On November 4th, 1928, Arnold Rothstein a notorious New York Jewish mobster was gunned down at the Park Central Hotel at 7th Ave. near 55th in Manhattan.
Arnold was the son of an honest Jewish businessman named Abraham Rothstein who davened at the Orthodox Shul, “The Jewish Center” and was known as “Abe the Just”.
Abraham Rothstein was a prominent member of the Shul and contributed generously to charitable causes.
His other son would become a rabbi; however, his youngest son Arnold became an infamous gangster involved in all of the Torah and secular prohibitions during the era of Prohibition in the United States.
He was not a moral individual and undoubtedly caused much pain and hardship to many people.
When he was gunned down on November 4, 1928, his father asked Rav Leo Jung, the noted Rav of the Jewish Center to officiate at his son’s Levaya.
Rabbi Jung acquiesced to the request and delivered a eulogy.
Years later, Rabbi Jung was taken to task for eulogizing a mobster at the funeral service.
Rabbi Jung defended his actions by stating that he “spoke briefly about….the father’s abysmal pain; (and) about G-d being the only one who can judge adequately, especially a dead man…”
Rabbi Jung did his best to show proper compassion to the mobster’s parents while simultaneously avoiding condoning the misdeeds of the deceased.
There was a time though, years ago, when such carefully choreographed eulogies were not possible.
In the early years of the heated and passionate and often ugly wars between those who were attempting to usurp Judaism with a non-Torah outlook versus those who were holding strong to tradition, a story (which is probably apocryphal) is told.
It relates to our above mentioned topic; namely what a rabbi does when he is forced to eulogize a person who is ‘not-euligizable’ because of his misdeeds.
The Story
(Please keep in mind that at the time there was no sense of ‘live and let live’. Both sides believed they were locked in a battle for the future of the Jewish people)
The local rabbi was forced to officiate at the service of one of the early ‘Maskilim’.
The deceased was a man who had dedicated his life to leading others away from the path of Jewish observance.
The rabbi was hesitant to eulogize and was at a loss as to what to say.
Finally he looked up at the assembled and announced, “This is really the first funeral I have to officiate for a member of the “Maskilim”, the group who attempt to lead others away from the path to which I have dedicated my life to lead people on.
Everything they stand for I am against; and everything which I advocate for they protest and push for just the opposite.
They have informed on me to the authorities as being a ‘subversive’ and have made my life and others almost intolerable.
They claim everything I stand for is wrong and they do not believe in ‘live and let live’; rather, they proactively promote their agenda with a vengeance and with hatred.
What can I say therefore at this man’s funeral?
With what words can I speak to G-d?
I really have no words to properly eulogize the deceased.
Therefore, I pray to Hashem that there should be many more funerals of people of his ilk and then I will have more practice in being able to properly eulogize these individuals.”
And with that, the rabbi sat down.
