Remembering Dick Lobenthal - A Legend

And the king said to his soldiers, “You well know that a prince, a great man of the Jewish people, has fallen this day" (II Samuel, 2:38).

I took Richard Lobenthal out for breakfast six years ago with the purpose of interviewing him about his life. My editor at The Detroit Jewish News gave me the go-ahead to write an extensive article about Dick's career with the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), which spanned four decades. At that breakfast I took copious notes -- over 10 pages filled with anecdotes from a decades-long mission of fighting hate. Several times over the past 6 years I considered writing that article, but it always felt too soon. I felt that if the article was published, he would soon die. So, I never wrote that article, but I still have the notes and plan to write it this year.

With Dick Lobenthal at the Anti-Defamation League's Centennial Celebration in 2013

I first met Dick Lobenthal at Michigan State University because he was the guy we called whenever there was anti-Semitism on campus or an anti-Israel speaker was coming. I got to know him very well in the summer of 1996 when Daniel Harold and I were his interns at the ADL office in Southfield. After that summer, I returned to MSU to discuss my summer "field experience" with my professor, Michael Schechter. He asked what I thought of my time at the ADL and I said something to the effect of, "This summer I had the honor to get to know a Living Legend."

Watching as Abe Foxman greets Richard Lobenthal at the ADL's Centennial Celebration in Detroit

The last time I saw Dick was when I took him out for lunch before his surgery. He seemed so brave about his prognosis and kept saying that he'd rather talk about me and my family. I honestly didn't think he'd live this long after the surgery, but it shows what a determined fighter he was. Dick's daughter, Lisabeth, asked me to share some stories about this great man at his funeral:

When the Detroit Jewish News emailed me yesterday and asked me to write Dick’s obituary for the paper, I did the normal thing. I went to the Jewish News archives online and did a search for Dick’s name. My eyes got about this big! Dick Lobenthal is mentioned in about 600 different issues of the Detroit Jewish News from the early 1960's to as recently as a couple years ago. Now, that’s pretty impressive considering it means that he’s mentioned in something like 10% of all issues printed during his time here in Metro Detroit.

Now, if you think that’s impressive, consider that, in addition to being quoted in articles – mostly about combating anti-Semitic attacks both locally and abroad – and the mentions about basic ADL business, the vast majority of those mentions are promoting Dick’s speaking engagements. In addition to the radio shows, the phone calls, the letter writing, the op-ed publishing, the advocacy work, the fundraising, the reading and research that he was doing, Dick Lobenthal was doing speaking engagements all the time. Those speaking engagements were not because Dick Lobenthal liked to hear himself talk. They were because he was teaching… he was an educator. He was teaching people to love, not hate. He was preaching tolerance and understanding. And he was indefatigable in this work. Our world, as we all know, is still a very fractured place, BUT, I truly believe the world is a BETTER place because of Dick Lobenthal and the godly work that he did.

In 2005, I invited Dick Lobenthal to speak to students at the University of Michigan Hillel

Two Stories:

It was my Freshman year at Michigan State. Admittedly, I was a naïve, Jewish kid from Metro Detroit who hadn’t been exposed to anything! I went to Hillel Day School, was active in a Synagogue Youth Group, went to Camp Tamarack, etc. Now, here I was an 18-year-old at MSU and now involved with the Jewish Student Union. It seemed like each week that Fall, another Nation of Islam representative, Israel-basher or Holocaust denier was coming to campus. Put simply, there was A LOT of “Hate on campus.” We college kids didn’t know what to do. Do we sit in silently in the audience to witness these speeches? Do we protest? Picket outside? Sit down in the crowd and wait for them to say something offensive and then get up and walk out?

Debbie Friedman and the Healing Power of Music

On Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page this past September, the Facebook founder and CEO posted that he was "celebrating Rosh Hashanah." In his Facebook post, Zuckerberg offered the following blessing to his millions of followers:

I want to wish L'Shana Tova to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashanah -- the Jewish new year and a moment to reflect on our limited time here so we may live more meaningfully. My favorite Jewish prayer is called Mi Shebeirach. It has a line that has always touched me and that I reflect on when I face challenges: "Help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing." I hope you all have a wonderful year ahead and that you find the courage to make a positive and meaningful change in the world this year.

