We Knew, and Lost, a Giant

He died on Monday night during the Festival and his righteous wife/widow gave strict orders that it be kept a secret in order not to diminish the community’s celebration.

A Baltimore funeral was hastily organized for Thursday morning in order to enable burial in Israel before Shabbat.

Whatever I have to share will pale in comparison to what his regular congregants and students will say. His shul was a mere 10 minute walk from our home and had many opportunities to hear him speak with great depth and always with subtle humor.

What I would like to share today is a personal interaction – a 1-on-1 meeting in his office nine years ago.

I was deep in the R&D phase of the Torah Health and Wellness project.

I requested the meeting in order to ask two things:

1. Would the Rav allow me to list him in the “Current Leadership” chapter as someone who tries to eat healthily and exercise?

2. Does he have any suggestions or guidance to help the project achieve its goals?

To the first answer, he responded – without hesitation – Yes. He immediately understood the need for leaders like himself to publicly model this mitzvah in which so many are struggling (or not even trying).

You’ll find his listing on p. 341 of Body & Soul.

(There you might notice that during the seven years between our meeting and going to press, Rav Hauer left the synagogue position in order to take the helm of the global OU organization.)

To the second answer, he gave me a number of important suggestions, not the least of which was to connect with someone named Daniel Grove, MD.

In case you don’t recognize that name, he’s my co-author.

The fact that I was neither a member of his shul nor a regular attendee of his classes underscores the kind of person Rav Hauer was. He was there for literally anyone who asked for help.

(Here is one eulogy that is just the tip of a very large iceberg.)

He apparently took the hostage crisis very, very deeply and personally, and many have wondered if their release on Monday had anything to do with the Rav’s petira on Monday night.

(The 3-minute video above illustrates how he felt about the suffering of people he had never met.)

Rav Hauer stood physically, intellectually, and morally taller than most; the Jewish People have lost a giant.

May his family be comforted.

Shabbat Shalom