If it’s Chanukah, it’s time for Rabbi Margolies to celebrate a birthday. He was born 90 years ago on Dec. 25, 1921, which was also the first day of Chanukah, in Jerusalem. So he celebrates his birthday on the Hebrew date, Kislev 25. He tells a story that he did not realize that his birthday was what many in the world know as Christmas day until he was a small boy in school, after his family had moved to the United States and had settled in New York.
Rabbi Margolies came to Kansas City in 1961 to serve as the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom. He served as senior rabbi until 1986, when he took on the title of rabbi emeritus. In 2000, he said he became a rabbi because “American Jews needed and still need teachers and guides.”
His family and those in the Kansas City Jewish community indeed believe he has been a beloved teacher and guide through the years, as evidenced by these birthday wishes below. If you wish to send a birthday wish to Rabbi Margolies, email it to or mail it to Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, 4210 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Suite 314A, Fairway, KS 66205. The messages will be forwarded to Rabbi Margolies.
May you follow in the footsteps of our great and revered leader Moshe Rabeinu and live to be 120.
Ruth Margolies, wife
“For many, many years, Rabbi Margolies shared his brilliant insights as a columnist for The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle.
His thoughtful opinions were unequivocal, and sometimes controversial. We loved every word of what he wrote, whether we agreed with him or not.
The Chronicle is not the same without his voice. We are pleased to wish him a happy 90th birthday.
And many, many more.”
Steve Rose, publisher, Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
Papa (Morris Margolies) is undoubtedly one of the greatest inspirations in my life. By witnessing his actions and engaging in conversation with him, I have absorbed an unbelievable amount of knowledge as well as learning the morals by which one should live. The world is certainly a better place because of him; we should all aspire to be like Papa.
Jacob Margolies, grandson
Papa taught me everything I know about Torah and Judaism. He has been an inspiration to me for my entire life.
Shoshana Margolies, granddaughter
Special wishes on your 90th birthday for a year of good health and intellectual prowess for which you are so renowned.
Fondly,
Rabbi Herbert and Barbara Mandl.
Mazel Tov Rabbi, friend, scholar, teacher, spiritual and communal leader. Since 1961 you have been a treasured resource in the greater Kansas City Jewish and general community. Elinor and I toast you on this special birthday.
L’Chaim,
Gustave Eisemann, M.D.
While my tenure at Beth Shalom has spanned more than 20 years and includes many recollections, what stands out are the weekly study sessions that we shared for a number of years. We learned Midrash together and I greatly benefitted from these weekly hours of study and the insights I got both from the text and Rabbi Margolies’ insightfulness. They were rewarding sessions. “Ad meah v’esrim” — “until 120!”
Rabbi Alan Cohen
I would like to wish my father-in-law a happy birthday from his “buddy,” Deborah (Salkov).
Dear Grandpa,
Happy birthday and happy Chanukah! What a milestone! Although we cannot be there to share this special birthday with you in person, I have very fond memories of past birthdays and Chanukah’s shared with you. In fact, one of my first memories of lighting the menorah was at your house with our family, you and grandma. I always looked forward to our holidays spent together singing songs, playing games, learning, and sharing good food. Recalling sitting on your lap during an enthusiastic round of benching still makes me smile, thinking about our many learning sessions spent together still gives me inspiration. To that end, I cannot thank you enough for being not only my teacher and mentor, but also my loving, caring grandfather. Sharing dvrei Torah and giant hugs, deep thoughts and silly jokes, I feel truly blessed to have grown up just a short drive away from my grandparents. My family joins me in wishing you a very happy birthday and Chanukah. We love you, Grandpa.
Love,
Your granddaughter, Rachel, grandson-in-law, Ari, and great-grandchildren, Leora, Ezra, and Adina
To my Abba, my friend, my teacher. I am the luckiest daughter in the world to have you as my father. Your passion for Torah and justice has inspired me every day of my life. Mazel tov on reaching your 90th birthday. I love you Abbale.
Your loving daughter,
Malka (Margolies)
I had the unique opportunity for most of my growing years to attend a classroom of one with my father as teacher. As I was the only child of my parents to attend public school exclusively from grade one through 12, Dad was the singular source of my Jewish education and he tirelessly poured his soul into the effort to teach me Torah, Jewish history, halachah and literature. I am ever grateful to him for the Jewish knowledge that I still retain today and for his constant love and devotion as my father.
Jonathan Margolies, son
Rabbi Morris Margolies had a profound influence on me and many of my contemporaries who grew up at Beth Shalom. Having lived through the turbulent 1960s, we wrestled with many issues — Civil Rights, the Vietnam War, the Six Day War, the search for meaning and identity. If you did not have an inspiring spiritual guide through this chaos, you generally ended up dropping out of Jewish life, and many did. But listening to Rabbi Margolies make sense of the events of the day and relate them to Jewish values, clearly influenced us in profound ways. Rabbi Margolies taught us to stand up for what is right and pay attention to the needs of every individual. Everything I have tried to do in my professional and personal life has been motivated by what this man gave me during a most impressionable time in my life.
