Who is Lisa Naumann from Bee Season: A Novel and what is their importance?

Lisa Naumann (later, Newman) is the mother of Saul Naumann and the wife of the former Heimel Naumann. Lisa introduces Saul to Judaism when Saul is thirteen years old. It is Lisa who instills a sense of religious and ethnic pride in her son. Lisa sneaks Saul to synagogue to worship when her husband Hank is out of the house. Lisa Naumann dies of cancer when Saul is fifteen years old.