New Book About Fallen CIA Officer Mentions Family’s Connection to Three Chabad Shluchim
The new book “The Life and Wrongful Death of Gregg David Wenzel Clandestine CIA officer Star 81” makes honorable mention of his family’s connection to three Chabad Shluchim.
In 2001, Monroe NY native Gregg David Wenzel, 32, a well-liked, respected Miami attorney with a larger-than-life personality, left his successful law practice for a higher calling. After a year’s training in the CIA, he was sent on his first assignment to Ethiopia. He used his warmth and wit to unearth hidden information about 9/11. A year later, Gregg died in the line of duty, under mysterious circumstances. For nearly six years, his parents, Mitchell and Gladys, were forced to conceal his identity that Gregg was a clandestine agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Even for years after his passing, he was “Star 81,” an anonymous sculpted star engraved on the CIA Memorial Wall in Langley, VA. Now, his name is inscribed in the CIA Book of Honor and a street and United States Post Office in Monroe are named in his honor.
The new book about his life and death uncovers his story. It also talks about the connection Gregg had with Chabad Shluchim Mendy and Zev Katz from Florida, who knew Gregg when he was in Miami; Rabbi Sholom Deitsch from Virginia who officiated at his CIA Memorial and the connection Gregg’s family still has with Rabbi Pesach and Chana Burston in Monroe, New York, directors of Chabad of Orange County, NY.
In fact, it was Gregg’s tefillin that he received from Chabad in Florida, that connected his family to Chabad in Orange County: Among Gregg’s belongings from Ethiopia that was returned to his family in Monroe, was his pair of Tefilin. To honor his son’s memory, Mitch Wenzel, Gregg’s father, decided to put on his son’s tefillin every day. Rabbi Mendy Katz put Rabbi Pesach and Chana Burston in touch with the Wenzel family. The Burston’s had moved to Monroe shortly after Gregg’s tragic passing,
Today, every weekday morning, Mitch honors his son by donning Gregg’s Tefilin. One of those weekday mornings is also the time when the annual memorial service at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., is held to honor the fallen officers of the CIA. Like any other weekday, Mitch dons Gregg’s Tefilin, but this time it’s near his son’s star on the wall. There are photos of the Wenzel family at the event, pictured with the CIA director, while Mitch is wearing Gregg’s Tefilin.
The book also reveals the personal diaries of Mitch and Gladys Wenzel, in which they express how their involvement with Chabad has brought them guidance and comfort after their loss. It also mentions the many legacy dedications that have been made in memory of Gregg, including at Chabad.
Here is a link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wrongful-Death-Wenzel-Clandestine-Officer/dp/1506907423/ref=sr_1_2crid=1Z1M4D7RQS5EP&keywords=gregg+wenzel&qid=1649120785&sprefix=gregg+we%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-2
Following is a Rabbi’s Message from Rabbi Pesach Burston that was featured in the book’s introduction:
The Living Legacy of Gregg Wenzel
Rabbi Pesach Burston,
Director, Chabad Lubavitch of Orange County
I did not get to meet Gregg in person, but I did get to meet him in soul.
Kabbalah teaches that the essence of a person’s life is their soul. The body was a vehicle, which comes to an end in death, but the soul lives on through the mitzvah’s we do in their memory.
It was the mitzvahs that Gregg did in his lifetime and the mitzvah’s his parents did in his memory that brought us together and got to “know” Gregg. In fact, his legacy keeps on giving.
My wife, Chana, and I moved to Orange County in June of 2004. This was shortly before the Wenzel family was commemorating Gregg’s first yahrtzeit, anniversary of passing. I attended Gregg’s memorial and met the Wenzel family at the behest of Rabbi Mendy Katz of Bal Harbour Florida, director of the Aleph Institute, and a friend of Gregg’s when he lived in Miami. Rabbi Katz and his brother Zev, had helped Gregg get a pair of Tefilin, which he would don daily. Those Tefilin, along with other personal items, came back to the Wenzel family after Gregg’s tragic passing.
Today, every weekday morning, Mitch honors the memory of his son by donning Gregg’s Tefilin. One of those weekday mornings is also the time when the annual memorial service at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., is held to honor the fallen officers of the CIA. Like any other weekday, Mitch dons Gregg’s Tefilin, but this time it’s near his son’s star on the wall. There are photos of the Wenzel family at the event, pictured with the CIA director, while Mitch is wearing Gregg’s Tefilin.
Just as the mitzvah of Tefilin reminds of the bond one has with G-d, Torah and its heritage, it’s the many mitzvah’s in memory of Gregg that have forged a bond between Gregg, his family and our community. (This also created a strong bond between my family and the Wenzel family, a relationship we continue to cherish, and categorize as ‘family’).
It was also the word “Mitzvah” that the Wenzel’s used to request President Bush to help “uncover” Gregg’s name in the book of remembrance. As Mitch recalls, “In a Dec. 18 letter to departing President George W. Bush, I asked President Bush to do a mitzvah for our family before he leaves office.”
The number “18” has special significance to Gregg and his family. Gregg was born on 18th, which means “Chai” in Hebrew was so appropriate for Gregg who knew how to live life to the fullest.
Mitch and Gladys recall how “he spread his love and passion for Judaism and Jewish learning among the many people he knew.”
In 2004, when we started our Chabad Hebrew School in Orange County, the Wenzel’s established the Gregg David Scholarship Fund. The Chabad policy is to provide quality Jewish education without letting finances get ion the way. This fund enables that to happen. The scholarship, noted Mitch and Gladys, was a fitting example of Gregg’s philosophy: “Take time every day to help someone. It is the little acts of random kindness that, in the end, make a bigger difference.” In addition, the Wenzel’s have dedicated various memorials at Chabad in Gregg’s memory, including sponsoring a beautiful Torah Ark Curtain, which Gladys designed, as well as the Bimah.
In 2009, when I attended the Virginia ceremony at the Wenzels’ invitation, I relayed then CIA Director Leon Panetta that the fallen officer was an inspiration to many in Orange County. “I got to know Gregg after he passed away,” I said. “I got to know him through the wonderful things that the Wenzel family do for so many in Gregg’s memory. His soul must be so proud.” Responded Panetta: “We all are.”
May his memory be for blessing, and may all those who benefit from the mitzvah’s done in his memory make his soul and his family proud.
