Editor’s Note: Remembering Rav Teitz
Rav Elazar Meir Teitz zt”l
The recent passing of Rav Elazar Meir Teitz zt”l, longtime rabbinic leader of Elizabeth, NJ, and head of the Jewish Educational Center (JEC), was a cause of personal sorrow to me because of my many years of connection to him and his community. Readers of TRADITION will forgive my use of this platform to share some memories and personal anecdotes of his warmth and humor which add some color to the very many well-deserved tributes that properly praised his rabbinic leadership and phenomenal legacy as a manhig, talmid hakham, and posek.
At the funeral and shiva many spoke of how “scary” they found R. Teitz. I imagine if you were a JEC boy caught sneaking out of White Castle, or a Bruriah girl spotted on Elmora Avenue in pants, he could be petrifying. But I had an entirely different experience: I first encountered R. Teitz as a public school student from neighboring Roselle (who briefly flirted with transferring to JEC). I would sometimes ask him shailot as I was making my way into traditional observance, and he was always extremely tender with me. Having set the template for our relationship in that way it continued throughout all our interactions over the decades. I guess that’s how he always viewed me. When I became the Elizabeth NCSY chapter adviser in 1990 I inherited the position from the legendary Julie Goldstein (now Fine). In giving me the instructions for what to do she told me that part of the job is being afraid of R. Teitz—but that was never my experience.
When my first paycheck came as chapter advisor (I think it was meant to be $125 a month!), there was an error: It was made out for $130 (or some small extra amount). I brought R. Teitz the check and asked if there had been a mistake. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as his renowned mathematical mind reviewed in a split second the entire balance sheet for the JEC and acknowledged that, indeed, I had been overpaid, but since it was his error I would keep the few extra dollars each month. Then, he leaned in and said, “But if I were you, I’d give it to tzedaka!”
I spent a month in the former Soviet Union around Pesach 1992 teaching in the Jewish schools as part of the YUSSR program, including a short stint in Riga. When I returned R. Teitz asked if I had taken any pictures in his father’s hometown. When I told him that I had, he arranged for me to meet with Rav Pinchas M. Teitz zt”l (in Rav E.M.’s home as I recall). At that point the elder R. Teitz’s memory was already significantly compromised, but as is the curious thing about the mind, when I showed him photos of Riga and Vilna he immediately recognized the locales, the shuls, cemeteries, courtyards, etc., and shared memories of his childhood. I was fortunate not to be frightened of Rav E.M., but there was no way around how formidable Rav P.M. was! I will always be grateful to Rav E.M. for orchestrating this special experience and allowing me to have such a meaningful encounter with his father.
In Roselle there had been an old European Rav named R. Nosson Nata Zuber zt”l (b. 1908 in Russia; listen to the conversation between Rabbis Yossi Katz and Moshe Kurtz on the Shu”t First podcast). He had been in Roselle since 1926 and predated R. Pinchas M. Teitz’s arrival in Elizabeth (they were the same age). He authored hiddushim on the Yerushalmi and piskei teshuva. In fact, he was one of the witnesses at the wedding of the elder R. Teitz to the daughter of R. Preil in 1935 (how many kosher eidim could there have been in Elizabeth who weren’t otherwise krovim of the bride?). When I finished semikha in 1994 R. Teitz told me that I was now officially the second greatest Rav to hail from Roselle, “but,” he added leaning in with his wry smile, “it’s a two-man race, and you’re a distant second!”
תנצב”ה