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April 11, 1997

Eulogy for Harry Schnall (1997)

Eulogies & Memorials
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Eulogy for Dr. Hyman Kirschenbaum (2000)

Tu B’Av = semi-holiday; required not over-indulgent expression of sorrow. I and my wife knew Hy and Judy >40 years. Admired him for his professional competence, humanity, family, Yiddishkeit. Born London, Ont.; public school; Western Ontario Medical School. Yiddishkeit – from intensely Jewish home; father taught him. Major part of career – BIH, neurosurgery. Intensely devoted to patients; his surgery saved thousands; not only professional care, also personal attention... Patients = humans... רופא נאמן / רופא רחמן... so: imitatio Dei. Humble: never affected by professional arrogance, though earned undying gratitude of patients and their families. When federal anti-religious cuts impacted kashrut in 1981, recall – Hy was outraged. Fought at the peril of his own career, but never relented until he won. When Russians came to New York – spared no effort: classes, lectures at BIH, highest pass rate – all free. Continued several years. Honored often – awards, plaques, etc., loved and admired – yet never sought such rewards. Passionate for honor, not honors.Three anomalies:Died of an aneurysm – the very condition he so often treated. Very busy surgeon, yet always made time for the family he loved. We take leave of him in sadness... on a happy day in the Jewish calendar. Mishna at the end of Taanit: לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כט״ו באב וכיום הכיפורים שבהם בנות ירושלים יוצאות וחולות בכרמים. Such contradiction! But see it as part of the progression – Tu B’Av → Shabbat Nachamu – Tu B’Av with its theme of shidduchim, marriage, children, family = continuity of Am Yisrael.So, no anomaly: today is a Tu B’Av; but be confident – eventually נחמה – and then, his family will continue in health, strength, and devotion to his ideals. The grandchildren he so adored... will live, achieve, and be a blessing to Hy’s memory. In your sorrow, know consolation will come – and then... for generations.
Eulogies & Memorials

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Eulogy for Harry Skydell (2006)

H and I were dear friends. Did not agree on everything – neither of us the type for full agreement without thinking – except on fundamentals... His death leaves an empty space in our hearts. More: he was a Presence – and we all shall experience that emptiness... Parents: father = שוחט ות"ח... bequeathed to family passion for learning, תורה, עם ישראל, א"י, צלם אלקים, confidence in judgments, love of. Characterized H and siblings: Irving/Hilda/Anita/Adrian & those who passed away – intellectual curiosity a family trait, both men and women.Also Big Heart ... always responsv t me...Lng-tm mmbr TJC - last yrs I look nostalgclly hs seatCritic - intolerant phonies; couldn’t bear presumpt­uousness; punturd bombast; esp harsh on Rabbis who failed t live up t hs high standrds; bt most of all-zero tolrnc of ppi who cut corners in busnss. An accountnt who knew who was real, who dishonst; He raised honesty in business fr character trait t principle & from princpl to obsession.A Critic but w a sense of humorDid not believe in unnecessry חומרות; emphasizd וחי בהםlO.Loylty family-proud children/spouses/gr-ch, achvmntsBut esp: Rivvie...אמ ר אל הנ הנים בני אהר ן ואמרת אליהם - .12
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Eulogy for Jerome Schottenstein (1992)

One of the highlights of my tenure at Yeshiva University was the opportunity to meet and befriend Jerome Schottenstein. I cherished him and I adored him. I considered him a genuinely good man in the sense that the prophet Micah described such a person: "It has been told to you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with the Lord your God" (Micah 6:8). Jerry fulfilled this mandate and exemplified the "good man" in its fullest sense.To do justly. Justice is achieved not in splendid isolation, but in the fray of events, in the hurly-burly of the market place. It requires of one that he plunge into the maelstrom of life and yet retain a sense of fairness and justice and decency and honor. That is a truly moral accomplishment of the good man.Jerry was a great success in business. He was shrewd, he possessed insight and foresight. He had a rather deceptive demeanor: Soft in tone and deliberate in speech, one might have taken him for an unsophisticated naif. But that was the exact opposite of Jerry -- who had a quick intelligence, was able to size up a situation accurately and quickly, had a phenomenal memory, and was brilliant in judgment. And with all this, Jerry was above all a man of decency and rectitude and probity.To love Mercy. Jerry was kind and compassionate, and he expressed these sentiments in practice. He was a leader in the Jewish and general communities. In Columbus, he was a major contributor to the United Jewish Appeal and Federation and Israel Bonds, to the Columbus Jewish Center and to his synagogues. He was a donor and leader as well to theatre and opera and to medical research.His major achievements were in the area of Jewish education, because Jerry knew and understood well that without education Jews and Judaism have no future. Thus, he founded and was a leading light in the Torah Academy of Columbus, and in the New High School in Cleveland.For us at Yeshiva University he was an u…
Eulogies & Memorials