Retired Rabbi Michael Weisser, guest speaker at Temple Israel’s virtual havdalah on May 8, has the distinction of having turned a Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon of Nebraska away from hate and onto a path that led to his conversion to Judaism.
Then the cantor at South Street Temple in Lincoln, Nebraska, Weisser had been an outspoken advocate of equality and civil rights issues since taking the job in 1988. In 1991 he received a threatening phone message from Larry Trapp, who then was the Klan’s leader in Nebraska. Weisser’s response: “I called his phone about once a week and left messages for him.”
After several months they eventually talked, and Trapp said he wanted to turn his life around. Weisser and his wife went to visit Trapp after that call. “We did so even though we thought there might be some risk, but as it turned out we spent several hours talking that night, and it was during those conversations that Larry Trapp made it clear that he wanted to change his life in a positive way.”
Trapp was blind, had ongoing health issues and used a wheelchair. After a hospital stay, he was persuaded to move in with the Weisser family rather than continue living on his own. He spent the last nine months of his life there, during which he converted to Judaism. He died in September 1992 and is buried in a Jewish cemetery with a Star of David on his tombstone.
The story of Weisser and Trapp has been widely publicized over the years, with stories in The Lincoln Journal Star, The Forward, Time Magazine and the New York Times.
“The media drove us crazy for a good while,” Weisser recalled. He left Lincoln in 2002 for other rabbinical posts, partly to let the media attention die down. He has returned to Lincoln in his retirement.
Anyone interested in attending Weisser’s presentation should contact Temple Israel Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn at 913-940-1011 or email: .
