Famous Jews New York City Lost in 2021

On average, more than 50 people die in New York each year, and given that the city's estimated Jewish population is about 000%, it is reasonable to assume that about 12 of them were Jews. At the end of 6000 JTA draws our attention to the deceased Jews who changed the life of the city.

Milton Steinberg

A worship leader devoted to the music of a vanished world.

Milton Steinberg's commitment to traditional Eastern European prayer and liturgical music began as a child in a village in northern Hungary. Music together with Steinberg survived the tragedy of the Holocaust, during which his mother and three younger brothers and sisters were killed.

And he himself got a new life in Riverdale, the borough Bronx... He and his wife, also a Holocaust survivor, settled and raised their family here. Owner of a sportswear store on weekdays, Steinberg moonlighted as a worship leader at the Riverdale Jewish Center on weekends. For over ten years he worked with the cantor of the synagogue during the recitation of the Avoda prayer, which is the centerpiece of the Yom Kippur liturgy.

“People had tears in their eyes,” said Arlene Steinberg of her father's voice. "Cantorial music meant everything to him."

Steinberg died on January 14, 2021 from complications from COVID-19 at the age of 96.

Ida Solome

A life story that has inspired many.

Ida Solome has twice appeared in public in the past two years. First time around the start of the pandemic, journalist Irin Carmon interviewed her cousin Jack, Ida's husband, about his views on pandemic isolation. Holocaust survivor Jack then said: "What we do now is a luxury." He noted that the concern for Ida, whom he met when they hid from the Nazis under the floorboards of a Polish farmer for two years, was a reason for him to stay alive.

Ida's second public appearance happened after her death at the age of 100, on December 7, 2021. An obituary posted by her family in The New York Times caused a stir on social media.

“Her life was like a book,” wrote the viral tweet author, sharing the obituary to Solome.

Carmon wrote on Instagram, “I knew she spoke seven languages ​​and at the funeral I learned that she had learned English by reading Time magazine. She was very loving, elegant and generous. We are lucky that she lived on this Earth at the same time as us. "

Abi Shumer

The father of a famous politician, who loves his family very much.

A World War II veteran, Abraham Schumer took over his family's business in Brooklyn, although he never liked going to work. The basis of his life was the family, even in spite of minor incidents. He once had a falling out with his wife over missing the birth of his eldest son - Abi slipped out of the hospital to watch Macy's parade on Thanksgiving.

His son, Chuck Schumer, is currently the most senior Jewish MP in US history.

“In many ways, he personified the greatest generation,” wrote Chuck Schumer after the death of his 98-year-old father in November. “He accepted everything that fell on his fate, no matter how difficult it was, he did his job, never complained. A wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather. We love him and we will miss him. "

Yolanda Dreyfus, Tilda Landowitz and Leah Praskin

Longtime sisterhood members of the Adat Yisrael Conservative Synagogue in Riverdale.

"Leah Praskin always looked like she was going to tea in Plaza... But she was the first to “get to work and get dirty” when necessary, ”Rabbi Katie Greenberg, CSAIR, wrote about her.

"Tilda Landowitz twice President of the Sisterhood, she was an innovator. Tilda initiated our weekly scab lesson. It continues to develop, although four rabbis have already changed. She also initiated our first Bat Mitzvah program for adults. She organized various programs - from signing copyright books to organizing meals at home and training Krav Maga. Most importantly, she involved others who became our next Sisterhood leaders. She ensured the continued importance of women's voices and actions in support of our synagogue, ”said the rabbi.

Yolanda Dreyfus came to the Bronx via France and never lost her continental flair. She has always encouraged the sisterhood to sponsor trips to museums, theaters, and music events. Yolanda was the first to volunteer for repetitive tasks that are the bane of organizations. These include preparing packages during Purim, filling envelopes, distributing registration sheets and collecting donations. She loved being in the background, but at the Sisterhood we made sure to share her significant work with her. This year we have lost three of the strongest and wisest women. Each had its own unique strengths, and together they were strength. " - said Rabbi Katie Greenberg.

David Eliach

Influenced countless students in Orthodox day schools.

David Eliach has led the education of thousands of children at Flatbush's modern Orthodox yeshiva since 1953, when he moved to the United States from Israel. He taught there until his retirement as dean in 1997 at the age of 75. He continued to actively participate in the life of the school until the end of his life. Visiting her several times a week, he instructed the teachers.

