Candlelighting Time

Baltimore Mourns Rabbi Mark Loeb

The community mourns Beth El’s rabbi emeritus.

October 16, 2009

Alan H. Feiler
Phil Jacobs
Neil Rubin
Managing Editor
Executive Editor
Editor

Upon first meeting, Rabbi Mark Gordon Loeb could come off as a rather imposing and even intimidating figure. A large man with a deep, rich baritone and the kind of penetrating gaze that, when fixed upon you, could make your knees quiver like mounds of Jell-O, he had a towering intellect and didn’t suffer fools well. He unabashedly maintained high ideals. He could be brusque, outspoken, curt, quick to anger and no-nonsense.

At the same time, most people agree that once you got to know him, Rabbi Loeb was a man of deep compassion, humility, good humor and empathy. Legion are the stories of times when a family member unexpectedly discovered the rabbi visiting a loved one in the hospital, or found him to be a comforting source at a critical time.

Maybe it was Rabbi Loeb asking, in a voice brimming with warmth and authentic concern, “So, how are you doing, my friend?” Or perhaps it was simply him throwing his arm around your shoulders.

It all came from a very human place of understanding and mentschlikeit. “I remember when my father was sick and dying,” Rabbi Loeb once told a BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES reporter. “At some point, I realized that my father and I had switched places, and I had become the father and he was now the child. That was a major moment in my life.”

Now, it is a community’s moment to mourn.

Rabbi Loeb, who served at Pikesville’s Beth El Congregation for 32 years until his retirement in May 2008, died last week, on Oct. 7, in Milan, reportedly of a heart attack. He was 65.

The Boston-born Rabbi Loeb, who was serving as interim spiritual leader of Beth Shalom Synagogue in the Italian city, was a major figure in national and local Jewish circles. He was a strong advocate of such issues as egalitarian worship, civil and gay rights, interfaith dialogue, integrating non-Jewish spouses into synagogue worship, banning capital punishment and creating innovative educational initiatives.

Among his myriad endeavors, Rabbi Loeb was a former national president of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. He also served as chairman of the board of Baltimore Hebrew University and on the Governor of Maryland’s commission that recommended abolishing the death penalty. In 2008, he was awarded the Agus-Shehan Award for Ecumenical Service with Cardinal William Keeler by the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council.

He was also a major opera aficionado, a gourmand and epicurean, an inveterate traveler and a voracious reader. At the time of his death, Rabbi Loeb, who had bypass surgery in December 2008, had reportedly just finished dinner at a restaurant with friends. Apparently, he was walking home, did not feel well, sat down on an outside bench and died.

Rabbi Loeb’s funeral was scheduled to be held yesterday afternoon, Oct. 15, at Beth El. Cantor Saul Z. Hammerman, Beth El’s chazzan from 1952 to 1997, died last December at age 82. Also, H. Allan Lipsitz, the congregation’s program director for nine years, died in February 2007.

In Baltimore’s Jewish community, Rabbi Loeb was regarded as a powerhouse intellectual, a gifted orator, a straight-talking power broker, and an empathetic and comforting presence during difficult times.

“He was a very, very dear friend,” said Gilbert Kleiner, Beth El’s executive director. “He was at my grandson’s bris, he married me and Carol. He was not only a mentor, he was a counsel, somebody I could talk to, he bat mitzvahed my daughters, buried my father.

“At every life cycle event, he touched thousands and thousands of lives,” Mr. Kleiner said. “It has been a tough year for Beth El. We lost Saul and Mark. These were the clergy that established Beth El as what it is.”

Wonderful Ride

In 1976, Rabbi Loeb succeeded the late Rabbi Jacob B. Agus as spiritual leader of Beth El, a Conservative synagogue of 1,700 families. He was succeeded last year by Rabbi Steven Schwartz. Rabbi Loeb was the second spiritual leader in Beth El’s 61-year history.

Rabbi Loeb earned his undergraduate degree in history and literature at Reed College in Portland, Ore. He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

In an interview last month with the JEWISH TIMES, Rabbi Loeb spoke about his affinity for retirement, particularly as the rabbi of a Milan congregation.

