For the hundreds of friends who joined the family of the late Rebecca (Ira) Magid to bid her farewell, Rabbi Akiva Kipen's announcement came as no surprise. Over the last two years, Rabbi Kipen explained, Ira had unflinchingly and resolutely planned every detail of her funeral.

Ira was like that. Unflinching and resolute. But she was far more than that.

No obituary can fairly encompass her range: even just as wife and family matriarch. Having had to rebuild her life after the death of her first-born child (Theodore) in China before emigrating to Australia in 1948, she and her husband Isador had to cope with the tragic death of another son, Ralph, some 40 years later. It nearly broke their spirits. But eventually she fought back, as she did when she battled the serious illness that threatened her in later life.

She was a role model to her daughter Nora and son Bobby who survive her, a doting and mentoring grandmother and great-grandmother, and she was widely welcomed with affection by her friends' children of all ages who saw in her a giving and kindred spirit.

Politically she was certainly her own woman. For much of her adult life she was engaged on the left: in Australia she was active in the anti-Vietnam war movement and supported many a trade union leader and Labor politician. And as a result of her frequent visits to Israel over many decades, the most recent just a month before she died, she became an increasingly outspoken and passionate advocate of Israel's Peace Now movement.

Yet, it must be repeated, Ira was more than the sum of her many parts. She was a rare personality combination of compelling strength and maternal warmth, a powerful will and engaging modesty, a fierce commitment to her beliefs together with a willingness to hear arguments against them… even if she was rarely to be swayed by those counter-arguments.

In her second home town of Melbourne - the first was Shanghai in the 1940s - Ira was widely known, admired and loved in her many roles. Foremost amongst them, however, was her dedicated commitment as the ever-supportive wife and life-partner of Isador Magid, businessman, communal leader and philanthropist.

During the 1970's and 1980's, when Isador Magid, amongst many leadership positions, was chairman of the Jewish Agency's Immigration and Absorption Committee for some two decades, Ira was at Isador's side for months on end in Israel every year. In Melbourne, at their home in Burke Road, Balwyn, Ira became known, locally and internationally, as truly "the hostess with the mostest".

A legendary cook and baker, Ira treated her guests to superb Russian fare, helped along with the mandatory vodka. During some five decades of cosmopolitan hospitality, the Magids hosted Australian and Israel prime ministers (even one from Sweden), other leading local and international political figures, academics, business associates, religious leaders, artists, writers and performers.

But Ira was just as warm and gracious when greeting an old friend in the kitchen with the ubiquitous glass of lemon tea and unrefusable pastry. Her lack of pretentiousness, aligned with her eager readiness to debate the issues of the day, always made "just dropping in" to the Magid home an event.

Ira was a singular woman. She embodied élan vital, the life force. Even as her myriad of friends honour her memory, we can say with sad assurance that we will not see her like again.

Sam Lipski
Reprinted with permission from the Australian Jewish News