There was something beautiful about Zuckerberg's Rosh Hashanah greeting, but I also took notice that his favorite Jewish prayer is called "Mi Shebeirach." There are actually several Mi Shebeirach prayers, but of course the one Zuckerberg was referencing is the popular prayer for healing. Thirty years ago, when Zuckerberg was a year old, it would be unlikely for someone to cite the prayer for healing as ones favorite prayer. The reason that Zuckerberg, like so many others, considers the "Mi Shebeirach" as their favorite prayer is thanks to one woman.

This past Shabbat marked five years since the well known singer/songwriter Debbie Friedman passed away following a long battle with cancer. Her contributions to Jewish prayer and spirituality have endured since her passing and whenever I hear someone mention the Mi Sheberach for healing, as Zuckerberg did, I'll think of Debbie Friedman and her beautiful rendition of this prayer that brought it to the level of mass appeal.

A couple weeks from now we will observe Shabbat Shira when we chant the Song of the Sea from Chapter 15 of Exodus. It is an appropriate time to reflect on both the power of music in prayer and on Debbie Friedman's immense contributions to synagogue spirituality through her powerful music.

Remembering CES Maven Neil Gandler

I usually spend the Sunday following the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas reflecting on all of the amazing new tech products I saw over the previous week. Of course I have a lot on my mind as this was the best CES I've experienced yet, but today I will put those reflections on hold because the tragedy of Neil Gandler's murder takes precedence.

Neil Gandler, founder of VegasTechShows.com

Ever since I began attending CES, like thousands of other attendees I came to depend upon a website of resources called VegasTechShows.com. This website was created by software engineer Neil Gandler as a labor of love. It was a roughly built site that more closely resembled a bulletin board (BBS), but even without a flashy, modern look provided detailed information for CES attendees. Neil offered a place on the Web for attendees, media and exhibitors to post helpful tips about travel to Vegas for CES, which hotels to stay at, meetups, dining options and parties. While the site is called Vegas Tech Shows, its function is only for the one week of CES. As the "senior editor and platform developer" of VegasTechShows.com, Neil was always granted a complimentary media pass to CES each year and 2016 would have been his 15th show.

A few years ago as I was preparing my yearly travel plans for CES I consulted Neil's website and had a specific question so I emailed him. I received an immediate response from Neil informing me that we already knew each other. Little did I know that Neil had attended the University of Michigan for graduate school and was active in the Jewish grad student and professionals group at U-M Hillel, where I served as the campus rabbi and associate director. Neil reminded me that he had attended a "Torah on Tap" program for grad students I led at a local bar in Ann Arbor. It was great to reconnect with him, and over the past couple of years we continued to keep in touch about interesting events surrounding CES.

This past October during the Sukkot holiday I received an email from Neil on a Friday afternoon. The subject was "Shabbat Shalom from Michigan" and Neil let me know he was in Ann Arbor and would love to see me over the weekend. I immediately wrote back, inviting him to our home the following day to have Shabbat lunch in our sukkah. He was excited to join us. Over lunch, Neil spoke about his experience in Silicon Valley, the prohibitively high cost of housing there, his plans to invest in tech startups and his love of food. A true foodie, he told us how much he enjoys trying new restaurants and remembers every meal he'd ever had. While in the Detroit area, he asked for suggestions of local kosher restaurants he should try in addition to some of the well known Detroit area restaurants he'd heard about.

Israel's Yom Hazikaron Contrasted to America's Memorial Day

Today is Yom Hazikaron, Israel's memorial day, and it has me looking back to December 2002 when I had the opportunity to meet some new friends at the Dead Sea, where my wife and I spent a couple of days relaxing at the end of our vacation in London and Israel. There were hundreds of men at our hotel who became severely disabled while fighting for Israel’s continued existence. They risked their lives in protecting our Jewish homeland.

They are known as N’chei Tzahal – the disabled veterans of the IDF. Some could barely walk anymore, even with the aid of a cane or a walker. Others are amputees, missing an arm or a leg, and bound to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives. Others still, were not injured while on active duty, but rather suffered life-long disabilities from a terrorist explosion while waiting at a bus stop just trying to get back to the base after a weekend off. They were at the Dead Sea to find some temporary relief from their disabling pain through the therapeutic powers of the Dead Sea.

The N’chei Tzahal come each year for two or three weeks, and most of the hotels are very accommodating to their needs, displaying a level of handicapped accessibility that is unmatched anywhere in the world. The Israeli Government pays for their much-deserved vacation, but if it is not taken by the end of the year, the opportunity is lost. Thus, many of them make their vacation to the Dead Sea at the end of every December; making the Dead Sea, in essence, the unofficial convention and reunion of Israel’s disabled veterans.