The following are the eulogies for Mark made by his sons Joseph and Barry.
He is mourned by his wife, Julie, children Joseph, Adi and Barry, daughters-in-law Helene and Shely and all his grandchildren and great grandaughter.
Dad,
What would you have me say at this our final parting?
You would not have me speak of your greatness as an educator, or of your never ending and
uncompromising effort to make this a better world, or of the fact that you were a guiding
light, a compass to so many.
All of these things were never more important to you than your family and friends. You spared nothing to be a good husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and as your son, I can say that more than any other this was your greatest achievement. Although you are leaving us in body, your neshama continues to burn bright in the eyes of Mommy, Adi, Barry and all our beautiful children and grandchild. If your gift to us was the many lessons in life that you gave and the shining example that you set, then our promise to you is to continue along the path that you so lovingly chartered.
You leave this world in peace with no words left unsaid and no accounts left unsettled. Churchill, who we both admired, once said "You have enemies? Good. That means that you have stood up for something, sometime in your life." For once I can't agree. You had no enemies and you stood up for many things in your life.
You were a man of culture. Beginning with your vast knowledge and love of Tanach, through
your ability to quote Shakespeare at a whim or conduct La Boheme in front of the T.V. and
down to rolling in fits of laughter at the lunacy of Spike Milligan.
I looked for a poem that would best reflect our thoughts and the knowledge that your legacy
remains on with us. I've no doubt you would know it.
I Did Not Die
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
Rest well Dad. Your work is done. The seeds that you have sown and so lovingly nurtured
bear abundant fruit.
Da
Thank you. Those are the only words I can think of saying to you. I know that this will be such a difficult time for us but at the same time we can all take comfort in the fact that you were a man who made a difference to the world.
Your career started off in the hallowed halls of Gallo records where you quick became their star salesman. I believe it was a very short career as a salesman, but your passion for music and the arts was just starting and your incredible ability to learn and memorize was established. To this day you could tell us the serial numbers of any particular record that was for sale at that time. Had you stayed on there we have no doubt that you would have become the CEO and taken it to great heights of success.
But you chose the path of education and that is how you managed to make an indelible imprint on the world. Starting off at Herzlia in Cape Town and spreading your wings to Theodor Herzl in Port Elizabeth Yeshiva college in Johannesburg, Mt. Scopus in Melbourne and then back to King David and the board of education in Johannesburg. It may not have been the wisest career choices financially to move around like that but you and Kodesh Boruch Hu knew that there was a bigger plan. There was no way that such brilliant human being would have been allowed to stay in one place. Like Avraham Avinu you wandered around spreading the word of HaShem. And your crowning glory was when you made Aliya and we all thought that you would relax and enjoy your golden years. But you started the good news Israel and it was a runaway success. There is no way that we can measure the impact of your presence in this world. But we do know that you have have literally changed the world that we live in and what you have left behind will continue that positive change.
And spread it you did. Your incredible knowledge of – everything, always astounded those around you. I was so proud knowing that if ever I was in a situation that I needed to know a fact or a figure or a date or a quote from the parsha, I could just pick up the phone and call you. And in your own humble way you would give me the answer but always add on some amazing background or fact that absolutely no one else in the world knew.
I have had a few occasions to think of what I would have to say here and there were many false alarms. But there are two things that stick in my mind. I recall meeting the man who was in charge of doing the photocopying at King David. He stopped me and asked me if you were my father. He said that you were the only person in the whole school that stopped past every day and popped you head in to say hello and address him by name, the name which I am sure if I had to ask you know you would remember.
Da you met so many important people in your life, or who we thought were important, yet everybody in your eyes was special and you treated everybody and I mean everybody with respect. So many people have recalled how much of a giant you were when you bent down to those small kids at school and gave them your warm smile and radiated love.
The second story is one of your illustrious financial career. Da we all know that finances weren’t your strong point and you clearly chose a path that led to incredible success without financial reward. You couldn’t even ask for change from the supermarket. Money was unimportant and you could not understand why you would have to charge people to teach them English. But when it came to G-d's work you were meticulous. You had the honor of doing many pidyon haben as a cohen and as much as I know it pained you to have to ask, you always insisted on them having to pay you because that was part of the mitzvah.
There are so many people we would like to thank who have been so good to you but I will only mention a few.
