One year ago, Baltimore’s Chevrei Tzedek Congregation lost one of its members, Jeffrey Ira Amdur, to cancer. Amdur was 74 years old.
“He was the best big brother anybody could have hoped for,” said his sister, Marlene Amdur-Ferguson.
Depending on the complexity of one’s will, the probate process — the process of distributing one’s assets after death — can sometimes take up to a year. About two months ago, once Amdur’s will had gone through probate, Chevrei Tzedek was informed that he had made a bequest to the congregation.
According to Amdur-Ferguson, the gift was one of many that Amdur left to family members and different organizations. However, Chevrei Tzedek’s was the largest. The congregation received $100,000.
“I knew he was a charitable guy,” Amdur-Ferguson said. “I didn’t realize how charitable.”
Amdur-Ferguson said she wasn’t aware of her brother’s bequest until the probate process started. She said Rabbi Marci Jacobs of Chevrei Tzedek called her upon hearing about the bequest and “was absolutely floored.”
The congregation has formed the Jeff Amdur committee, made up of his sister, Chevrei Tzedek Executive Director David Saltzberg and other members of the congregation, to determine how the bequest will be used.
“We received, unexpectedly, a bequest from a long-time member, Jeff Amdur, who was a much beloved character,” said Saltzberg. “He left us a very large bequest, like in six figures, that we had no idea was coming … that was really something wonderful for us.”
According to Saltzberg, one of the ways the committee is looking to honor Amdur is by creating a lecture series in his name.
“He had this love of baseball,” explained Saltzberg. “So, we’re considering a talk on the influence of Jews in baseball.”
“Jeffrey was a baseball maniac. It was his favorite sport, win or lose,” Amdur-Ferguson added.
“He’s actually pretty well known for going to Orioles games,” Saltzberg added. “He had this amazingly loud voice that people knew him all over the park, and he just loved going to the games.”
Amdur and his sister grew up in Baltimore attending Rogers Avenue Synagogue, an Orthodox shul.
“The modern orthodoxy was not for us,” said Amdur-Ferguson. “We wanted places where men and women could sit together, and wanted something a little bit more egalitarian.”
Amdur-Ferguson explained that, after her mother passed away, one of her cousins, who was an ordained rabbi, recommended Chevrei Tzedek to her and her brother.
“He thought it was a very welcoming, egalitarian congregation,” she said.
Amdur-Ferguson added that, for a long time, she and her brother didn’t feel connected to one specific synagogue. Except for special occasions such as high holidays or family and friend celebrations, they didn’t attend services until joining Chevrei Tzedek.
“It really brought him back into that fold. He attended every week,” said Amdur-Ferguson. “A big thrill for him was, when he was no longer able to drive himself, he would get, from North Oaks, a Lyft or Uber over to services on Saturdays, and he’d go in there and he’d still lead parts of services.”
“The happiness in getting back involved with his faith and [the] community really made a difference to him,” she added.
Another one of Amdur’s interests, according to Saltzberg, was Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States.
“He had a club that was interested in honoring the memory of Millard Fillmore, and he wrote letters to Congress saying [President Fillmore] should have a national holiday,” Saltzberg explained. “He did all sorts of interesting kinds of things … that was sort of obscure; that was kind of his thing.”
“His great passions in life, other than foreign languages, teaching things, were sports,” added Amdur-Ferguson. “He loved baseball. He was a wealth of information on it. He loved the Orioles, even when they would make you cry.”
