Eulogy for Dr. Israel Miller (2002)
Introduction: IM was not a symbol of an age or philosophy, of one generation or another; not a phenomenon or emblem. IM was, to put it simply, a מענטש – a personality, a noble human being of flesh and blood who lived and breathed decency, integrity, sweetness, politeness, and friendship. Here is your text with odd characters removed, typographical errors corrected, and presented as a single paragraph, preserving original style, tone, and sentence case:I knew IM for most of my life – and most of his. In my student days he was a young, rising star rabbi; as congregational rabbi – was beloved and admired; sophisticated in ways communal and personal. He was a man of great warmth and heart; a father figure to many; grandfather figure to others; truly איש תבונות. I got to know him best since I was president, he senior VP – I adored him. Allow me to focus on three aspects of his illustrious career in ways that I knew him best. First: his communal leadership was well known. He headed probably more organizations than I know, and founded many of them. But what was very special – he did so not only for Orthodox Jews, but for כלל ישראל. Thereby he was מקדש השם ברבים: an Orthodox rabbi not narrow, but with a love that embraced every Jew. From ר׳ יצחק אלחנן, נצי״ב, and אדמו״רים – this was the kind of broad leadership that manifested. He was our role model, Jewish leader, our elder statesman, one of the most eminent alumni – a glory to YU as a כלל ישראל איד. Second: at YU, he meant many things to me – he was my colleague, collaborator, confidant. He was for me both בעל עצה ובר סמכא – advisor and authority – someone to lean on. But mostly – he was my conscience, my נביא. Let me elaborate a bit on this role. Often, in a position of leadership, one faces the conundrum of principle versus practicality; not cynically, but realistically. Thus, חז״ל, as quoted by Rambam, reads: כל מי שהציבור ממנה אותו פרנס מלמטה, נקרא רשע למעלה. Similarly, the Zohar comments on אשר נשיא יחטא by adding t…
