November 2000 - חֶשְׁוָן .. כִּסְלֵו תשס״א Cheshvan..Kislev 5761

I

Marvin Weinreb, 1926-2000, zikron tzaddik livracha.

Dr. Marvin Weinreb was more than a Board Member for Life for Temple Beth Sholom, and more than a generous benefactor to many, many good causes, more than a healer and more than a dedicated volunteer of his services. Marv was more than a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and more than a great friend. If Marv Weinreb was not a Lamed-vavnik, he was as close to one as I have ever been fortunate enough to know. The Talmud teaches that “the world must contain not less than thirty-six (lamed = 30, vav = six) righteous people in each generation.” Later Kabbalah and Hasidic traditions add “the world exists only for their merit”. Finally, “the lamedvavnik was unnoticed by other men because of his humble nature.” (Encyclopedia Hebraica)

Marv Weinreb was a righteous man and an outstanding scholar. He remembered the smallest details of Jewish tradition and gently led us, rabbi and lay person alike, to recall and enact what might have otherwise been over looked. I never felt belittled or demeaned, I felt as if a kindly teacher was studying with me, sharing with me, and allowing me to grow in knowledge and strength. I felt the guiding hand of a more mature and experienced friend. I will miss that guidance. I will miss that friendship.

Of course, Marv was a doctor, a partner with God in healing. A caring and concerned physician, he never really retired, but continued to run clinics and volunteer in remote parts of the world that were without adequate medical attention. He flew his beloved plane to complete an innumerable array of mitzvot. I would venture to guess that Marv's plane got the best MPM, mitzvot- per mile, of any plane in the air. I had the honor of flying with him and Al Mooney once to bring our Torah to Los Angeles for repair by a sopher.

And Marv Weinreb was a mensch, a gentleman, a scholar, and a Jewish role model for the entire community. He was a Federation chair, our synagogue president, on the board of the Magnes Museum, and so many other positions of leadership that it is impossible to enumerate them. But he was also a pious member of the Shabbat and Tuesday morning minyanim, put on tefillin every day since he became a Bar Mitzvah, and was a regular participant in the Torah Study. When he was not with us davening, we knew that he was completing a minyan somewhere else. So, even though as Jews we do not believe in heaven, we are certain that God is calling upon Marv today to make up the heavenly minyan, for the sake of which, God sustains the world. Thank you Marv. We shall always remember you.

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D.

II

In light of the tragic events last month in Israel and Palestine, I want to share with you the letter that a friend and a partner in the Jewish Palestinian Dialogue wrote to our group. Dudy is an Israeli physician teaching and studying at UCSF. These are his words:

It is important for us to recognize that for every event that takes place, there is a Palestinian perspective and an Israeli one, which are very different and contradicting to each other. Each perspective comes from different facts being observed and reported, but even more so out of different history and different interpretation of these facts. It is understandable and important that we search for the truth, but we should accept that the perceptions are so polarized now that we are not going to agree on everything.

Even if we get hold of the truth, it will not go back and change the perception of the people while those events took place. For example, no matter what the soldiers were doing in Ramallah, the fact is that the Palestinians believed at the time that these were mistaarvim who came to harm them. Indeed, this is not something that did not happen in the past, or is unreasonable. For the Israelis they were innocent soldiers who made a tragic mistake and were lynched for that. This is also not unreasonable.

In any case we can agree that it is a terrible death, cannot be justified and should not have happened.

Similarly, I can see a soldier in front of Palestinian demonstrators feeling that these children with stones are a threat to his life, while it may not be the case. I can also envision the perception that Yoram was describing, in which the soldiers who killed Muhamad El Dura felt in life-danger. For the Palestinians, this Palestinian child and his father made a tragic mistake, he was targeted and killed for that in cold blood.

In any case we can agree that it is a terrible death, it cannot be justified and should not have happened.

My intention is not to put everything on an equal basis, which is obviously not the case, but to say that no matter what the truth is, these are the perceptions and the degree of dehumanization that we need to deal with. As long as these perceptions and dehumanization exist, we will continue seeing horrifying images on the screen. It would be more constructive to deal with the context, question ourselves what has been missing from the peace process and what would it take to resolve the conflict in a just and lasting way and generate a common perspective both people can agree upon.

—Dr. David “Dudy” Tzfati, AMESP

AMESP - The Alliance of Middle Eastern Scientists and Physicians
AMESP is a campus-registered organization at the University of California at San Francisco. Our mission is to promote mutual understanding, respect and trust among our peoples through scientific and medical collaboration, and to advance a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D.

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