Firstly Martin and Glenda. Martin what can we say. You have been absolutely an outstanding caregiver to my father. It was never inconvenient for you to take our calls or to pop in at the hospital to make sure that everything was okay. One word from you and everybody jumped to attention. I know my dad loved you and admired you and it was a mutual feeling.
Solly. My father's best buddy and lifelong friend. Solly you made my dad laugh and cheered him up when he was down. I would often worry that the phone at his house was off the hook because I couldn’t get through for hours on end and then Shely would say, he is probably talking to Solly. Following each other around the world you never lost contact and I know my dad loved you like a brother and will miss you.
Michael and Barbara. One of my dad's proudest moments was knowing that you always saw him as a mentor to you. You have been so great to my parents over the years and have given my dad some of his greatest moments. I will never forget going down to the parking lot of bread and breakfast after we had been with you and my dad started singing some operatic tune, as he often did, regardless of his surroundings. When I asked "whats up" he said. Michael has invited us to the premier of Aida at the Royal opera house, and it was a few months away. He distinctly said, I now have a new goal and that is to stay around until Aida. Thank you so so much for bringing some light into my dad's life.
Reuben and Ros and Morris and Mona. My dad has always said and I know the feeling is mutual he could never wish for better machatonim than you. I know that you all love my dad and he loves you all so much. You have always been there for my folks and words cannot express our gratitude for all that you have done.
Everyone here could stand up and now and tell a story about you but I know that you wouldn’t want that because it would be disrespectful to keep everyone waiting. Your qualities as a human being are a legacy to us all. A man so gentle, the gentle giant. A man so humble, you could never understand why you were revered so much by those around you. A man so clever who shared his knowledge and educated thousands. A man so respectful that even though he was asked to speak many times in shul he never wanted to stand in the rabbis place. A man so god fearing who instilled his love for HaShem onto all of those around him. And a man that was a giver, as Adi said last night. He would always tell her, the two shekels won't make a difference to you but may save the other person's life.
Da I don’t know how to properly make this hesped. It a pity that you didn’t write it for me before you died. It would have been outstanding. You always wrote the best speeches, you always knew what to write and how to link it in to yiddishkeit. But I do know that you know that whatever we can or can't say here, our hearts are bursting with love and pride for such a special person.
A loving husband. You just celebrated your 50th wedding anniversary with mommy. As a treat you went with mommy to cape town and had the greatest time. Mommy didn’t want to go but you persevered and told us, don’t worry ill take care of her. And you always have. mommy also wasn’t well recently and you took care of her, with your gentle and caring way. Ma you’ve known this moment would come for the past 25 years. The doctors wrote him off so long ago but the Kodesh Boruch Hu had different plans because he knew that there was still more work for him to do. Ma, incredibly you are being the strongest of us all and I think I know why. Your love for daddy and his love for you know no boundaries and clearly you will still be able to love each other forever.
An incredible father. Joseph, I know that you are not the speechmaker of the family and you were only prepared to speak as an honor to daddy. You have told me many times and especially now, apart from losing a father you have lost a best friend. We were so privileged to have daddy work with us in the office the past 10 years and I know that you cherished every moment with daddy especially your whisky meetings after 6.
Adrienne or Adiki as daddy called you. What can we say. Daddy loved you more than life itself. I know that through all your difficult times daddy has always been the only one that could help you and it will be so difficult without him. His love for you and your time together must be cherished and as daddy always said we must move forward now. I know that you have lots to say to daddy and you will pour out your heart to him.
Helene and Shely. I don’t think that there are any daughters in law that could say that they had as special a relationship with their father in law as you have. The mutual respect and love between you –the mothers of his precious grandchildren. You both love him so much and he loves you and you have been like daughters to him.
Da. I know it sounds a bit corny but we are here to celebrate life. Without a doubt your crowning glory was your grandchildren Tanya Simone, Yoni, Lani , Mikki, Gabi, Liat, Daniella, Talya and Mia the gorgeous great granddaughter that HaShem gave you the honor of spending precious moments with. It impossible to believe that you loved every one of them the best - but you did. You took greet interest in each and every one of them and were so proud of them all in each of their achievements. You took so much pride in Tanya becoming a mother and were up to speed with absolutely everything your beloved grandchildren did.
