Malka Sutin

Malka Sutin made the world's best chicken soup. Her heritage, culture, and love of family/friends is why her soup was the best.

Yes, she accomplished many other things, but the quality of her Jewish cooking cannot be overstated. The Jewish version of "Like Water for Chocolate." Malka poured love into her food.

Malka's life began in Dąbrowa Tarnowski, Poland on October 27, 1937. Her father, Herman Singer, traded wheat in Germany and realized that the family needed to leave Poland and flee the Nazis. With his wife, Jenina, and Malka's brother, Joseph, they fled east in a horse and buggy into Russia. As a baby, Malka was lost after a strafing by the German Luftwaffe and the family had to find her in the dirt before fleeing to a Siberian labor camp. After the war, the family made their way back to Poland via southern Asia. Upon finding the ruin of post-Holocaust Poland, the family made Aliyah to Israel.

Malka grew up in Israel with her Aunt Sophia helping her to become an international traveler. It is through that travel that Malka met Jonathan Sutin and believed him to be a goy. Upon Papa, Lewis Sutin, getting an orthodox rabbi in the US to certify that he was kosher for an Israeli wedding, Malka and Jonathan wed in September of 1963.

Elyana Sutin was born in Washington, D.C. in 1964 where Malka was practically living by herself while Jonathan fought the good fight for civil rights in the deep south. Jessica Sutin was born in Albuquerque in 1966 and Joshua in 1969. As the tired and completely overwhelmed mother of three first stood alone in the small-town post office near her new home, she read a sign on the wall and sobbed, "Albuquerque, New Mexico." Where in the hell is "Albuquerque, New Mexico?" It would become her beloved home for the next 60 years. Malka spent most of her time taking care of two amazing daughters and fielding complaints from friends and neighbors about her son's wild ways (similar to Jonathan's teenage years). Malka was very proud of her children and Jonathan, and she took great pride in her mothering.

Malka spent many years tutoring Bat and Bar Mitzvah students at Congregation Albert. So many New Mexican middle school aged Jews were taught how to properly chant blessing, read Hebrew and be a little bit of a better Jew. Malka took great pride in her students and watching them grow from Jewish children to Jewish adults.

Malka and Jonathan were a force. They made so many friends with deep relationships. Malka loved to discuss history, explain a book she was reading or play bridge with friends. She would brighten up whenever her friends were nearby. It was her dear friends that made her feel welcome in New Mexico and helped her to thrive.

Pride in her children soon grew to include their partners and her grandchildren: Abigail and Jesse McCeney kids of Michael and Elyana Sutin McCeney; Charlie and Lilly Ashcroft kids of Will and Jessica Ashcroft: and, Benjamin, Noah, Naomi and Ari Sutin kids of Miranda and Joshua Sutin. These kids could do no wrong in Malka's eyes and it is in them that we see, hear, and remember Malka.

The last few years of Malka's life were a bit of a struggle as her heart and body started to decline in health. She cooked her chicken soup for Jonathan, children, and grandchildren right up to the end. She continued to cherish the warm embrace of friends, and find comfort whenever surrounded by conversation and laughter. She never stopped absorbing the love coming from those around her, and she returned it in kind. She never stopped being Malka.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2025, and a day before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance day, Malka Sutin shed her earthly pain and made a graceful exit, surrounded by the love she had nurtured all her life. She is survived by her brother, Joseph Singer, his son, David Singer, daughter, Michelle Herzlinger, and their children. Malka is also survived by her cousin Israel Verker, and nieces and nephew: Jennifer Leonard, Ellen Sutin, Brian Sutin, and their children.

To the amazing women and men (you know who you are) who sat by her side for all these years, Thank You. We also wish to say thank you to the wonderful people at Bosque Trails Hospice and her UNM palliative care team. The angels among us are those who help the dying.

Today and forever, Malka would want you to have a bowl of chicken soup and reminisce of fond memories. May her memory be a blessing.