“I am totally at ease,” he said. “It’s much more enjoyable. There’s nothing at stake. I don’t have any anxiety over the future of the congregation as I would in Baltimore, that I have to be the best, but they still might not like that.”

Of his younger years in the rabbinate, Rabbi Loeb said, “I had an intense concern for social justice issues, which for many Conservative rabbis was not a big issue. They were into Halachah [Jewish law] and changing people’s levels of observance. I wanted to engage people, to observe what they understood, sort of in a [Franz] Rosenzweigian meaning. That’s still an important issue. We need to find things people respond to as it relates to their concerns for the world and the needs of people everywhere.”

At the time of his retirement, Rabbi Loeb told the JEWISH TIMES that he encourages Jews to study other religions as much as possible. He railed against Jewish parochialism and chauvinism.

“Each religion sets a certain pattern and tone that draws to it certain kinds of people,” he said. “The question is, what can you see in some religions that convinces you that it has some validity for others?”

He also encouraged Jewish philanthropy to Jewish and non-Jewish institutions.

“Judaism has a history of accepting a responsibility for the downtrodden and abused,” Rabbi Loeb said. “That came out of our experience. That’s why we have to be very careful to identify with the victims. Jews are a pretty special group in terms of the way they express their support for their own causes and others. If you talk to people in the arts, they say if it weren’t for Jews, we’d be in terrible shape. It’s not just that they get their names on plaques. I think Jews have a sense of the importance of culture. We support programs, politics, scientific research, educational institutions. The Jewish community sets the tone for the whole country.”

Of his retirement from Beth El, he said, “It’s been a wonderful ride of 32 years, which amazes me. I never expected that. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I have a wonderful congregation. I have no complaints. …

“The one theme of my rabbinate that I hope people will remember is that you don’t deal with people as you expect them and demand them to be, but you relate to people for where they are and then you try to work with them,” Rabbi Loeb said. “I see rabbis come in and kvetch, ‘How can I relate to these people? They don’t know anything.’ Come on, get off it. If you are going to do something, you have to behave like a person and not like a rabbi. You don’t have to have cancer to feel something for people who have cancer.

“You have to spend enough time with people who are dealing with issues of life. You project and also try to empathize, not sympathize, with the struggles they are engaged in, and hopefully you begin to pick up a good way to connect with the part of them that’s really alive.”

Constant Force

“I’m grateful for him,” said Rabbi Loeb’s longtime friend, Alan H. Fleischmann.

“I’m the beneficiary of a great friendship that I’ve had with him for 33 years. I was a boy when I met him. My mother [the late Laura Fleischmann] met him on one of the first days he came to Baltimore as a young rabbi. They became close friends. He arrived just before the Jewish holidays in 1976. My mother invited him over for dinner before the Kol Nidre service. We never missed one for 33 years.

“It was a tradition. This was the first year he didn’t come. He called from Italy to say he’d be back next year.

“Over the years, he was always the constant force.”

Mr. Fleischmann noted that Rabbi Loeb had a beautiful handwriting style. So when it came time for Mr. Fleischmann’s bar mitzvah, Rabbi Loeb did the invitation calligraphy.

It was in 1988 that Mr. Fleischmann’s mother passed away. Rabbi Loeb was on a plane heading to Sydney, Australia.

“We were desperately trying to find a rabbi,” Mr. Fleischmann recalled. “I could not bear the thought of my mother eulogized by a stranger. I called the hotel in Sydney and asked to have Rabbi Loeb call me immediately before he checked in. He did. When he called, I told him that I couldn’t do this without him. I was in my early 20s. I said, ‘Mark, I need you to come home.’ He turned around and got on the next flight.”

There was another funeral that meant a lot. The Fleischmanns employed a longtime domestic worker who had become a surrogate family member. She, too, became close to Rabbi Loeb. Her name was Agnes Handy, and when she died four years ago, it was Rabbi Loeb who eulogized her at her church in downtown Baltimore. Mr. Fleischmann remembers the rabbi describing her as a “woman of righteousness. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”

Mr. Fleischmann said Rabbi Loeb represented a change in approach from the bimah for many clergy. It was a generational change where rabbis would address issues of politics, family challenges, divorce, intermarriage, Israel issues.

