Page 42 - issue
P. 42
Death of A Salesman
was always a hot meal, a loving smile, and a beautiful, neat
home awaiting him. Shabbos and Yom Tov were special: the
table full of harmony, beautiful zemiros, and guests. The
home was filled with many beautiful minhagim as well,
which my parents so loved and cherished. Shavuos found
flowers all over the house, and my parents always took pride
in decorating their shul, their extended home Shearith
Israel, with flowers, too.
Meshulachim were always greeted warmly at the door, and
as busy as my parents were at the business, they were con-
stantly helping at the shul or Bais Yaakov or entertaining
musically at a nursing home. They always found the time to
work for the community, together. Such was the home my
Dad built together with my Mom, a home of chesed and
tzedaka but always quiet, unassuming, and without publicity
or fanfare. That was how Dad always wanted it, and that’s the
way Mom always made it.
E�� G�������� What Dad Liked
Dad had little desire for material things. We used to joke with
������ �����������
MD S���� L������ # 13486 him that ties cost more than the three dollars he liked to
443.300.6291 ��������� spend. A car, to him, was merely a means to get around, and
����@M������E�������MD.��� he always said that being too fancy would cause the customer
M������E�������MD.���
to think you were making too big a profit. Dad was apolitical
�������� � �������
R���������� � ���������� and disliked politics, although he always voted.
������ What Dad did like was a close relationship to his Rav.
Rabbi Schwab, Rabbi Feldman, and later, Rabbi Hopfer were
his rabbanim, and with an emuna peshuta he embraced
their every teaching. Dad was a “tehilim Jew”; each day he
completed one book of Tehilim, completing the entire Sefer
Tehilim each week.
Dad was a great and loving father, and while he let Mom
do the day-to-day chinuch, he took us to shul regularly. To
Dad, his shul was everything. He loved shul and loved those
who went to minyanim and shiurim. Many remember how my
Mom took him by car to Mincha once he had stopped driv-
ing and how she would wait patiently for him each day after
davening. They served Hashem as a team.
Dad was a regular at the shiurim of Rabbi Hopfer and also
attended Rabbi Heinemann’s shiur weekly. He davened
Friday night and Shabbos Mincha at the Agudah, where peo-
ple took pride in helping him cross Park Heights to his apart-
ment. When my parents got a bit older, they took a special
Shabbos apartment on Park Heights Avenue. While the
apartment was only two blocks closer to the shul than their
home, they loved it – not only because the walk was shorter
but because it was special for Shabbos. It also gave them the
opportunity to invite Russian friends for Shabbos. In the later
years, they invited Russians for the Pesach seder, too. It was
quite an international seder, with the German nusach and
tunes, Haggadahs translated into Russian for the guests, and
Yiddish in the German dialect as the common language
around the table.
38 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
was always a hot meal, a loving smile, and a beautiful, neat
home awaiting him. Shabbos and Yom Tov were special: the
table full of harmony, beautiful zemiros, and guests. The
home was filled with many beautiful minhagim as well,
which my parents so loved and cherished. Shavuos found
flowers all over the house, and my parents always took pride
in decorating their shul, their extended home Shearith
Israel, with flowers, too.
Meshulachim were always greeted warmly at the door, and
as busy as my parents were at the business, they were con-
stantly helping at the shul or Bais Yaakov or entertaining
musically at a nursing home. They always found the time to
work for the community, together. Such was the home my
Dad built together with my Mom, a home of chesed and
tzedaka but always quiet, unassuming, and without publicity
or fanfare. That was how Dad always wanted it, and that’s the
way Mom always made it.
E�� G�������� What Dad Liked
Dad had little desire for material things. We used to joke with
������ �����������
MD S���� L������ # 13486 him that ties cost more than the three dollars he liked to
443.300.6291 ��������� spend. A car, to him, was merely a means to get around, and
����@M������E�������MD.��� he always said that being too fancy would cause the customer
M������E�������MD.���
to think you were making too big a profit. Dad was apolitical
�������� � �������
R���������� � ���������� and disliked politics, although he always voted.
������ What Dad did like was a close relationship to his Rav.
Rabbi Schwab, Rabbi Feldman, and later, Rabbi Hopfer were
his rabbanim, and with an emuna peshuta he embraced
their every teaching. Dad was a “tehilim Jew”; each day he
completed one book of Tehilim, completing the entire Sefer
Tehilim each week.
Dad was a great and loving father, and while he let Mom
do the day-to-day chinuch, he took us to shul regularly. To
Dad, his shul was everything. He loved shul and loved those
who went to minyanim and shiurim. Many remember how my
Mom took him by car to Mincha once he had stopped driv-
ing and how she would wait patiently for him each day after
davening. They served Hashem as a team.
Dad was a regular at the shiurim of Rabbi Hopfer and also
attended Rabbi Heinemann’s shiur weekly. He davened
Friday night and Shabbos Mincha at the Agudah, where peo-
ple took pride in helping him cross Park Heights to his apart-
ment. When my parents got a bit older, they took a special
Shabbos apartment on Park Heights Avenue. While the
apartment was only two blocks closer to the shul than their
home, they loved it – not only because the walk was shorter
but because it was special for Shabbos. It also gave them the
opportunity to invite Russian friends for Shabbos. In the later
years, they invited Russians for the Pesach seder, too. It was
quite an international seder, with the German nusach and
tunes, Haggadahs translated into Russian for the guests, and
Yiddish in the German dialect as the common language
around the table.
38 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
