Sonia Sklaver, née Kritchmar, was a beloved and celebrated member of the Fair Lawn Jewish Center. She and her loving husband, Irving Sklaver Z"L, were beacons of the Jewish community in Fair Lawn, having impacted many lives through fundraising, the re-settling of immigrants from all over the world, and their unwavering support of Israel. Their Holocaust survival stories served as inspiration to all.  
 
Sonia was born in Hosht, Poland on January 5, 1925, the youngest of four children, three girls and a boy. A proud Zionist, she was in Rok B'Ivrit, a Zionist club for youngsters which allowed its member to speak only Hebrew.  
 
Speaking Polish perfectly, she survived the Holocaust as a maid in a family of Polish farmers. She was reunited with Irving Sklaver after the war, they married, had a daughter, moved to the US, and had a second daughter. Years later she finished her high school education, went to nursing school, and worked as a nurse for ten years. She experienced first-hand humanity's deep capacity for evil as a teenager; yet she was saved through the kindness of strangers. She often alluded to the cruelty she had seen, but she continued to believe in the importance of generosity, of gratitude, and of hope. And her love of Israel and for the Jewish people never waned.  
 
After 75 years of being married to Irving, she lived her last year as a single woman. He had been larger than life. But as we had all knew, she was too. She shook off the shock and sorrow of his death and kept going. She read the news every day, and many books, and was adored by friends new and old, and especially all of her family.