When he died in September at the age of 99, he was mourned by generations of students and others in the Jewish world. They were impressed by his dedication to the Hebrew language, poetry and lifelong learning. In a letter announcing the death of Eliach Yeshiva of Flatbush, they wrote: "His contribution to Jewish education around the world is unprecedented, and his impact on thousands of students will be felt for generations to come."

Marianne Steiner

Sole of company

As a young Jewish refugee in the late 1930s, Marianne Steiner brought her creative flair to her work. She was a showcase decorator in Saks Fifth Avenue, an upscale department store in Manhattan.

Although her family was well off before leaving Nazi Germany, their finances in New York were more limited. At the time, Steiner only had one black dress, which she wore to work every day, adorned with different collars.

Steiner met her husband, a publisher and designer. They lived together on the Upper East Side for decades. The couple became collectors of Greek art and major sponsors of efforts to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.

“She had great style,” her son Tom Steiner said shortly after his mother died in February at the age of 101. “She knew everyone. My friends, who were much younger than her, loved her. She was the life of the party. "

Dorit Niven

Taught at Kinneret Day School in Riverdale for over 50 years

“Dorit was one of those rare teachers you can meet once in a lifetime. She was a legend. Her wisdom, her love, her approach to children, her smile will shine forever. Dorit was strong. She was smart. She was open and inspiring. Her class was a continuous experiment full of imagination. Together with her pupils, she rediscovered the world anew every day. In one day, she and her students visited Israel, learned Hebrew, celebrated some Jewish historical event, learned to read, count, draw, saw, cook, plant, respect, interact, sing, etc., and all this before dinner. Her energy and drive were limitless.

Outside of class, she never stopped talking about her home, her husband Mark, her family.

I first met Dorit in 1969. We have worked together every day for over 50 years. When you work with someone day in and day out, as much as I do, you really get to know the person as a friend and as a colleague, and trust me, Dorit was one of a kind. I miss her very much ... Her memory makes me smile every day. She was 75 years old when she died in August " - said Asher Abramovitz, director of the Kinneret day school

Larry Harlow

Salsa musician known as The Marvelous Jew.

Lawrence Ira Kahn was born into a family of Jewish musicians and quickly honed his talents. He began piano lessons at the age of 5 in 1944. But it was his daily journey to New York City's High School of Music and Art, then based in Harlem, that pushed him to love salsa and become Larry Harlow. The marvelous jew.

“When I got off the subway, I climbed this huge hill and heard this weird music coming from all the bars,” the award-winning salsa musician recounted in 2006, “I thought, 'What kind of music is this? Really nice! "

Later, with the money of the bar mitzvah, he bought a tape recorder and a ticket to Cuba, where he studied salsa. Then he returned to perform at the Borscht Belt. Throughout his long career, Harlow has received awards for his performance in Latin American music and culture. He bore the nickname “El Judio Maravilloso”.

"I never pretended to be who I was not," he said in 2010, more than ten years before his death in August at the age of 82. "I have always been proud to be Jewish."

Sylvia Deutsch

The woman who broke the barriers to create the face of New York.

Sylvia Deutsch's imprint is visible throughout New York. Deutsch is the first woman to chair the City Council for Standards and Appeals and then the Planning Commission from 1981 to 1989. She spearheaded the renaissance of Times Square, championing the brilliant, sometimes dizzying visuals that are now a symbol of the square. She was also deeply involved in shaping New York City away from the tourist destinations. Deutsch favored "contextual zoning" with affordable housing.

Deutsch is best known for her role as a leader and peacemaker in the controversial educational battle in her native Brooklyn. As a result, she developed a system for electing the school board. The system aimed at proportional representation of the many student groups in the city's public schools that she and her children attended. The daughter of Lithuanian immigrants who taught Hebrew, Deutsch took Hebrew lessons on her own as an adult in order to participate more fully in the synagogue worship.

She passed away on June 21 at the age of 96.

Bonnie Mamie

She lived a full life despite her health problems.

“Our daughter Bonnie was so special. She raised three wonderful kids who are in college or just graduated. She has had lupus for over 20 years. She lost her kidneys many years ago and was on peritoneal dialysis. Mount Sinai Hospital in New York called her when they had a patient who needed dialysis and was in trouble. She did it with pleasure. Two years ago, she gave a lecture on peritoneal dialysis to 40 doctors there. She was an expert in this matter. She will be sorely missed. She died in April " - said her father Alan Karpilov.

