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A Life Of Kindness
SUSAN TAWIL
Special to the Jewish News
chaplain to both the state's federal prison
system and to the state's institutions for
the mentally ill. He served this con-
hen you were with him, you
stituency with his typical kindness and
felt you were the closest thing
compassion, going beyond the call of
to God."
duty to bring kosher food packages and
So said Arnold Olenick of Southfield
arrange carnivals, model Passover seders
about his rabbi, Rabbi Solomon H.
and Chanukah parties for the patients
(Shlomo Chaim) Gruskin, who passed
and inmates.
away Nov. 8, 2004, at age 87.
He spearheaded the establishment of
Rabbi Gruskin, longtime leader of
the Kadima residential home for the
Congregation B'nai Zion of Oak Park,
mentally ill, and was likewise very
was known for his extraordinary piety,
involved in the activities of JARC.
depth of Torah knowledge and tremen-
The rabbi's personal philosophy might
dous chesed (acts of kindness to others).
be summed up in the way he explained
He was one of those special individu-
the importance of the heart in Judaism
als regarded as a tzaclik,
as the organ that
a righteous person.
always gives what it
Although very humble,
gets. When Rabbi
his righteousness was
Gruskin's final illness
legendary. There are
left him frail and inca-
countless stories of
pacitated, he cried:
incredible deeds.
"What's the point of
Rabbi Gruskin was
being alive if I can't
born in Avoka, Pa.,
help another Jew?"
(near Scranton), in
Besides his constant
1917. He was educated
concern and care for
in Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
his fellow Jews, Rabbi
in New York and mar-
Gruskin was a gifted
ried Gertrude R. (Gitel)
Torah scholar, never
Reichman of Toronto
wasting a minute
in 1944. Their marriage
when he could be
was a model of shalom
learning. At the same
bayit (marital harmony)
time, he was very
for 59 years until the
approachable, with a
Rabbi Solomon H Gruskin
rebbitizen's death last
great sense of humor,
December. Their
and was much sought
respect for each other was so exemplary
after for his advice, counseling, blessings
that it seemed no coincidence that the
and encouragement.
rebitizen's Kaddish (prayers said by chil-
Meticulous in his personal observance
dren for 11 months after the death of
of mitzvot, Rabbi Gruskin accepted
their parents) ended just the day before
many stringencies upon himself, such as
the rabbi's own death.
praying Shacharit (the morning service)
Two years after the Gruskins married,
at sunrise, and fasting every Monday
they moved to Detroit, where Rabbi
and Thursday nearly 211 his adult life as
Gruskin served as the first executive
an atonement for the sins of the Jewish
director of the newly established Yeshiva
people.
Beth Yehudah. He led Congregation
His davening (prayer) was deep and
B'nai Zion for nearly 60 years. The syn-
heartfelt, bringing himself and his con-
agogue, originally located on Detroit's
gregants into an ever-closer relationship
Humphrey Street, was known to its
with God.
1,600 members as "the Humphrey
Rabbi Gruskin also was known for his
Shul," until its relocation to Oak Park in unwavering support of Torah institu-
1960.
tions, helping raise many millions of
The Gruskins were influential in
dollars for yeshivot (especially those in
organizing Detroit's budding Orthodox
Israel) and other institutions, such as
community, promoting the ideals of
orphanages and food banks. He was on
taharat hamishpachah (family purity)
close personal terms with the most
and founding the Women's Orthodox
esteemed rabbis of our generation.
League, the city's central mikvah organi-
Rabbi Gruskin was buried in Ponevez
zation.
Cemetery in B'nei Brak, Israel, where he
Rabbi Gruskin served for 35 years as
is interred next to his wife, just steps
W
away from the grave of Rabbi Eliezer
Schach, a leading Torah sage of our gen-
eration.
A memorial service was held Nov. 14
at Congregation Dovid Ben Nuchim in
Oak Park to enable the Detroit commu-
nity to honor Rabbi Gruskin's memory.
Community rabbis, congregants and rel-
atives, including the rabbi's two sons,
Rabbis Moshe Yitzchok and Efryim
Dovid Gruskin, delivered eulogies
extolling the rabbi.
The rabbi's selfless defense of Torah
ideals, his holiness and great devotion to
serving God, his tremendous acts of
chesed and his concern for others were
aspects of his character that were men-
tioned repeatedly.
So great was the rabbi's everyday con-
sideration of others that the family even
received a letter of sympathy from his
non-Jewish dry cleaner.
"He lived his life as an ambassador of
HaKadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One,
Blessed be He)," said his son, Rabbi
Moshe Yitzchok Gruskin.
Rabbi Gruskin leaves his family of five
children, all either rabbis or married to
rabbis, as well as many grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, nieces and
nephews.
His children are Shularnis and Rabbi
Yehoshua Zuckerman of Brooklyn, N.Y.;
Ghana and Rabbi Reuven Rubelow of
Monsey, N.Y.; Rabbi Moshe Yitzchok
and Kaila Rochel Gruskin of Lakewood,
N.J.; Raizelle and Rabbi Shmuel
Serebrowski of Toronto, Ontario; and
Rabbi Efryim Dovid and Naomi
Gruskin of Perth Amboy, N.J.
Those who wish to honor the rabbi's
memory may contribute to
Congregation B'nai Zion, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah, Yeshivah Torah Ore
(Jerusalem), Ponevez Yeshivah (B'nai
Brak), Yeshivah Gedolah (Perth Amboy
N.J.) or Ezras Torah (N.Y.). n
••
Mita,
3a44.44t e-a;re,
BENJAMIN BAGDADE, 100, of
East Peoria, Ill., formerly of Ann
Arbor, died Nov. 19, 2004. He was a
former Olympic coach, whose name
is associated strongly with the field of
competitive speed skating. He was a
winner of the intermediate speed
skating title in 1919 at Lake Placid,
N.Y., at the age of 15. He was a man-
ager and interim coach of the U.S.
speed skating team at the Winter
Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland,
in 1948. Mr. Bagdade was treasurer
for the U.S. Speed Skating Team for
16 years.
In addition, he was named a official
for the Winter Olympics Games in
Oslo, Norway, in 1952, serving as an
assistant referee and on the committee
to represent athletes and also as an
official at the Squaw Valley, Calif.,
Olympics in 1960. He then was elect-
ed president of the Amateur Skating
Union in 1947-48 and re-elected for
three consecutive terms, through
1950.
Mr. Bagdade was then inducted
into the Speed Skating Hall of Fame
in 1978, after being inducted into the
Michigan Amateur Sports Hall of
Fame the year before. Then, in 1990,
he was elected to the Michigan Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame. In addition to
his skating career, he was a charter
member and past president of the
men's club of Temple Israel.
Mr. Bagdade is survived by his
daughters and sons-in-law, June and
Dr. Richard Swartz of Ann Arbor,
Alice and Walt Winget of E. Peoria,
Ill.; son and daughter-in-law, Dr.
John and Harriet Bagdade of Eugene,
Ore.; grandchildren, Jason (Sheila
Gray) Bagdade, Suzanne Bagdade,
Olivia Bagdade, Philip Bagdade,
Vaughn (Cyndi) Swartz, Samuel
Swartz, Julie Feldman and Vicki
(Chuck) Lantz; great-grandchildren,
OBITS on page 92
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