LEGACY from page 58 merit of meeting Rabbi Freedman," said Michael Eizelman of Oak Park. "Even though I only knew him for the last three or four years, and even with- out the connection many others had, I felt how much of a powerhouse he was in this community. - It was an honor to be able to participate in the learning in memory of Rabbi Freedman." Eizelman chose a tractate of Talmud and then asked Rabbi Alon Tolwin of Aish HaTorah Detroit to study it with him so he could "learn it more intensely." Eizelman had once-a-week sessions with Rabbi Tolwin. An Honor Not Sought Clockwise from top left: Rabbi Avrohom Abba Freedman with a fifth-grade class at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah Rabbi Avrohom Abba Freedman helps a student load the bus for a field trip. Rabbi Avrohom Abba Freedman with his son Rabbi E.B. "Bunny" Freedman in Israel Why They Learned . JAN 1/17 2003 60 was Rabbi Freedman. I never met such a person Participants in the siyum included many of the before — so sincere with such a true belief in thousands of students the rabbi taught in his nearly HaShem. He changed, not only my life, but the 60 years in Detroit. In addition to being a teacher lives of my children, my family. I didn't know at the Yeshiva, he also learned with adult students, about Yiddishkeit, but now I know enough to be including those who attended the Monday night able to study Torah in memory of Rabbi Chumash (Torah) class he taught for more than 50 Freedman." years. Those learning for the siyum also included mem- For the last 20 years, the rabbi was instrumental bers of Rabbi Freedman's own family. in introducing Russian immigrants to Judaism. He "I have been learning all year for my grandfa- did so both in the classroom and by taking bus- - ther," said 13-year-old Shalom Freedman -of Oak loads of students to out-of-town conventions and Park. "I took a portion of the Mishnah that I had by combining recreational activities with study. already learned with a private teacher — and after "When I came to this country 11 years ago from my grandfather passed away, I started learning it Russia, I did not know anything about Judaism," again. I realize every time I sit down to learn it said Yosef Shumulinskiy of Oak Park. "The first reminds me that it is for him." time I came to Young Israel of Oak Park somebody Shalom also knows that others who are learning introduced me to Rabbi Freedman and that day he are doing so with Rabbi Freedman in mind. "This invited me to his house for a Shabbos meal." shows how great people feel about him," he said. The rabbi later asked Shumulinskiy to attend a "They are willing to take their time and dedicate it to him." Sunday class he held for new Americans. "I went but I hardly understood what was going on, Not everyone who learned in Rabbi Freedman's because I didn't know much English," he said. "I memory knew him well. wanted to quit, but something was calling me. It "I didn't grow up Orthodox, but I did have the The last thing Rabbi Freedman ever looked for was an honor. "He was a selfless, dedicated, God-holy person, who wanted nothing for himself, only for God," said Rabbi Cohen, who is a participant in the learning program. "If you go to Google [search engine] on the com- puter, there is no mention of my father until his death," said Rabbi E.B. "Bunny" Freedman of Oak Park. "He was such a humble, unassuming person who didn't have an overbearing presence, who did- n't cast a giant shadow in his lifetime. He never accepted honors offered to him." Rabbi Bunny Freedman remembers his father falling asleep during a rabbinic talk at a family bar mitzvah in St. Louis. "When my father was nudged by my brother, he woke up to hear the rabbi say, and you should grow up to be like your grandfa- ther.' As soon as he heard that the rabbi was talk- ing about him, my father went back to sleep." Always shying away from being recognized for his deeds, a mysterious disappearance of a newspa- per article highlighting Rabbi Freedman — that once hung on a Yeshiva wall — was later traced to the rabbi himself. "My father never did anything so that he would be honored for it," Rabbi Bunny Freedman said. "He just wanted to do God's work. Once I asked him what his mission was in life and he told me it was to live life in a way that would should how beloved God is." The Sol' um It is fitting that the Siyum HaTorah dinner, mark- ing the completion of the Torah learning, will be celebrated at one of the Yeshiva's facilities. In 1944, Rabbi Freedman became Yeshiva Beth Yehudah day school's first teacher. He moved with his wife, Temme, to Detroit from his hometown of Brooklyn after his teacher Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, a leader in the establishment of American Orthodox day schools, approached him to teach at the Yeshiva. Rabbi Max J. Wohlgelernter was waiting in Detroit, hoping to turn the Yeshiva from an afternoon and Sunday school into a day school, under the direction of Rabbi Simcha Wasserman. Rabbi Freedman and fellow teacher Rabbi Sholom Goldstein are credited with many of the successes of the Yeshiva and other Torah-based institutions in Detroit.