Dear Mr. Weisz: I was delighted to learn that your Congregation will be celebrating the “twice chai” anniversary of the tenure of your distinguished Rabbi, David Stavsky, on August 28, 1993. Were it at all possible, I would be joining you for these festivities. I have known Rabbi Stavsky for most of my life, certainly for all the 36 years that he has been with Beth Jacob. My feelings for him consist of equal amounts of affection and respect. Regretfully, I cannot be there in person, and I hope that these lines will substitute, however poorly, for my personal presence. Rabbi Stavsky has brought to his rabbinic career the varied talents and the prodigious qualities of heart and sensitivity and compassion with which he was amply endowed by a beneficent Creator. I have rarely met a man, even a rabbi, so thoroughly and genuinely dedicated to his mission. His personal warmth, his gift for programmatic innovation, his oratorical aptitude, and his extensive talmudic learning have all combined to make him a role model for younger rabbis, because – above all else – his career has been characterized by pure and sincere dedication to Torah, to Israel, and to his congregation. He is a le’shem Shamayim Jew whose presence has been a blessing to Beth Jacob and all of Columbus, as well as the source of inestimable pride to his alma mater, Yeshiva University. The occasion of “twice chai” is perhaps unintentionally symbolic of the career of your Rabbi. He has lived a full life relating to his community and his people, giving of himself and sharing his wisdom with all fortunate enough to come into the circle of his acquaintanceship and friendship. At the same time, he has lived a full, wholesome, and vibrant inner life in which he has always been conscious of the exalted role of the Rav and the daunting moral and spiritual and psychological demands it makes of those who wear the mantle of the rabbinate. He is to be congratulated for both, and the congregation deserves the appreciation…