Shloshim In Memory of R. Tzvi Eichler OB”M

Last Thursday was the “Shloshim” of my dear grandfather, Rabbi Tzvi Aryeh Eichler OB”M, a long time resident of Crown Heights. In his honor there was a Seudah where family and friends gathered in the Bais Medrash Bais Binyomin, the Shul he was instrumental in founding. Many people spoke movingly about him throughout the evening.

Of all the stories that were told about my grandfather, there is one in particular that I would like to share with my readers. In the early years when my grandparents first came to the United Stated they settled in St. Louis, Missouri and took up positions as teachers in a federation sponsored Talmud Torah. At that time there was a movement to produce and teach the “Chumash Hamekutzar” which, literally translated, means “The Abridged Chumash.” The rationale behind this concept was to censor out any “disturbing” portions of Torah, “so as not to interfere with the teaching of all of the beautiful lessons therein.”

The Talmud Torah that my grandparents worked for was participating in a conference of over 500 educators. At this conference, the federation administrator announced that they were going to introduce the Abridged Chumash into the Talmud Torah curriculum. At that time the Rebbe had come out very strongly against using this “Chumash”. In his address advocating its use, the federation administrator said: “What does the Lubavitcher Rebbe understand in Chinuch?” Although not yet affiliated with Lubavitch, my grandfather was unable to tolerate such a disgraceful statement. Alone in a room of seasoned educators, my grandfather stood up and bellowed: “How can it be that one man can say such terrible things about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and 500 educators just sit here and listen and say nothing?”

Needless to say, the next day he and my grandmother were both out of jobs. My grandmother was concerned about having lost a good portion of their income, but my grandfather assured her that everything would be okay. A short while later one of the Talmud Torahs that had been affiliated with the federation broke away from its radical views on Chinuch and hired my grandfather as its principal and my grandmother as a teacher. Several years later, my grandparents made their way to Crown Heights in order to secure better Chinuch for their children, and spent the rest of their lives here raising their children and grandchildren, never wavering from the devotion to Yiddishkeit and to the Rebbe that my grandfather had displayed so many years before.