HaShem I know the timimg is always lousy. The past few months have been very difficult for my dad and somehow I knew that you wanted him. Yet he kept on pulling through. But you have had the last word. You obviously have got a better use for my dad in shamayim. He is too great a person now for this world and his place is now with you. As Rabbi Beller said last night, the Malachim are shaking in their boots. Thank you HaShem for the most wonderful husband father grandfather great grandfather friend mentor and educator that anyone can wish for.
Da.thereis so much more I want to say but I can’t keep the people waiting. A giant of a man in every respect, a true torah scholar, a genius, a tzaddick, a giver,a maker of great people and a lover of - life, people eretz Yisrael and HaShem. It has been an honor being your son. I doff my cap at you dad and we will miss you so much. The world has lost a true mentsch but is a better place because of you.
HaShem welcome my dad next to you as another creator of good things.
Yehiyeh zichro baruch.
Thank you. Those are the only words I can think of saying to you. I know that this will be such a difficult time for us but at the same time we can all take comfort in the fact that you were a man who made a difference to the world.
Your career started off in the hallowed halls of Gallo records where you quick became their star salesman. I believe it was a very short career as a salesman, but your passion for music and the arts was just starting and your incredible ability to learn and memorize was established. To this day you could tell us the serial numbers of any particular record that was for sale at that time. Had you stayed on there we have no doubt that you would have become the CEO and taken it to great heights of success.
But you chose the path of education and that is how you managed to make an indelible imprint on the world. Starting off at Herzlia in Cape Town and spreading your wings to Theodor Herzl in Port Elizabeth Yeshiva college in Johannesburg, Mt. Scopus in Melbourne and then back to King David and the board of education in Johannesburg. It may not have been the wisest career choices financially to move around like that but you and Kodesh Boruch Hu knew that there was a bigger plan. There was no way that such brilliant human being would have been allowed to stay in one place. Like Avraham Avinu you wandered around spreading the word of HaShem. And your crowning glory was when you made Aliya and we all thought that you would relax and enjoy your golden years. But you started the good news Israel and it was a runaway success. There is no way that we can measure the impact of your presence in this world. But we do know that you have have literally changed the world that we live in and what you have left behind will continue that positive change.
And spread it you did. Your incredible knowledge of – everything, always astounded those around you. I was so proud knowing that if ever I was in a situation that I needed to know a fact or a figure or a date or a quote from the parsha, I could just pick up the phone and call you. And in your own humble way you would give me the answer but always add on some amazing background or fact that absolutely no one else in the world knew.
I have had a few occasions to think of what I would have to say here and there were many false alarms. But there are two things that stick in my mind. I recall meeting the man who was in charge of doing the photocopying at King David. He stopped me and asked me if you were my father. He said that you were the only person in the whole school that stopped past every day and popped you head in to say hello and address him by name, the name which I am sure if I had to ask you know you would remember.
Da you met so many important people in your life, or who we thought were important, yet everybody in your eyes was special and you treated everybody and I mean everybody with respect. So many people have recalled how much of a giant you were when you bent down to those small kids at school and gave them your warm smile and radiated love.
The second story is one of your illustrious financial career. Da we all know that finances weren’t your strong point and you clearly chose a path that led to incredible success without financial reward. You couldn’t even ask for change from the supermarket. Money was unimportant and you could not understand why you would have to charge people to teach them English. But when it came to G-d's work you were meticulous. You had the honor of doing many pidyon haben as a cohen and as much as I know it pained you to have to ask, you always insisted on them having to pay you because that was part of the mitzvah.
There are so many people we would like to thank who have been so good to you but I will only mention a few.
Firstly Martin and Glenda. Martin what can we say. You have been absolutely an outstanding caregiver to my father. It was never inconvenient for you to take our calls or to pop in at the hospital to make sure that everything was okay. One word from you and everybody jumped to attention. I know my dad loved you and admired you and it was a mutual feeling.
Solly. My father's best buddy and lifelong friend. Solly you made my dad laugh and cheered him up when he was down. I would often worry that the phone at his house was off the hook because I couldn’t get through for hours on end and then Shely would say, he is probably talking to Solly. Following each other around the world you never lost contact and I know my dad loved you like a brother and will miss you.
