Rabbi Judah Fish

Rabbi Judah Leon Fish of Elkins Park, PA, died on Friday, February 25, 2005, at Hopkins Center in Wyncote, PA. Rabbi Fish, 70, had been seriously ill since the summer of 2004. Rabbi Fish was born in Cincinnati, OH, on March 23, 1934. He was the son of Joseph Meyer Fish, a Jewish educator and mathematics teacher, and Esther Epstein Fish, a rabbi’s daughter who immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe in 1926. Rabbi Fish received his secular education at the Cincinnati public schools, and his Jewish education from the community Talmud Torah of Cincinnati, where his father was a teacher. After graduating from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati in 1950, Rabbi Fish entered the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in philosophy. He spent his sophomore year of college at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1954, Rabbi Fish commenced his rabbinical studies in New York City at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the rabbinical seminary of Conservative Judaism. In 1960, the Seminary ordained him as a rabbi and conferred on him the degree of Master of Hebrew Literature. In 1986, the Seminary honored Rabbi Fish with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Rabbi Fish also received certification as a M’ssader Gittin, or supervisor of the observance of Jewish divorce rituals. Rabbi Fish was a full-time congregational rabbi for 44 years, from his ordination in 1960 until his retirement in 1999. During these years, he served as the spiritual leader of five synagogues: Congregation Beth Shalom in Modesto, CA; Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin, TX; Congregation Beth Israel in Flint, MI; Gomley Chesed Congregation in Portsmouth, VA; Congregation Kol Ami in Tampa, FL; and Congregation Ahavath Israel in Kingston, NY. Upon his retirement from the full-time rabbinate in 1999, Rabbi Fish was named Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Ahavath Israel. Throughout his career, Rabbi Fish was active in rabbinic organizations and in general community affairs. From his ordination in 1960 until the end of his life, he was a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, the national organization of Conservative rabbis. At various times, Rabbi Fish served as president of the Capital District (NY) Board of Rabbis, of the Tidewater (VA) Board of Rabbis, and of the Kallah of Texas Rabbis. He also served on the Board of Governors of the New York Board of Rabbis. On November 22, 1965, Rabbi Fish, at the invitation of President Lyndon B. Johnson, gave an invocation at a memorial service for President John F. Kennedy in Fredricksburg, TX. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, while he was the rabbi of Gomley Chesed Congregation in Portsmouth, VA, Rabbi Fish served as a chaplain with the Portsmouth Police Department. On August 7, 1960, shortly after his ordination, Rabbi Fish was married, in Pittsburgh, PA, to Joy Tenor of Beaver Falls, PA. Mrs. Fish holds a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and professional degrees in education and library science, and has worked, at various times, as a teacher and a librarian. The Fishes raised two sons, Daniel Jeremy (born in 1962), who is now an attorney in New York City, and Joseph M. Ron (born in 1969), who followed his father into the rabbinate and now serves a congregation in Norwalk, CT. Ron is the father of Rabbi Fish’s three grandchildren: Hana Klara (born in 1999); Dore Ayden (born in 2002); and Nili Hadas (born in 2004). Rabbi Fish had an extensive knowledge of the Bible, rabbinic literature, and modern historical scholarship in the Jewish sources. Still, his Jewish faith was simple and heartfelt, based on the conviction that the evolving religious tradition of the Jewish people can provide meaning and moral guidance to modern-day Jews. To that end, the Rabbi, while remaining faithful to many of the ancient forms of Jewish ritual and practice, took a liberal and pragmatic approach to the interpretation of Jewish law and thought. Like his father before him, he was a strong supporter of the State of Israel. He was also a forceful advocate of women’s equal participation in Jewish worship and ritual, and spoke out for women’s equality in the religious realm years before that view began to predominate in the Conservative movement. In addition, he saw great value in dialogue between Jewish and Christian religious leaders that, while respectful of each community’s different beliefs, could foster cooperation in attaining common social goals. Most importantly, over the many years of his career, Rabbi Fish communicated his love and