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Rabbi Marcus

My sister called this morning and left a message telling me that Rabbi Marcus passed away.
I hadn't seen the man in quite some time (It's been a while since I've been to Toronto, even longer since I've been to Bnai Torah and almost forever since I last spoke with the rabbi - probably at my aufruf a few years back). I did know that he was sick, but I never really process these things well (out of sight, out of mind?). And as inevitable as the news was for some, it really caught me off guard.

The first time I met the rabbi I was a five year-old kindergarten student at Eitz Chaim. Over the course of the year we had been learning our Aleph Bet, earning stars for every letter that we covered along the way. I, of course, had procrastinated for most of the year so that, by the end of the year, I had only gotten as far as the fifth or sixth letter (not for lack of knowledge, mind you). With time running out, I tried to corner my teachers to have them listen to me run through all of the letters so that I could earn my stars.
Shockingly, they could not devote all of their time to ME.
This upset me tremendously, so I stormed out of the classroom into the school lobby at the very moment that Rabbi Marcus was entering the front office (This was the rabbi's very first day and he was on his way to introduce himself to his neighbors).
When he saw me moping in the lobby (I was really cute and innocent-looking as a kid) he asked me what was wrong. I explained my situation, and he offered to solve it by being the one to listen to me recite my letters.
He spent a significant amount of time with me that day, and I earned a lot of stars as a result of his kindness and patience.
First impressions are very important.
That is the Rabbi Marcus that I knew.
That is the Rabbi Marcus that I remember.

Baruch Dayan Emet.

Comments

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January 7, 2010 at 2:43 PM
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January 19, 2010 at 1:04 PM
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