Shavua tov to the Ami Shalom community…
This week’s parasha brings us to the end of the Book of Genesis. Va-Y’Hi, “and he lived”, recounts the last days of our Father Jacob, or Israel, and continues through the death of Joseph, Jacob’s son who had risen to a very powerful position in Egypt. This year we will be reading from Chapter 49, verse 1 through Chapter 49, verse 26. The reading includes Jacob’s blessing of his children, beginning with Reuben and concludes with Joseph who has the longest and most positive of the blessings. Most of the blessings include many of the positive and negative behavior that the previous chapters in Genesis brought to light. The two sons, Shimon and Levi, who struck out against the city where their sister Dina had been defiled are spoken about harshly for having acted in a way that projected negatively to the people Israel. On the other hand, the brother Judah is praised. His descendants attain a leadership role in the time of King David.
I want to share with my TAS community the merging of two very special stories for all of us. For while we are reading about the passing of Jacob and Joseph this week in the Torah, we are all experiencing a significant loss in our community, the passing of our revered and long-time member, Dr William Z. Good z”l. I have only known Dr. Good for about 3 years, since I became part of this beloved community. By then, Dr. Good was not at every Shabbat service but he was there occasionally and he would always chant the haftarah whenever he was at shule. And he was certainly there for the High Holy Day services, usually with his son Lenny. It meant so much to all of us when Dr. Good chanted the haftarah this past Yom Kippur over the phone since we were all davening on Zoom. I know that all of us are familiar with Dr. Good’s distinguished career as a physician in our community for over 40 years. And, we have heard his amazing life during the tragedy of the Holocaust and how he and his beloved wife, Pearl, were able to make it through those very difficult times. What moved me in the few years that I was able to be with Dr. Good were two things. One was his sense of humor and his delight to be with the members of his community that he valued so much. The other was his perfect Hebrew and chanting of the Torah and the Haftarah. I knew that Dr. Good grew up in Eastern Europe and that his initial language was Yiddish. My assumption was, wrongly, that he would chant and read Hebrew as an “Ashkenazi”, an Eastern European. However, from the very first time that I ever heard Dr. Good chant the haftarah, his Hebrew was perfect, Israeli Hebrew. There are not many Jewish people who came from Europe who read perfect Israeli Hebrew. I never asked Dr. Good about that but I hope to read about it or discuss it with his children who are all in Los Angeles for Dr. Good’s funeral service. I know that all of us are mourning the loss of Dr. William Good. His n’shama, his soul, will always stay part of our holy community. Whenever we can return our beautiful home in West Covina, I know that we will place a tallis on the seat that he always occupied. His spirit will always be part of who we are Temple Ami Shalom and every Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur it will be a challenge for someone to chant the haftarah as purely and beautifully as Dr. Good. It will always be a memory for me that I will never forget. May Dr. Good’s memory always be a blessing to everyone who had the honor of knowing Dr. Good, who was a patient of Dr. Good’s, who davened with him and ate at his table for Kiddush after services. He was a very special soul who will be missed and remembered by all of us. I look forward to seeing many of you at services this Friday night and on Shabbat morning. An early Happy New Year and Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Ralph Resnick