In what was to be his final interview with The Chronicle in 2008, Rabbi Morris B. Margolies told then-Chronicle Editor Rick Hellman he would like to be remembered as a scholar and a teacher. Since the Jewish community learned of his death over the past several days, he has been remembered as that, and more.
Rabbi Herbert Mandl became friends with the late rabbi long before he moved to Kansas City to serve Kehilath Israel Synagogue in 1977. In fact K.I.’s rabbi emeritus turned to Rabbi Margolies for advice before deciding to take the job here. Over the years Rabbi Mandl characterized his relationship with Rabbi Margolies as that of colleague, student and friend and was deeply honored when Rabbi Margolies referred to him in recent years as “his rabbi.”
At the funeral, Rabbi Mandl referred to Rabbi Margolies as “the voice of the Jewish community,” one who helped keep it together even after he retired from the pulpit in 1986.
Many, including Neil Sosland, who served as president of Congregation Beth Shalom back when Rabbi Margolies was senior rabbi, said, they will miss the rabbi’s scholarly presence.
“The true meaning of a rabbi is my teacher. He was my personal teacher for a period close to 50 years. His loss is a tremendous one, especially to me, as well as to the congregation as a whole,” Sosland said.
Beth Shalom members reminisced about the rabbi at shul Saturday morning, noted Blanche Sosland, who as a founder of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy worked closely with him.
“People were saying they were sorry that they hadn’t taken advantage of more of his classes. I think the lack of his presence has been felt since he’s been ill. He was a very vibrant man and he will be profoundly missed,” she said.
Alan Edelman, the associate executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, has been a member of Beth Shalom his entire life and was a young student of the rabbi.
“For those of us who grew up during the 1960s, Rabbi Margolies had a profound impact on our Jewish identity and development. He helped us understand how, as Jews, we needed to understand events such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War in the context of tzedek, justice. Every Friday night hundreds of congregants went to 34th and Paseo to hear those powerful sermons and celebrate Shabbat with the congregation he shaped,” Edelman said.
Edelman also served as education director at the congregation in the early 1980s.
“I worked with Rabbi Margolies to engage families in their children’s Jewish education. I learned much from Rabbi Margolies and he served as a powerful role model for my career as a Jewish professional,” Edelman said.
Congregation Ohev Sholom Rabbi Harry “Scott” White also grew up in Kansas City and had the opportunity to learn from the rabbi before he became a rabbi.
“Rabbi Margolies had the exceedingly rare combination of a keenly analytic mind and an encyclopedic command of scripture and Jewish history, and I daresay a good portion of rabbinic literature. The same could be said for his knowledge about certain secular subjects, including English literature and serious (and Jewish cantorial) music,” Rabbi White said.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention his mastery of baseball knowledge, both the intricacies of the game and its history. Morris was a quintessential renaissance man of the mind. Learning with and from him was never without eloquence, passion and love for the subject.”
“ ‘Lo kam b’Kansas City k’Moshe ode’ — there never was and never again will be another rabbi like him in Kansas City. We were truly blessed,” Rabbi White said.
Rabbi Mark Levin and Rabbi Margolies were colleagues for 36 years in Kansas City.
“Rabbi Margolies possessed the finest rabbinic mind the Kansas City Jewish community has ever experienced. His erudition in history, Talmud and Tanach were incomparable. His preaching has been quoted and discussed even decades later. His teaching has never been surpassed for its depth and the numbers who attended his classes. Kansas City had the privilege of learning with a first-rate rabbinic mind. Those who studied with him count themselves blessed by his intellect and mastery of all things Jewish. Rabbi Margolies established a level of devotion to Jewish learning that will outlive his long life by many decades. I pray that his legacy will be a devotion to Jewish study for its own sake for many decades to come,” Rabbi Levin said.
Rabbi Alan Cohen, who served Beth Shalom as its senior rabbi for a total of 20 years, said, “Rabbi Margolies set a very high standard for rabbinic excellence that served as a model for me all of the years that I was at Beth Shalom.”
“Rabbis of his stature and learning are few and far between. I know that he will be deeply missed by his dear wife, Ruthie, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as the entire Kansas City community,” said Rabbi Cohen, who now lives in Florida and holds the title of rabbi emeritus at Beth Shalom.
Steve Rose, publisher of The Jewish Chronicle said that for many years Rabbi Margolies “shared his brilliant intellect as a columnist for The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle.”
“His opinions were thought-provoking and followed closely by the Jewish community. He will be greatly missed,” Rose noted.
He was not shy, as everybody knows, about expressing what he thought about any topic, particularly relating to the politics of the day, Jewish or otherwise, noted Todd Stettner, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Federation.
“I only knew him in his emeritus years. Even then he was a tremendous force in the community,” said Stettner while in Baltimore to attend the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly meeting. “He was a good supporter of the community and everything that went on in it. He will be missed.”
As for his legacy at Congregation Beth Shalom, Rabbi David Glickman, the congregation’s new senior rabbi, said Rabbi Margolies “left such a deep and permanent impression on countless souls.”
“It wasn’t just the depth of his knowledge that made Rabbi Margolies stand out. It was his broad mind, his robust spirit and his courage that truly set him apart. I can’t tell you how many congregants have told me ‘Rabbi Margolies was simply the most intelligent man I’ve ever met.’ ”
“Rabbi Morris Margolies was larger than life,” Rabbi Glickman continued. “They simply do not make pulpit rabbis like that anymore.”
The rabbi’s nephew, Professor Zvi Gitelman, voiced out loud what many have thought about the rabbi over the years.
“I didn’t always agree with him, but I always learned from him.”
Gitelman sang the rabbi’s praises in a number of ways.
“His kindness never failed. His concern for others never flagged. His loyalties never wavered … to his family, to his friends, to Yiddishkeit, to the State of Israel, to the United States and to the Giants, not necessarily in that order,” Gitelman said.
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, the senior rabbi at K.I., noted that Rabbi Margolies had students all over the world. He himself had been what he described as “a student of the rabbi from a distance.”
“So many were touched by him on a daily basis in so many different ways. It’s not possible to even scratch the surface of the over 90 years the rabbi lived,” Rabbi Yanklowitz said. “Reb Moshe, they really don’t make rabbis like you anymore.”
Rabbi Mandl, who knew Rabbi Margolies for 43 years, voiced what many were thinking Monday.
“Farewell dear teacher. Farewell dear rabbi. Farewell dear friend. You will be missed. Go in peace.”