{"id":1859,"date":"2019-07-15T16:35:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T20:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/?p=1859"},"modified":"2019-07-15T16:35:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T20:35:16","slug":"remembering-samuel-mayer-leder-zl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/?p=1859","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Samuel Mayer Leder, z”l"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Samuel Mayer Leder, z”l<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2003, my new friend and UNC Charlotte colleague Brian Cutler came over to tutor my son, Erik, for his bar mitzvah. At the time, we were both members of a havurah in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had met there during High Holy Days. Since Brian had just moved to Concord, where we both lived, he offered to help teach Erik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get to Sunday school or services\nentailed at least a forty-five-minute drive, if not, at times, a full hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t it be nice if we didn\u2019t have\nto shlepp so far?\u201d Brian asked. \u201cIt would be so cool to have our own havurah in\nConcord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat,\u201d I said, \u201cyou, me, and who else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d been living in Concord for twelve\nyears. Until Brian arrived, I had never heard of any other Jew living in my\nadopted town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, we agreed to look around. A week\nlater Brian showed up for Erik\u2019s next lesson and announced happily that he had\na contact. I was thrilled. We might double our number from two to four right\naway \u2013 I had been given a name, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard there is a Jewish accountant\nsomewhere in town,\u201d I said triumphantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian started laughing. We had both spent\na week looking, inquiring, sleuthing\u2026 and found exactly the same person: Samuel\nLeder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel had grown up in Whiteville, North\nCarolina. His Jewish upbringing included traveling rabbis and a small group of Jewish\nfamilies. It was a tiny community, and close-knit. Samuel was intimately familiar\nwith congregational life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew and taught Jewish history; Samuel\nknew and taught me liturgical practice. When I forgot to give a page number,\nSamuel would riffle through the pages and kindly announce it, softly, himself. When\nI neglected to remember to remind everyone to stand, Samuel would rise firmly,\nsignaling others, leading from his seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel nourished our every effort; he supported\nour best hopes. He was invariably kind and gentle when we hit a bump in the\nroad. He helped make a community. In truth, he helped make a rabbi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched as Samuel went from one of\nConcord\u2019s most respected business people to the first Jewish member of the\nConcord City Council and mayor pro tem. He became a close friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago today, Samuel died suddenly\nand without any warning from cardiac arrest. He was just fifty-one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an unbearable shock. Unreal,\nsurreal, impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members wrote me: He knew all the\nprayers they didn\u2019t know. He helped when one of us was out of a job and went\nthrough multiple job searches. He was invariably gentle, kind, a mensch in\nevery respect. How would we do without his booming, open laughter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town of Concord knew Samuel in so\nmany ways. He was a respected and ethical leader, someone who cared deeply\nabout the town he chose to live in\u2014and all its people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We at Temple Or Olam will remember Samuel\nas the only member who could chant Torah with a southern accent; Samuel\u2019s\nleyning was both unforgettable and delightful. We will remember how he\nperformed hagbah; when Samuel lifted the Torah, we\u2019d see those three columns\nhigh and clear and our own spirits were elevated. We will remember him as the professional\nwe relied on for communal help and advice. Samuel did our congregational taxes.\nHe took care so that we could take care to remain ethical, transparent, and\nconsistent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he was, so he helped us be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel Leder was a person of chesed, <\/em>of\nsheer, unmitigated kindness. He was reliable, steadfast, and true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night, our havurah held a separate memorial service of our own for Samuel. Neighbors and family members attended, including Samuel\u2019s open-hearted wife Shannon, and his two teenage sons, Matthew and Bennett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever I led Shalom Aleychem, Samuel\nsang with a devoted, full-throated energy. Every Hebrew word was accented\nSouthern, every note unforgettable for the love of God it contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his honor and memory, we called in\nangels of peace, angels of lovingkindness. We asked them: Come in peace, bless\nus in peace, depart in peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thanked Samuel for the peace and the\nlovingkindness he gave to all who knew him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will not forget what you gave us,\nSamuel. We will never forget you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2003, my new friend and UNC Charlotte colleague Brian Cutler came over to tutor my son, Erik, for his bar mitzvah. At the time, we were both members of a havurah in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had met there during High Holy Days. Since Brian had just moved to Concord, where we both lived, … <\/p>\n

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