“Mark would talk about it all,” he said. “He was the voice of a new Judaism, of a modern Judaism. He could, with his intellect, bridge the ancient with the new. He was a loving person, a complicated person, a bright person. And he devoted his life to his congregation, to the greater community.”

Uncorked Bottle Of Wine

On a sunny, crisp Tuesday morning, Beth El staffers were setting up chairs for the large numbers expected to pay their respects to Rabbi Loeb.

While the rabbi emeritus’ office was on one hand empty, in another sense, it was so full.

Rabbi Loeb’s presence was everywhere. His familiar reading glasses sat opened on his desk. An uncorked bottle of Chateau Rocher Bellevue Figeac sat nearby. His walls were adorned with photos of everyone from Cal Ripken Jr. to composer Felix Mendelssohn to Pope John Paul II. There were books on the Zohar and “Plato’s Republic.”

Two men who will miss the conversations that happened in this office are Dr. Eyal Bor, Beth El’s director of education, and Mr. Kleiner.

Mr. Bor lost his 98-year-old father in May. Now, he mourns the passing of Rabbi Loeb. “Both my father and Rabbi Loeb were equally influential in my life,” he said.

It was Rabbi Loeb who rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital three years ago when Dr. Bor’s son was seriously injured. It was Rabbi Loeb who read Dr. Bor and his wife Hana’s doctoral dissertations, absorbing more than 1,000 pages and offering edits where needed.

It was Rabbi Loeb who encouraged Dr. Bor to start the award-winning Project Mishpacha program nearly 18 years ago.

“He was my counsel, my mentor, my friend and my rabbi,” said Mr. Kleiner, who has worked for Beth El since 1989. “He gave people as much time as they needed. We didn’t agree on everything, but sometimes, in a strong relationship, you don’t always agree.”

For Mr. Kleiner, the drive out to Dulles Airport to “pick up” Rabbi Loeb will help bring him closure.

For Dr. Bor, it will be a private time, when he takes his clarinet and goes quietly to the rabbi’s graveside and plays for him.

“I think one of his greatest lessons was that he taught us to accept people for who they are, not for who you want them to be,” he said.

Rabbi Loeb is survived by two sisters, Carol Francis of Orlando, Fla. and Judy Kaplan of Lake Worth, Fla., and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. He is to be buried at Beth El Memorial Park in Randallstown.

The BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES asked members of the community to send in their thoughts, comments and remembrances of Rabbi Loeb. Here is a sampling:

‘Everyone’s Struggling’

“To the congregation, it’s a huge loss, just huge. The kind of impact that Mark had over the years in people’s lives can’t be measured. The number of times he was there for someone and helped someone, and part of the time he didn’t even know it because it was just something that he said. All of these people that he touched are feeling that loss as a personal connection, but also as the kind of rabbinic person they had known their entire lives. It’s about more than losing this person.

“What’s been astonishingly gratifying has been the number of calls and notes and people coming up to us at services and saying, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ It’s overwhelming. Through that process and that experience, you really get an experience of the congregation being connected to one another, and that’s a powerful, powerful thing. It’s a caring community that has such warmth and that’s a reflection of Mark.

“For me, it’s two things. One is the professional piece. The sense of having someone I can’t turn to for advice or help to figure out a situation. There was no one who knew the business of the rabbinate better that Mark. That will be sorely missed.

“The personal loss is also dramatic for me. Mark was a close friend and we had a very strong relationship, a very good relationship for which I’m grateful. That’s my personal struggle. You work through that like everybody has to at one time or another.

“A subset of that is the congregational history and context that Mark really was the link to the days of Rabbi [Jacob] Agus and the modern Beth El. That’s a loss to me personally and to the congregation.

“Inwardly, it’s a loss that everyone’s struggling with. There’s also the outward loss to the Baltimore Jewish community and the world Jewish community. Mark’s voice was one of reminding people of tzedek [justice] and integrity, which he did for all those years.”

— Rabbi Steven Schwartz, Beth El Congregation

‘A Good Friend’

“Mark Loeb loved life, opera, Judaism and Beth El. His love for Beth El was above everything. He was a brilliant man — so bright, so quick. And he had a great ear. If I ever had a problem, he was always there for me.

“We didn’t always agree, but we could always talk. It’s the passing of an era. We’ve lost not only a spiritual leader, but a good friend.

