obituaries

Profound Impact from page 73

"Rachel was a phenomenal chef and
baker; Todd said. "She made recipes from
all over the world. When someone wasn't
feeling well, she would bake them cookies
just to say, 'I'm here for you: I don't know
many people like that:'
Todd, who is from Beachwood, Ohio, and
New Castle, Pa., said his challenge will be to
uphold Rachel's legacy so he and Jacob will
be able to maintain the friendships Rachel
so lovingly cultivated.
"She was so present in everyone's lives:'
said Todd. "She had friends from so many
different backgrounds and professions:'

Steadfast Friendships

One of Rachel's many personal gifts was her
ability to maintain deep friendships with
a wide array of people throughout the world.
"She was a wonderful person — giving,
brilliant, articulate, someone who brought
people together; said Karen Zalenko
Weinbaum of Huntington Woods, a cousin
and friend. "I hope we all become inspired
by what she gave in her short life:'
Her husband said a friend described
Rachel as someone who "always showed up
for the events and the non-events:' During
Hurricane Sandy, Rachel, 40 weeks pregnant
and uprooted from her home after a massive
power outage, managed to get to a nearby

hospital where a friend was giving birth.
"I was amazed to learn how many close
friends and deep relationships she had:' said
Waibsnaider, part of a group of Columbia
business school friends who meet for dinner
every Monday night.
Since their graduation in 2002, about a
dozen women meet weekly at the home of
Michelle Kedem, one of the group members.
One of the original participants, Rachel
has always been an integral part of the core
group, according to Waibsnaider.
"Rachel always showed up, even after she
had Jacob, even after she started commuting
[to Philadelphia]:' her friend said. "When I
saw her at a recent dinner, she was so happy
about her new job. She was beaming. It was
such a great fit, such a great use of her talent
and skills."
Waibsnaider has always been impressed
by Rachel's energy and her steadfast com-
mitment to social justice, regardless of how
busy her life became.
"It was such a natural, unassuming part
of her you never realized how much she was
doing; Waibsnaider said. "She was unde-
terred ... she lit so many sparks. She was
a visionary and a mobilizer. I'm amazed at
how much she managed to fit into her 39
years."

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I Times of Israel

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Interested in learning more about
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74

also be mailed do Tanya Mujica Keenan,
Columbia Business School, 33 W 60th St.,
7th Floor, New York, NY 10023. Checks
should be made payable to Columbia
Business School.
Rachel is survived by her beloved hus-
band, Todd Waldman; her son, Jacob Kody
Waldman; parents, John and Gilda Jacobs;
sister, Jessica (Joshua) Steinhart; father-in-
law and mothers-in-law, Bruce Waldman,
Elisabeth Waldman and Linda Waldman;
brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Andrew
Waldman and Tiffany Brown; nephews
and nieces, Lyle Steinhart, Bobby, Alec and
Arianna Brown; aunts and uncles, Karen
and Robert Wildau, Elizabeth Jacobs and
Charles Jacobs; many loving cousins and a
world of friends.
Rachel was also the much-loved grand-
daughter of the late Hyman and the late
Lillian Zalenko, the late Gilberta and the late
Morton Jacobs.
Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery;
arrangements by the Ira Kaufman Chapel.
Rabbi Arturo Kalfus of Temple Emanu-El
officiated.

❑

Story Development Editor Keri Guten Cohen and
JN Special Writer Karen Schwartz in New York

added to this story.

'Shamed' Official
Commits Suicide

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Continuing Rachel's Legacy

In addition to a funeral service on Monday,
May 17, at the Ira Kaufman Chapel, more
than 300 people attended a memorial ser-
vice in New York at Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion on May 16,
where Rachel's husband, Todd, as well as
several members of her New York commu-
nity paid tribute to this extraordinary young
woman.
"I always knew I had a wonderful daugh-
ter; but sitting at that service, I realized
what a spectacular person she was:' John
Jacobs said.
For those wishing to make contribu-
tions in Rachel's memory, her family has
requested that donations be sent to Rachel
Jacobs' Detroit Nation, 600 Renaissance
Center, Suite 1740, Detroit, MI 48243, www.
crowdrise.com/racheljacobsdetroitnation .
Proceeds will benefit Detroit-area projects
that will continue the nonprofit's mission
and leave a lasting legacy in Rachel's name.
Or choose to give to a scholarship fund
for aspiring female social entrepreneurs at
Columbia University, www.
giving.columbia.edu/giveonline . Indicate
"Other" in the "Select a Designation" field.
On the following page, select "In Memory:'
and fill out Rachel Jacobs 2002 in the
"Special Instructions" field. Donations may

May 28 • 2015

Obituaries

riel Ronis, an official at Israel's
Population Immigration and
Border Authority (PIBA),
committed suicide on Saturday after
a Facebook post that accused him of
racism — a claim that he disputed —
became popular and was shared thou-
sands of times.
The incident shone a light on the
problematic, sometimes devastating
effects of social media "shaming."
In a post that gained popularity last
week, a black Israeli woman wrote of her
experiences at a PIBA office in Tel Aviv,
where she felt her treatment had been
tinged with racism.
She recounted arriving at the office
with her three young children to obtain
a passport for her son, only to meet an
incredibly long line of people waiting
their turn. She was then told by a young
couple of a second short queue for par-
ents with young children. When she
attempted to join this line, however, she
was rebuffed by the clerk, who told her
to go stand at the regular line.
The woman did so, but then looked
on in shock as several other mothers

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with children — all of them white,
she noted — were quickly served by
the clerk. "I came to the counter and
asked Eti (the clerk) how this could
be. Her answer was 'What you're doing
is improper, go back to the end of the
line."'
The woman then asked to speak with
the manager, Ronis. "I told him exactly
what happened, and that I felt I was
being discriminated against due to my
skin color ... that all I ask is to be treat-
ed equally to all the other mothers who
come in, no more but no less.
"He told me that if I was complaining
of discrimination I should 'get out of
his sight:" she said. The woman added
that the incident caused her to cry and
lamented what she said was an ongoing
feeling of racist attitudes in society and
now by the state as well.
In his post to Facebook on Saturday
shortly before his death, Ronis, a former
high-ranking official in the Shin Bet
internal security service, wrote that the
accusations of racism had injured him
deeply.
"Two days ago a woman came to the
office to get service he recounted. At
the time I was assisting other people.
She demanded the service immediately