Marshall Fisher, OBM

(L-R) Me, Marshall and Rabbi Zvi Block

Just got back from the funeral of one of my oldest friends. I was asked by his daughter, Shaindel, to read the eulogy she wrote for him. After which I delivered my own.

The Gemara in Berachos, Daf Lamed-Gimmel, Amud Beis, tells us:

“B’makom sheba’alei teshuvah omdim, ein tzaddikim gemurim yecholim la’amod.”  Where ba’alei teshuvah stand, even the most completely righteous tzaddikim cannot stand.

I have always been in awe of my friend Marshall — Moshe Tzvi ben Yehudah Leib Halevi. Raised in a non-observant home, he became observant entirely on his own initiative. Not because it was ingrained in him. Not out of habit or rote observance, as is so often the case with those of us raised in observant homes. He used to tell me that he chose to be observant because he believed it was the right way to live. A ma’amin through and through.

I met Marshall over sixty years ago, before either of us were married. He had just returned from spending several months in at Yeshivas ITRI in Israel. While there, he met and became friends with Rabbi Tzvi Block, an old friend of mine from my years in Telshe. When Marshall decided to return to Chicago, Zvi told him to contact me — despite not knowing my phone number or address...

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