“He was always a teacher, even then. We’ll miss him terribly. He can’t be replaced.”

— Sidney Friedman, Beth El past president

‘Brilliant And Spirited’

“Myrna and I join the Jewish community and all of Baltimore in mourning the passing of Rabbi Mark Loeb, spiritual leader of Beth El Congregation for 32 years.

“He was an astute observer of the world, and he was an inspiration to all those who cared about social justice and interfaith dialogue. His sermons were often brilliant and spirited, and he had an ability to stir members of his congregation and of the Jewish community to be better people and to make the world a better place.

“I join the entire Jewish community in mourning his loss.”

— Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.)

‘Opposition And Debate’

“Mark would always come to a BJC board meeting prepared for battle.

“He did not suffer fools well and always grew exasperated, and you could see it on his face, when those he disagreed with made no sense as they argued. Especially when discussing Israel and the Middle East, Rabbi Loeb wanted it understood that it was in his love and respect for Israel that he felt its policies sometimes required responsible opposition and debate. ”

— Dr. Arthur C. Abramson, Executive Director, Baltimore Jewish Council

‘Wonderful Colleague’

“There was hardly anything Mark and I agreed upon, except that we liked each other!

“We really did!

“And that made for a wonderful friendship. Our community has lost a wonderful leader. I have lost a wonderful colleague and friend.”

— Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, Beth Tfiloh Synagogue

‘Great Marylander’

“Today, I join other state leaders and the Jewish community to mourn the passing of a great Marylander, Rabbi Mark Loeb. Rabbi Loeb was an inspiration to not only his congregation but our entire region. His humanity and compassion toward building a better community was recognized far and wide and personally by me.

“My thoughts and prayers go out to the family, congregation and thousands of others who are mourning the loss today of a strong leader and a great man.”

— Mayor Sheila Dixon

‘Opera To Wrestling’

“He was a dear friend and a trusted adviser. … Rabbi Loeb was a man of warmth and wit. He loved everything from opera to wrestling — which may explain his love of politics.

“He was a champion of social justice — and loved to wade into the thorniest situations.”

— Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.)

‘Renaissance Man’

“Two scenes stand out for me. In my mind, I have repetitive scenes of eating a wonderful meal with him and speaking of a variety of things. He was a renaissance man.

“Also, it was visiting after his surgery last year and never hearing him complain. He had taken care of all of the details of his care. He had everything set up and was all ready to go. He just had a lot of energy.”

— Rabbi Joel H. Zaiman, Rabbi Emeritus,Chizuk Amuno Congregation

‘So Grateful’

“I grew up at Beth El and Rabbi Loeb officiated at my bat mitzvah way back in 1982.

“As a child/teenager, I didn’t know him well. I would get the opportunity to really get to know him 10 years later.

“My boyfriend, Erik, was considering converting to Judaism and we were on the verge of getting engaged. We met with Rabbi Loeb and he presented us with a unique and amazing offer.

“He told us we could go to the ‘Introduction to Judaism’ class that was offered every year for prospective converts, or we could meet privately with him on a regular basis. He said that at some point, he and Erik would ‘just know’ whether it was time for Erik to decide to go ahead with conversion, or not.

“Of course, we opted to meet with Rabbi Loeb privately. For the next 10 months, we would meet with him approximately every other week for about two hours. We covered all sorts of aspects of Judaism-history, culture, holidays, etc. He even took us on a driving tour of Jewish Baltimore. During that time, we developed a deep relationship with Rabbi Loeb that would continue for many years.

“In early 1993, the time had come. He and Erik decided that it was time for Erik to go through the conversion ritual. He officiated at Erik’s conversion ceremony. Later in 1993, he and Cantor Saul Hammerman officiated at our wedding.

“The speech Rabbi Loeb gave under the chuppah was so heartfelt, warm and wonderful. It was clear he cherished the relationship he had cultivated with us and made our special day that much more special. He was also there for the baby-naming of our daughter and the bris of our son.

“Three years ago, Erik underwent serious surgery as treatment for an early stage of esophageal cancer. Rabbi Loeb came to visit him in the hospital, which was unexpected but very much appreciated. Although we did not see him as often in the past few years, whenever we did see him, he greeted us with great warmth and hugs. We are so grateful for having had the opportunity to get to know and enjoy Rabbi Loeb, and we are profoundly saddened by his passing.”