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Didi Benel

A model of mercy for decades.

“The world has lost one of the great mentors of the 30th century, my teacher and friend Didi Benel. She spent 2017 years programming and chesed at Ramaz High School. Didi took students to meet with refuseniks in Russia, to paint beds in the HASC camp. She helped distribute merchandise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Helped rebuild destroyed homes in Puerto Rico. Visited the sick at Lenox Hill Hospital, prayed at the Iranian consulate for the kidnapped Hayali [Israeli soldiers], and much more. Didi's influence sent me to Houston after Hurricane Harvey as a shaliah [emissary] in XNUMX. Didi planned programs for every important moment in the Jewish year. She taught her students that there is only one way to do things: perfect. No matter how much preparation each perfection requires. Her high standards and work ethic have inspired generations of students. If you care about something, ”Didi taught us,“ you have to act. She died in June ”, - said Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin, headmaster of the North Shore Hebrew Academy and former headmaster of Ramaz High School.

Saul Cohen

Introduced changes to the college system in New York.

Like another influential New York Jew, Mike Bloomberg, Saul Cohen was born in Malden, Massachusetts. He moved to New York early in his career. But he left a significant mark on the city. He was hired in 1978. He became President of Queens College thanks in large part to his commitment to maintaining high academic standards as well as increasing student diversity.

After completing his service there in 1985, Cohen returned to class, becoming a geography professor at Hunter College. Then he joined the Board of Trustees, the body of state policy in the field of education. In this role, he found a compromise that ended the era of open admission at the City University of New York.

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A product of the Hebrew College High School Jewish curriculum and secular Zionist youth programs, he wrote his dissertation at Harvard University. The dissertation is devoted to the port of Haifa, an Israeli city with which he established and maintained close ties. His daughter Deborah Shmueli is a professor of geography at the University of Haifa. Cohen died on June 9 at his home in Larchmont. He was 95 years old.

Mimi Lieber

Marketing pioneer who lobbied for increased funding for public schools.

Mimi Lieber grew up in Detroit and was educated at the University of Chicago. After college, she moved to New York. Here Lieber began her career in marketing. It revolutionized the use of focus groups to understand consumer preferences. (L'Eggs, those egg-shaped plastic pantyhose containers that were once on the checkout in supermarkets? They are the product of her research.)

As a member of the New York City Board of Trustees, she has successfully pushed for increased funding for schools serving underprivileged children. After retiring, she founded a non-profit literacy organization. Despite all this, she and her husband were actively involved in the reconstructionist movement as members of the SAJ, a synagogue in their Upper West Side area.

A few months before her death, her cousin, former Michigan Senator Carl Levin, died. Her son Janno Lieber is currently the Chairman of the Capital Transit Authority. She died on October 16 at the age of 93.

Marion Schulewitz

Leading Rabbi of Egalitarian Judaism

Rabbi Marion Ruth Schulewitz, a 25-year chaplain in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice programs in New York City. She died on May 1 at her home in the city at the age of 88. Schulewitz entered the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1984, in the first grade, which included women. At 51, she described how sad she was knowing that she would not have the kind of career she could have had if the Conservative movement had previously decided to ordain women. Her family described her as a devoted member of the Anshe Khesed Congregation and a fighter for equal Judaism. She took pride in being arrested at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for demanding women's rights.

Nah Waxman

Created a community through cookbooks.

Nach Waxman has turned his Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore on the Upper East Side into an international gourmet and cookbook consumer destination. On the Upper West Side, he built a congregation through his synagogue, the Anshe Hesed Congregation. He and his wife went there without delay every Shabbat and remained there until the end of the service. To build the service, he also used the salons that the couple kept in their apartment.

Sunday morning Torah studies were with bagels and smoked salmon, or matzah bray for Easter and latkes for Hanukkah. After he died at the age of 84 in August, Waxman's friends remembered him as "a wonderful cook, or rather a chef" and a man completely devoted to his hobbies. “There is no one better than Naha - in a way, it’s a different time,” said Jewish cookbook author Joan Nathan, People Are More Entrepreneurs. He did it for the love of cooking. "