Courtesy of JewishSacredAging.com

A passage from Jewish textual tradition advises us to get a teacher, acquire a friend, and judge people according to their merit (Pirke Avot [Sayings of the Fathers] 1:6). It is a great piece of advice. Rarely do we have the opportunity to acquire a teacher who is a friend and who sees each of us in our own strength. Some of us have been lucky enough to have experienced this.

In the first week of April, one of my friends from seminary emailed me the sad news that one of our professors had died. I did not want to believe this, so I immediately went to a listserv and saw for myself that Dr. Ellis Rivkin, of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, had indeed passed away at the age of 91. How very sad, how very very sad!

Now most of you reading this probably did not know this man. Some of you, if you were fortunate, may have had the opportunity to have heard him speak or sat in on a lecture. For several generations of Reform rabbis, however, Dr. Rivkin was a guiding light, a source of inspiration and a maverick. You see, this man had the unique ability to instill in his students the gift of freedom. It was the gift of being "allowed," in a rigid academic setting, to think the unthinkable: to be given the freedom to tear down all that you had thought was true and to be given the ability to begin the lifelong process of creating and building one's own theology and intellectual foundation. All of this with no prejudgment as to what was "right" or what was "wrong." This was quite a gift to us twenty-somethings in the late sixties and early seventies.

Dr. Rivkin’s classes were listed as dealing with history. We did study history, but the classes dealt with history in light of current events and historical theories of revolutionary proportions: from the birth of the Pharisees, to the death of Jesus, to economic foundations of religious civilizations, and more. He made history not static, but a living, evolving dialectic that was relatable to the world in which we were living and the one into which we were going. His lessons still ring true.

And beyond all else, he was a "mensch," a human being who always had a kind word, always asked how you and your family were doing, and always was passionate about his students. The tributes to this man poured in, and major figures spoke at his funeral. Beyond that, however, is the realization that we who studied with him, read his books, and discussed his unique theories have been blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from him and to have experienced his wit and wisdom, his humanity, and his friendship. He will be sorely missed. His memory will serve as a continuous blessing for many. We will miss him.

With deep respect and love to our teacher, Dr. Ellis Rivkin.

Shalom.