enthusiasm for the Jewish tradition to countless individuals whose lives he touched - children beginning their Jewish education, bar and bat mitzvah students and their parents, couples getting married, converts, the bereaved, regular and occasional synagogue-goers, and people in search of meaning in their lives, both young and old. Perhaps the Rabbi’s most salient intellectual characteristic was his love for the Hebrew language. As Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Parks has observed, he had an “impeccable knowledge of . . . classical Hebrew grammar.” When preparing young people for their bar and bat mitzvahs, he made great efforts to educate each student, insofar as possible, to pronounce the words of the liturgy correctly, and to understand the language that he or she was reading. His exactitude in matters of grammar and pronunciation was balanced by a playful sense of humor, and a delight in puns and word-play generally. He also had a fine singing voice, and greatly enjoyed combining the roles of rabbi and cantor. Rabbi Fish was known as Zeyde by his grandchildren, who loved him and whom he adored. From the time of the birth of Hana Fish-Bieler, his first grandchild, they were a constant source of pleasure for him. Most memorably, he and Joy celebrated their 70th birthdays together last March. A large assembly of friends and family came together to toast the couple at this milestone. For all the excitement and happiness of the day, it was a brisk walk, hand in hand, that Judah took that day with his grandkids that seems to have meant the most to him. Even as he lay in a state of total paralysis, he smiled broadly and happily when reminded of the feeling of Dore and Hana’s little hands in his. His diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma came just days after the birth of his third grandchild, Nili Hadas. She was named for his mother Esther (Hadassa) who died only 5 months prior to her birth. The last time he was with his family in health was at her Simchat Bat (baby naming). This proud zeyde often quoted from the book of Proverbs 17:6: “The crown of the aged is children’s children.” In retirement, Rabbi and Mrs. Fish lived in Elkins Park, PA, where they affiliated with two local synagogues, Congregation Adath Jeshurun and Congregation Beth Sholom. In Elkins Park, Rabbi Fish was active in the Jewish community, teaching adult education classes and acting as a supervisor of kashruth (dietary laws) observance. While maintaining his primary residence in Elkins Park, Rabbi Fish served as rabbi, on a part-time basis, at Temple Beth El in Allentown, PA, and, subsequently, at Congregation Beth Sholom in Dover, DE. He remained intellectually active until his final illness, taking graduate courses in religion at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his wife, his sons, and his grandchildren, Rabbi Fish is survived by five siblings - Miriam Reisman of Carlsbad, CA; Vivian Forman of Norfolk, VA; Charles A. Fish, M.D., of Johnson City, TN; B. David Fish, Esq. of Cincinnati, OH, and Cherie Artz, Esq., of McLean, VA - and by numerous nieces and nephews. Contributions in memory of Rabbi Fish may be made to any of the following organizations: the Jewish Theological Seminary Scholarship Fund, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027; Congregation Ahavath Israel, P.O. Box 3063, Kingston, NY 12402; the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 51 Locust Avenue, Suite 201, New Canaan, CT 06840. --------------------------------- EULOGY DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL OF RABBI JUDAH FISH by Rabbi Robert Layman Gur aryeh Yehudah…Judah is a lion's whelp…He crouches, lies down like a lion/ Like the king of beasts - who dare rouse him? With these words, the Patriarch praises his fourth son in the 49th chapter of Genesis known as the Testament of Jacob. Rabbi Judah Fish, to whom we now offer our farewell tribute, was given the combined Hebrew and Yiddish name Yehuda Leib - Judah Lion, rendered literally. He must have had the inner strength of a lion to survive for more than seven months after that fateful Thursday evening last July. He was not expected to last through the weekend, but his heart and lungs remained strong inside an immobile body. And the brain - the cognitive and intellectual portions remained active and, for a time, the speech center as well, while all else had failed. That brain had required surgery in May 2003. I went to visit Judah in Abington Hospital the morning after the operation, not knowing what to expect. He was already sitting up, his head swathed in a bandage, and Joy was standing at his bedside. I remarked lightheartedly, 'I'm here to fulfill the mitzvah of bikkur holim,' which most people know means 'visiting the sick.' Seizing on an alternate meaning of the Hebrew root bakar, he responded in typical fashion, 'criticizing the sick.' At that point, Joy and I agreed that the neurosurgeon should have made some kind of adjustment while he was operating. Last Friday night, that brain and everything else shut down. It was time, and appropriately and perhaps ironically so, because it was Shabbat. When we were children we used to call an exceptionally gifted classmate a 'brain.' 