To My Father On His 13th Yahrzeit
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Rabbi Sholom Klass, zt"l
So much has happened in the past few months and now the month of Shevat is suddenly upon us. And in a few days (Shevat 10) it will be your 13th yahrzeit.
Thirteen years without you at the helm of The Jewish Press, the newspaper you and Mom started with so much love and patience. And thirteen years without you at the helm of our families.
Many things have changed and many things remain the same.
Most recently there was a storm that devastated Manhattan Beach, the Brooklyn neighborhood you loved and lived in for most of your life. But slowly things are returning to normal there.
In our families, we recently observed the second yahrzeit of Mom and Ivan, my beloved husband whom you always treated like a son.
If two years seem hard to believe, thirteen years seem like a lifetime ago.
Our dear friend Rabbi Chaim Kaminetzky died suddenly in December. I remember how close he felt to you and to Mom, and how the feelings were reciprocated. And your old friend Rabbi Avraham Hecht was niftar earlier this month. I can imagine how you greeted them both.
We have also had some simchas in our families. New babies were born. In Hindy’s family, your grandson Meir and his wife Ziona had a little girl, Avichayil Yitta, named for Mom, and your granddaughter Suri and her husband Joey had a little girl, Ayelet Yitta, also named after Mom.
In my family, Shandee’s son and your great-grandson Raphael Menachem and his wife, Leora, had a little boy named Sholom Ezra, after you. Rafi is a Torah scholar who writes a weekly Torah column in The Jewish Press, and it made both Shandee and me so happy when they announced your name at the baby’s bris. I thought how fitting it is that Rafi should have a boy named after you.
Shandee’s daughter and your great-granddaughter Shira and her husband, Avraham, also had a little boy, Akiva Nechemya. Your great-granddaughter Rachayli got married to a very lovely boy, Shaul Klein, a few months ago. And your great-granddaughter Tamar, Michal’s oldest child, just got married in Israel to Adi Levi, also a fine boy.
The new Jewish Press website is one year old and growing daily. Wherever I go, I hear people talking about it. And with all the competition among print publications, people still come to us for help all the time. And the refrain is the same: No one else can help us but The Jewish Press. And we try our hardest. All the things you set in motion are still being fulfilled to this day.
Your grandchildren all learn Torah and live lives you would be proud of. And I know they will bring your neshamah to even higher levels, as you also take care of us here on earth as a meilitz yosher. We miss you and always try to live up to your high standards.
Yehi Zichrecha Baruch.
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Rabbi Klass was a scholar and a true ba'al tzedaka, but I will always remember him for his wit and charm. May his beloved soul find menuchat chaim b'olam ha'ba.