Shliach Writes Eulogy to Jewish Philanthropist Jack Mandel

Titled Remembering my “good buddy” Jack “Yankel” Mandel, Rabbi Raphael Tenenhaus, Shliach in Hallendale, Florida, wrote a beautiful eulogy to the great Jewish philanthropist and Cleveland native, who recently passed away:

On Thursday May 12th, two months before his 100th birthday (July 16), Mr. Jack Mandel’s precious soul departed this world, leaving behind a century of goodness, humility, and noble character, that touched peoples lives in Cleveland, South Florida, Israel and throughout the world.

I was fortunate to know Jack, or as I often fondly called him “Yankel”, from the early 1980’s, and we forged a friendship that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Although we first met when I was 23 years old, and Jack was approaching 70, we instantly bonded, me the young Chassid and Rabbi with a long beard representing the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M Schneerson, in South Broward, Florida, and Jack, the successful businessman, philanthropist and quiet communal activist.

Our first formal meeting was after Jack called me, asking if he could come visit my Synagogue in Hollywood, Florida. I still remember Jack pulling in to our driveway with a gray Rolls Royce, and vividly recall that first encounter. Jack had heard about a problem we had in the early pioneering days of our Center (we were the first Chabad Center in Broward County, today there are 45!), and we just “hit it off” at that first meeting.

Mr. Mandel had asked me if I would give him an Aliyah ( if he would be called to the Torah in my Synagogue) even though he wasn’t, at that time, Orthodox. I turned to him with a puzzled look and said, “ a Jew, is a Jew, is a Jew”, and there is no distinction between Jews…of course he would get an Aliyah. Over the course of the next three decades, Jack repeated what I told him at our first encounter numerous times, and told me ”that’s what inspired me to be your friend”.

Over the years, Jack became a very close friend, mentor and supporter of our many Jewish educational organizations and programs. 30 years after our first get together, our Chabad Headquarters in Hallandale Beach oversees 12 Chabad Houses in South Broward, and is home to over 40 institutions and programs.
All of this wouldn’t have happened, without the friendship I was privileged to have with Mr Mandel.

Jack would often call me from Cleveland, requesting that I say a Mi Sheberach (prayer for the sick) for a friend ( Jew and gentile alike), to ask me to say Kaddish for someone who nobody was saying Kaddish for, or to inform me when he was coming down to Florida so that we could go out together.

Very often, Jack would pick me up in one of his Corvettes ( occasionally his good friend Sam Miller would join us) and we would usually have lunch in the original Sara’s Pizza Shop in North Miami. Jack always ordered a “Shmopper”, the closest thing to a “cheeseburger”, albeit it was a combo of cheese and soy.

During these lunches I learned more than I taught…and many things Jack told me still ring in my ears today.

Jack acknowledged that he sometimes would get “flack” for being such an admirer of Chabad and the Rebbe. Some people close to him said “they are fanatic”. Jack loved to tell me ( and others) that to be ”fanatically good“ is a good thing…he wasn’t impressed with the blanket term ”fanatic”…and emphatically stressed that the word fanatic alone is meaningless…“fanatically good” is good…“fanatically bad” is bad. He was convinced that Chabad was ”fanatically good”.

This December, over 10,000 people participated in the Jack Mandel Tribute that we hosted honoring Jack Mandel to celebrate his 99th birthday, at the 31st Annual South Florida Chassidic Chanukah Festival. The Tribute Committee consisted of many Jewish Federation and JCC Presidents of Broward County, local, state and Federal elected leaders, including US Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was recently appointed by President Obama as head of the National Democratic Party.

The event was broadcast live on Jewish TV hosted by Chabad.org. It was the most watched live Jewish TV show to be seen in the year 2010! It can still be seen by going to the archives of Jewish TV on Chabad.org. To view the Tribute Committee, log on to Chanukahfestival.com, and link Jack Mandel Tribute.

Mr Mandel watched the program live, and his caregivers shared with me how much he enjoyed it. For many, many years, Jack would sponsor our Chanukah Festival, and occasionally would personally light the huge Menorah. At one such Chanukah Festival, standing on the stage with a host of dignitaries, Jack quipped to me with a tear in his eye, “ I feel I am back in the Shtetl”.

As recently as one month ago, several days before Pesach, one of the Cleveland graduates from our Teacher’s Seminary, Florida’s only Jewish Teachers’ College for Women, visited Jack, who was gracious, sharp and humorous. His dignity stayed with him until the very end.

Jack shared with me the “secret” of the success with his brothers ( besides G-d’s blessings).Several rules were made early on in the 1940’s, including the policy that “no argument will go beyond lunchtime, where the brothers would be going out to lunch, with the argument behind them”. Oy, how the world ( and the workplace) would look so much better if all of us would include this brilliant and successful model of decorum in our personal and professional lives!

One part of Jack Mandel that many may not know, and he shared this with me with great pride, was that he came to America with “Peyos”, the side locks worn by the extremely observant. They were removed upon his arrival, but the spirit of “the Shtetl” always remained. There was a time that Jack’s father sent him to a Yeshiva in New York, but that was short lived, as Jack and his friend were caught going on a streetcar ( when they weren’t allowed to)“ to check out the skyscrapers of Manhattan”. Jack was sent back home, but he always told me, “ were it not for a streetcar, I would have been a Rabbi, not Jack Mandel the philanthropist.”

Jack occasionally Daavened in my Main Synagogue. The Ner Tamid ( the perpetual light) was dedicated by Jack, Joe and Mort Mandel, in memory of their parents, Simon and Rose Mandel. The Menorah at the Cantor’s pulpit was dedicated by Jack and Lilyan Mandel, in memory of their daughter Bonnie.My dream is to see to it that we dedicate the Jack N and Lilyan Mandel Campus of Jewish Leadership.

They may have cut Jack’s ”Peyos” from his head when he arrived as a newly landed immigrant to this great land of liberty. My intimate friendship with “Yankel” was proof that the “Peyos” were never cut from his heart.

It was an honor to know him, and a gift to have him in my life. May the Master of compassion bring him under the cover of G-d’s wings, and bind his soul in the bond of life.

Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus is the Dean of the Broward CHAI Center and the Chaya Aydel Seminary, executive vice president of Chabad of South Broward, and the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Levi Yitzchok-Lubavitch.