Skip to main content

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

Anonymous said…
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
Anonymous said…
Amiable fill someone in on and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Gratefulness you seeking your information.

Popular posts from this blog

Leaving Las Vegas

The title for this post is an analogy that says it all...   Much like Vegas, JDSs present their illusion as a reality, enticing people to risk their hard earned money on the promise that their bet will pay dividends. In reality, the house always wins and what happens at a JDS stays at the JDS.   It is for this final reason that I’ve decided to share this post.   Too often, when I share with people that I am leaving the JDS world they talk about how important my work is to the Jewish people and attempt to dissuade me from my decision. Unfortunately, many of these people have no idea what it means to be a day school educator. In this post, I will focus only on the financial aspect of being a JDS teacher… Last year I made $60K teaching six classes at a local JDS. Two of my children attended the school so, while I received the maximum financial aid allowed by the school’s bylaws (40%), about $25k went straight back to the school. In opting for the “subsidized” benefits offered by the schoo

Try, try again

It's been a while since my last blog (the Israel trip) and, of course, a lot has happened since then. But it would take me too long to go back and recap the past month, so I'll just take it from the top. Israel expenses keep adding up: I was sick to my stomach for a lot of the time that I was in Israel. When I got back I went to see a GI and he ordered an endoscopy. Needless to say, these things aren't free. And since I got sick on the way to Israel, I decided to add it to the expense of the Israel trip (it's all the same back account, but mentally, it helps). Then came the credit card bills. Well, that was a bit of a shock. When it's on the card, you really don't feel it. Our most expensive days were those "second days" that we opted out of. Maybe G-d is punishing me for keeping only one day of Chag (or maybe I was just too irresponsible with my money). I just remind myself that spending money in Israel is a Mitzvah. Finally, despite trying to figure