna Beach, as well as by her son-in-law, Jim Musante of New Smyrna Beach and daughter-in-law, Janice Sorensen of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Milka Burstein is also survived by her sister, Rivkah Skolnik and her brother Dani Katz, both of whom live in the Tel Aviv area in Israel. She was predeceased by her brother Hillel Schorr, of Hefzi Bah, Israel.