Zeidy’s Story

He never needed to raise his voice to be heard.

A Toronto Boy

Izzy — Zeidy to all of us — was born and raised in Toronto, in an Orthodox community small enough that everyone knew everyone. He grew up with the values that would define him: hard work, humility, and a faith that was lived rather than spoken about. He was steady from the beginning, the kind of person others instinctively relied on.

The Trip to New York

Because the community here was so small, young men from Toronto would travel to New York to meet girls. Zeidy went with a friend — and, as always, took on a job while he was there: the principal of Toronto’s new Jewish school, Yesodei Hatorah, had asked them to collect donations along the way. They walked into an office one afternoon to ask for a contribution, and the young woman at the switchboard was Esther. He was the taller of the two. They married in 1953 and brought her home to Toronto.

Seventy years, side by side.

Provider and Anchor

Zeidy built a life through patience and persistence rather than noise. He worked to provide for his family and gave his time to his shul and his community, showing up early, staying late, and never asking for credit. He believed that a man’s word was the measure of him, and that the smallest kindness done quietly counted more than the largest one done loudly.

At home he was the anchor. Where Bobby filled the house with warmth and conversation, Zeidy provided the steadiness underneath it — the Shabbos table led with care, the zemiros sung the same way every week, the answer that came slowly but was always worth waiting for.

Zeidy to Everyone

Three children, seventeen grandchildren, and a growing crowd of great-grandchildren knew him simply as Zeidy. He remembered names, asked the right questions, and had an unhurried way of making a child feel like the most important person in the room. He taught by example far more than by instruction.

What he left behind is not written down anywhere. It is in the way his family keeps Shabbos, in the way they treat strangers, and in the quiet insistence that you do the right thing whether or not anyone is watching.