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in memoriam for a mensch
Jan. 4th, 2009 05:53 pmThe easiest, if slightly misleading, way for me to describe the man whose memorial service I attended today is that he was my boss.
I work part-time cataloging for my synagogue library. The library is run by a committee that includes all the regular staff workers, and he chaired that committee. He convened the meetings, he acted as leader of our discussions and kept them focused on policy, and he took the dire responsibility of communicating with the temple administration. Knowledge of the details of library work was not his specialty; that's what the rest of us did. What he did better than we could was organize, plan, budget, and keep an eye on the big picture.
He was born in Vienna, and slipped out of the country with his family at the age of 14 after the Anschluss. They spent the WW2 years in Shanghai, which was the only place stateless persons could stay in without a visa. There he learned to be an electrician, and after coming to the U.S. became a facilities engineer. He married a refugee from Holland, and they raised a family and joined our synagogue. He was keen-eyed, friendly, and respectful, and others respected him. I always felt the library was going somewhere, and the best tribute to a good organizer is: that I feel it will continue going without him.
I work part-time cataloging for my synagogue library. The library is run by a committee that includes all the regular staff workers, and he chaired that committee. He convened the meetings, he acted as leader of our discussions and kept them focused on policy, and he took the dire responsibility of communicating with the temple administration. Knowledge of the details of library work was not his specialty; that's what the rest of us did. What he did better than we could was organize, plan, budget, and keep an eye on the big picture.
He was born in Vienna, and slipped out of the country with his family at the age of 14 after the Anschluss. They spent the WW2 years in Shanghai, which was the only place stateless persons could stay in without a visa. There he learned to be an electrician, and after coming to the U.S. became a facilities engineer. He married a refugee from Holland, and they raised a family and joined our synagogue. He was keen-eyed, friendly, and respectful, and others respected him. I always felt the library was going somewhere, and the best tribute to a good organizer is: that I feel it will continue going without him.