— Lisa Sparks, Beth El congregant and Owings Mills resident

‘Progressive Leader’

“It was a great shock to me to learn of the death of Rabbi Loeb, whom I have known since first arriving in Baltimore some 20 years ago.

“He was a real progressive leader and helped us in many ways to advance Catholic-Jewish relations in the Baltimore area.”

— Cardinal William H. Keeler, Archbishop Emeritus of Baltimore

‘He Made Sense’

“Rabbi Loeb was one of my favorite people, and definitely my favorite religious figure.

“While working for the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES for 10 years, I made lots and lots of Jewish friends. I was invited to Jewish weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and attended many funerals. Rabbi Loeb was one of the best speakers I have ever heard, and he made sense to me.

He was spiritual and made religion apply to day-to-day life without being heavy-handed or dictatorial. I grew up in the Catholic Church and also attended the Presbyterian Church. I always felt religion seemed hypocritical, unforgiving or unavailable. Rabbi Loeb made it make sense to me.

He was human and forgiving. If I could choose any religion that I can relate to, it would probably be Buddhism or Rabbi Loeb’s way of practicing religion or life. I have told [JEWISH TIMES sales associate] Nancy Surosky for years that I wanted Rabbi Loeb to bury me. She always laughed and said it couldn’t happen. She called me the other day when the folks at the JT found out that he died suddenly. She knew I would be sad and I was. I wish I had more chances to know him.

— Barb Clapp, Barb Clapp Advertising & Marketing LLC

‘Dignity And Grace’

“He spent his time on this Earth living the timeless talmudic notion that ‘the highest form of wisdom is kindness,’ always standing up for our most vulnerable citizens, always fighting for social justice, always pursuing tikkun olam, repair of the world. …

“The rabbi stepped forward and volunteered to serve on our Commission on Capital Punishment, where he dealt with some of the more difficult issues we face as a society, taking his role seriously, and handling his responsibilities with dignity and grace.”

— Gov. Martin O’Malley

‘Inimitable Directness’

“Mark played a pivotal role in establishing the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies. I can’t imagine the ICJS or my position without his support, commitment or passion.

“I remember my first experience with Rabbi Loeb. We were speaking at Bryn Mawr Middle School [speaking about religions] and a student asked, ‘Is it possible to be a Hindu and a Christian and a Muslim and a Jew all at once?’ While I strained to come up with a response, Mark, in his inimitable directness, said, ‘It takes a lifetime to be a faithful adherent of one tradition, much less to try to belong to every tradition. But if you stay rooted to one tradition, there’s no reason why one cannot establish friendships that can cross any and every tradition.’”

— Dr. Christopher M. Leighton,

Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies

‘Completely Honest’

“During my years in Baltimore, I have had the opportunity to periodically consult with Rabbi Loeb on a number of different occasions.

“Even though we might not have always agreed on the particular issue, I know I’d always get a completely honest, straightforward and thoughtful response. For that, and for many other reasons, he will be sorely missed.”

— Louis “Buddy” Sapolsky, President,

Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore

‘Gracious Was A Word’

“About nine years ago, I had a doctor’s appointment in Baltimore just before having lunch with Mark and [the late Rabbi] Seymour Essrog, but the doctor was running about an hour late. I called Mark to tell him.

“After a while, he called the doctor’s office — that of a congregant — and said, ‘I have to have lunch with Rabbi Kaufman. Get her out of there soon.’ The receptionist came over to me and said, ‘The rabbi called and we have to get you out of here.’ And they did.

“Gracious was a word to describe him, even though sometimes he could be so sharp with his words. He also graciously gave you so much time, and all of his assistants will tell you how gracious he was to them when it came to their own family concerns.

“I’ll tell you one thing, he sure was interesting to have Shabbat dinner with. I’ll tell you that he had no patience for a lot of people, but he was so very Jewish in so many ways. He was unabashedly a Zionist, even though he had all of that criticism of Israel.”