'He's a brain,' we would say with a combination of admiration and envy. We learned in high school that the usage of the part representing the whole was known by a fancy Greek word, synecdoche. I can imagine Judah - lion that he was - ready to pounce on me and prompt me if I neglected to mention that bit of linguistic trivia. If I had known Judah in elementary school, I would have called him a brain. The fact of the matter is that we became acquainted some 50 years ago when we were students at the Jewish Theological Seminary. I was ordained in 1959; he, a year later, but the student population was small and we were in many classes together. I remember being impressed with the scope and depth of his knowledge, his articulateness, and, of course, his keen wit. We were not, however, close friends. That relationship would develop many years later. In the intervening years, Judah served as the rabbi of congregations in various parts of the country. Wherever he ministered to a congregation, he endeared himself to the members. They greatly treasured his compassion, his wit and wisdom, and his scholarship. Even after he retired from his position in Kingston NY, he remained active in the rabbinate, serving as part-time interim rabbi at Temple Beth El in Allentown for two years. I often received glowing reports about him from several of my friends there. Subsequently, he held a similar post at Beth Sholom in Dover, DE and would have remained there had his health permitted. There, also, Rabbi Fish was held in high esteem. I imagine that these two and possibly other congregations are represented in the assemblage this morning. Upon retiring, Judah and Joy had to decide where to move. They wisely considered a place that was located a reasonable distance from their mothers and other family members to the west as well as from their sons and family to the north. They chose Elkins Park in 1999 and almost immediately formed a circle of new friends and became reconnected to colleagues and former classmates from the Seminary years. They were delighted with their new surroundings and the warm and friendly people whom they met. They had begun a new and promising phase in their life. My wife Ruth and I were happy to be a part of that. We often had dinner in each others' homes or went out to a restaurant or a movie together. Judah, in particular, adjusted very quickly. I was amazed at how rapidly he learned the various routes in the SEPTA system and the roads in the very complex geography of the Philadelphia area. I, who took pride in developing knowledge of the streets of Philadelphia and all of the trolley lines at an early age, was put to shame by this newcomer who quickly mastered all of the highways and byways in the region. There was much more to this complex man. His grasp of languages and, with it, his ability to devise bi-lingual and sometimes multi-lingual puns was staggering. You had to be careful of what you said because he could pick up on a word and tell you that it meant something entirely different in Hebrew, or Yiddish, or German, or Polish, or Hungarian. He loved to rattle off short phrases in any of those European languages. The piece de resistance came when someone mentioned Estonia, and he began counting from 1 to 10 in Estonian. 'Estonian?! Wherever did you come to that?' I once asked. He told me that his mother was born there. Esther, who lived to 101, had lived in several countries before immigrating to the United States and was fluent in seven or eight languages. There was evidently a genetic link. It was an experience to sit near Judah in shul. The booming voice aside, woe to any Torah reader who stood within earshot of Judah, the purist and perfectionist, who noted rather audibly every misplaced accent or mispronounced kamatz katan. His critical comments were justified, for he was an accomplished Torah reader himself. Both A.J. and Beth Sholom in Elkins Park were beneficiaries of his skills in this area and his occasional lectures on a variety of topics. He also conducted 'Lunch and Learn' sessions in Jenkintown and Center City and, overall, was very much a part of