Michael and Barbara. One of my dad's proudest moments was knowing that you always saw him as a mentor to you. You have been so great to my parents over the years and have given my dad some of his greatest moments. I will never forget going down to the parking lot of bread and breakfast after we had been with you and my dad started singing some operatic tune, as he often did, regardless of his surroundings. When I asked "whats up" he said. Michael has invited us to the premier of Aida at the Royal opera house, and it was a few months away. He distinctly said, I now have a new goal and that is to stay around until Aida. Thank you so so much for bringing some light into my dad's life.
Reuben and Ros and Morris and Mona. My dad has always said and I know the feeling is mutual he could never wish for better machatonim than you. I know that you all love my dad and he loves you all so much. You have always been there for my folks and words cannot express our gratitude for all that you have done.
Everyone here could stand up and now and tell a story about you but I know that you wouldn’t want that because it would be disrespectful to keep everyone waiting. Your qualities as a human being are a legacy to us all. A man so gentle, the gentle giant. A man so humble, you could never understand why you were revered so much by those around you. A man so clever who shared his knowledge and educated thousands. A man so respectful that even though he was asked to speak many times in shul he never wanted to stand in the rabbis place. A man so god fearing who instilled his love for HaShem onto all of those around him. And a man that was a giver, as Adi said last night. He would always tell her, the two shekels won't make a difference to you but may save the other person's life.
Da I don’t know how to properly make this hesped. It a pity that you didn’t write it for me before you died. It would have been outstanding. You always wrote the best speeches, you always knew what to write and how to link it in to yiddishkeit. But I do know that you know that whatever we can or can't say here, our hearts are bursting with love and pride for such a special person.
A loving husband. You just celebrated your 50th wedding anniversary with mommy. As a treat you went with mommy to cape town and had the greatest time. Mommy didn’t want to go but you persevered and told us, don’t worry ill take care of her. And you always have. mommy also wasn’t well recently and you took care of her, with your gentle and caring way. Ma you’ve known this moment would come for the past 25 years. The doctors wrote him off so long ago but the Kodesh Boruch Hu had different plans because he knew that there was still more work for him to do. Ma, incredibly you are being the strongest of us all and I think I know why. Your love for daddy and his love for you know no boundaries and clearly you will still be able to love each other forever.
An incredible father. Joseph, I know that you are not the speechmaker of the family and you were only prepared to speak as an honor to daddy. You have told me many times and especially now, apart from losing a father you have lost a best friend. We were so privileged to have daddy work with us in the office the past 10 years and I know that you cherished every moment with daddy especially your whisky meetings after 6.
Adrienne or Adiki as daddy called you. What can we say. Daddy loved you more than life itself. I know that through all your difficult times daddy has always been the only one that could help you and it will be so difficult without him. His love for you and your time together must be cherished and as daddy always said we must move forward now. I know that you have lots to say to daddy and you will pour out your heart to him.
Helene and Shely. I don’t think that there are any daughters in law that could say that they had as special a relationship with their father in law as you have. The mutual respect and love between you –the mothers of his precious grandchildren. You both love him so much and he loves you and you have been like daughters to him.
Da. I know it sounds a bit corny but we are here to celebrate life. Without a doubt your crowning glory was your grandchildren Tanya Simone, Yoni, Lani , Mikki, Gabi, Liat, Daniella, Talya and Mia the gorgeous great granddaughter that HaShem gave you the honor of spending precious moments with. It impossible to believe that you loved every one of them the best - but you did. You took greet interest in each and every one of them and were so proud of them all in each of their achievements. You took so much pride in Tanya becoming a mother and were up to speed with absolutely everything your beloved grandchildren did.
HaShem I know the timimg is always lousy. The past few months have been very difficult for my dad and somehow I knew that you wanted him. Yet he kept on pulling through. But you have had the last word. You obviously have got a better use for my dad in shamayim. He is too great a person now for this world and his place is now with you. As Rabbi Beller said last night, the Malachim are shaking in their boots. Thank you HaShem for the most wonderful husband father grandfather great grandfather friend mentor and educator that anyone can wish for.
Da.thereis so much more I want to say but I can’t keep the people waiting. A giant of a man in every respect, a true torah scholar, a genius, a tzaddick, a giver,a maker of great people and a lover of - life, people eretz Yisrael and HaShem. It has been an honor being your son. I doff my cap at you dad and we will miss you so much. The world has lost a true mentsch but is a better place because of you.
HaShem welcome my dad next to you as another creator of good things.
Yehiyeh zichro baruch.