— Rabbi Jan Caryl Kaufman, Baltimore native, director of special projects for the Rabbinical Assembly of America

‘Such Passion’

“The juxtaposition of his dying during Sukkot when we read Kohelet is striking. He lived his life and he excelled at it.

“I can’t get over the fact that I was reading an e-mail from him on Monday before he passed away.

“What was so spectacular is that everybody thought that he was their friend. They were right and that’s what made him so special, so remarkable. He infused everything with such passion. Yesterday morning, we went to the Cinema Sunday [at the Charles Theatre] and Jonathan Palevsky said, ‘We’ve lost a cultural institution.’

“The scope of his interests was so remarkable — music and history and culture. He crossed borders so easily.

“The passion, the anger, the calibration of anger and affection, and he kept it all in check and he was both institutional and anti-institutional. He knew what was wrong with Baltimore Hebrew University but he defended it. He knew what was wrong with synagogue life, but he defended it. He knew what was wrong with the rabbinate, but he defended it. You always knew where you stood with Mark.

“He told me before he left that he had a book in him and, ‘I’ll tell you about it when I see you in December.’”

— Rabbi Gustav Buchdahl, Rabbi Emeritus,Temple Emanuel

Visit To Elba

Late Tuesday evening October 6th, as we sat in our Milan hotel, our good friend Mark Loeb offered his critique of “L’Orfeo”, the opera we had just seen at La Scala.  Mark, direct as ever, pulled no punches as he lauded some performances, while giving a stinging criticism of the staging. Yet, our Rabbi was in a blissful state not only because he had seen this seminal Italian opera for the first time, but had been moved at intermission to a seat next to the Royal Box.  The best seat in La Scala for the best man I have ever known.
We hugged and kissed and said we’d be in touch soon. We took photos, now so priceless. Mark was so happy; he was learning Italian, and doing so many meaningful things in Milan in just his first month there. Just before Rosh Hashana, he officiated at a destination wedding on the island of Elba, the exile home of Napoleon. Then he returned to Milan, not just to conduct services, but also to start an evening study group.
Mark has always been renowned for his wonderful counsel, whether political, religious, or, most important, in personal relations. Mark was passionate and compassionate. He was very proud that he was helping a sixteen year old Italian youth, who wanted to learn about his heritage. The teen’s mother was Jewish, his father Catholic, but Mark included both the father and son in the study group.  Does not this speak volumes as to how remarkably inclusive Mark was?
On a personal level, Mark was looking forward to the many friends and family who would come to visit. We were so glad to be the first; sadly, we never imagined that we would be the last.
We mourn our friend, true citizen of the world.  How fortunate we all were to have known him, to have loved him, and to be loved by him.
Our memory of this last day of his life, seeing him so happy and excited about the future, makes us fervently believe that Mark would say to all of us: “Don’t mourn, just live a purposeful life, just live a committed life.”
Shalom,

— Lee and Sandy Gordon, Beth El congregant

Intolerant Of Emptiness

“Mark embodied — and practiced — discourse as it was meant to be: a true encounter, an authentic engagement, an eager effort to understand the other, while still being faithful to self.

“My first impression of Mark came during my initial interview with him for the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES. This was sometime in the early 1980s when I was the paper’s senior editor. I can’t recall the topic of the interview and, in a sense, that doesn’t matter. What does matter was Mark’s full embrace of a total stranger — I was new to the paper and I was new to this town. He asked more questions about me than I did of him — always, Mark had a way of reversing the standard equilibrium. He surely excelled at this in our first meeting, and that was fine.

“He wasn’t doing it to be nosy or to avoid my own prying questions. He wanted to know who he was sitting across from. Mark’s hunger to know people was never satiated. That was the quality of the man.

“Certainly, this was buttressed with intense scholarship and faith and prayer and readings, for he was a man of letters and of knowledge.

“But people made it all come alive to him, as people were his faith. Yes, there was God and Torah and Talmud and Mishnah and Halachah, but without people, all this, for Mark, would have withered and desiccated — words and wisdom speaking to a vast emptiness. And Mark could never tolerate emptiness.”

— Arthur J. Magida, author of “The Rabbi and The Hit Man” and “Opening the Doors of Wonder.” He is currently writing a biography of Erik Jan Hanussen, Hitler’s Jewish clairvoyant.

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