the Jewish community. Calling to mind the old rabbinic simile, Judah was like a well-cemented cistern that retained its contents and always had room for more. His thirst for learning knew no bounds. Wherever there was a lecture that interested him, Judah was there, whether at Gratz College, the University of PA, the Gershman Y, or you name it. If there was a question-and-answer period, he usually challenged the speaker or imparted some words of wisdom of his own. He, Rabbi Charles Kraus, and I became classmates again when we audited the highly popular classes in Modern History taught by Prof. Jonathan Steinberg at Penn. We usually traveled on the same train to University City. One Thursday when I knew that Judah was supposed to be in Dover, I happened to meet him as we were leaving the University City station. 'I thought you were in Dover,' I remarked. He responded that he had driven there the day before and left his car at the house. That Thursday morning at 5:30 he walked about a mile to the bus station, boarded a bus headed for Wilmington, then took the SEPTA train to arrive in time for class. 'You're crazy!' I exclaimed, not meaning really to offend him but rather to express amazement at his dedication to learning and implying that he was pushing himself too hard just a few months after that serious operation on his brain. He was more amused than offended. I may have been onto something. In the ensuing months he suffered a number of setbacks to his health including an episode while on the bimah in Dover. The rest, as they say, is history. Yehudah, atah yodukha ahekha…You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise. So declares Jacob in the passage that I cited at the outset. Not only your brothers, Charlie and David, but your sisters Miriam, Vivian and Cherie; your beloved mother, of blessed memory, to whom you were a source of so much nachas; your wife of 44 years, Joy who maintained her composure and steadfastly supported you during your long illness; your sons Dan and Ron who will pay tribute in their own words; your daughter-in-law Leah; your grandchildren Hana, Dore, and Nili, who will have only dim memories of their beloved zeyde in the years to come; and all the loved ones and friends whose lives you touched. Permit me to conclude with a personal reflection. After more than 45 years in the rabbinate in various roles I am still having unprecedented experiences. One afternoon last summer, I went visit Judah at Temple University Hospital. He was alone. I noticed a dish of sliced peaches on the table, apparently left over from lunch. He was eating fairly normally then but could not feed himself. 'Would you like dessert?' I asked him. He assented and I began cutting the sliced peaches into bite-size pieces and feeding him slowly, occasionally dabbing with a napkin at the juice running down his chin. It broke my heart to have to feed him like a baby but I left that room with the feeling that I had learned a whole new meaning for hesed. In the Amidah that we recite three times a day, God is described as gomel hasadim tovim, bestowing lovingkindness. This was one of the rare occasions in my lifetime that I truly believed that God must have viewed with favor my simple act of hesed. Thank you, Judah, for teaching me the meaning of hesed -- and so much more. ---------------------------------- --------------------------------- MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR RABBI EMERITUS JUDAH FISH TO BE HELD AT CONGREGATION AHAVATH ISRAEL Congregation Ahavath Israel will be holding a memorial service for Rabbi Emeritus Judah L. Fish on Sunday, April 10 at 3:00 PM. The synagogue is located at 100 Lucas Avenue in Kingston, New York. The public is invited to attend. For more information call the synagogue at 845-338-4409. His wife, Joy Fish of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, will be attending the service. Speakers will include their two sons, Dan Fish, a lawyer in New York City, and Rabbi Ron Fish of Congregation Beth El in Norwalk, Connecticut. Rabbi Ron Fish will also lead a prayer service. Rabbi Robert Kasman, a member of the Capital District Board Of Rabbis and Rabbi at Congregation Agudat Achim in Schenectady, New York, will be among the other speakers, as will Carl Lipton, past president and current board member of Congregation Ahavath Israel. Refreshments will be served. The March 10th Session of the Ulster County Legislature was adjourned in memory of him. “The death of your husband is mourned by many throughout the County of Ulster,” wrote Richard A. Gerentine, chairman of the Ulster County Legislature, in a March 11th letter to Joy Fish. ---------------------------------