Alan S. Edelman, associate
executive director, Jewish
Federation of Greater Kansas City
Wishing my Uncle Murray, better known to many in the community as Rabbi Margolies, a very happy birthday! He has always been a special uncle to me, present at so many meaningful life events for me — including officiating at my wedding and at the Pidyon Haben of my son. I even remember what he spoke about at these moments because he took care to choose words of Torah and tradition that were pertinent to my life. When my father passed away suddenly, he and my aunt took pains to plan their flight so it would coincide with ours and took time to comfort us along the way. I remember well the first words of his eulogy to my father, What a useful, useful life!, and those words resonate with me to this day, 20 years later. In all my interactions with my Uncle Murray, he has always taken the time not only to teach me, but to listen to me, and occasionally to learn from me as well. He has shown me and my husband (a weekly participant in family Shabbat shiurim) and children by his own example how to live a joyful, thoughtful, committed and purposeful Jewish life. Happy 90th birthday to my Uncle Murray, whose love for his family, his community and his tradition is reflected back to him so resplendently on this special day.
From his niece and nephew, Shari and Michael Sokol, and our children, Alexander, Felicia and Amanda
Dear Abba,
Thank you for the love and passion you put into rearing your daughter, my wife. Also thank you for embracing me and the love you have showered on our son, Gavriel. Mazel tov on your 90th birthday and we hope to celebrate many more with you. Love from your son-in-law.
Walter Scott
You have done a beautiful job of transmitting your Jewish teachings and traditions to your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Your legacy will continue to thrive and live on in each successive generation.
Diane Margolies
Dear Rabbi Margolies,
You have been our teacher, mentor and a beloved friend. You have celebrated with our family on every major occasion. You have given us strength in times of sorrow. You have inspired us to learn and develop in our Jewish knowledge.
We are thrilled to be able to celebrate you as a Nonagenarian!!
We pray God will bless you with many more years to share with your family, friends and community. You are deeply loved.
Happy 90th birthday, Rickie and Edward Haith
Grandpa, I love you so much! I look forward to planning your 95th birthday party (and many more after that!). You are the best grandpa ever and thank you for teaching me the game of baseball.
Love,
Gavriel Scott, grandson
We are so pleased to be able to wish Rabbi Margolies a very Happy Birthday on the occasion of his 90th. Rabbi Margolies was “our rabbi” at Congregation Beth Shalom for almost a quarter century and he remained active as our teacher, spiritual mentor and friend long after his retirement. An inspirational community leader, he never hesitated to take unpopular stances when he thought that was the right direction to pursue. He provided important support to the founders of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy during the crucial and often very difficult period before the school opened and his was the key role in the creation of its high school. An extraordinarily learned scholar both in Jewish and secular subjects, he is always eager to teach and to challenge us continually to expand our breadth of knowledge. Our wish for you, Rabbi, is bis a hundred und zwantzig.
Blanche and Neil Sosland
We pay tribute to our colleague and teacher, Rabbi Morris Margolies, as he reaches age 90, a number denoted in Hebrew by the letter Tzadee, the first letter in the word Tzadik, a righteous person. For half-a-century, ever since Morris and Ruth brought their family to Kansas City, the name Margolies has stood for the centrality of righteousness in the Jewish heritage. Record and age now fit in perfect harmony. Mazel tov!
The Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City
A memory: Two or three days after Yom Kippur 1973. A standing-room-only crowd in Beth Shalom’s Sanctuary, the atmosphere fraught. Israel is getting trounced. Is this it? Rabbi Margolies steps to the lectern, anticipation in the air. He instills hope — more than hope: faith. As only he could. Israel would live. Mazel tov to my teacher, Rabbenu Moshe, as he reaches 90.
Rabbi Harry “Scott” White, Congregation Ohev Sholom
Dearest Rabbi,
Wishing you good health and strength on your 90th.
Betty Brand and family
During the 10 years I’ve worked for The Chronicle, by far the most controversial pieces we have published were Rabbi Margolies’ columns. They were sure to stir people up — whether you agreed or disagreed with him. He generated a lot of Letters to the Editor!
I loved typing in those columns each week. I found them enlightening, informative, educational and very interesting. And about 99.9 percent of the time I completely agreed with the great rabbi.
Each week he would drop off his hand-written piece for me to transcribe. People would ask me why he didn’t just email them. I told them he did not have nor would he ever have email; that’s just the way it was. Although, I admit I had to call him occasionally to help me out a little with a word or two here and there.
When he brought his column in each week, he would usually stay awhile and visit. The Chronicle staff had some pretty interesting conversations during those times on a variety of subjects, and I truly miss seeing him come walking in to our office every Monday or Tuesday.
I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing Rabbi Margolies until after his retirement, but certainly wish I had known him when he gave his Torah classes. I’ve heard so many people say how much they learned from those classes. But I am fortunate to have several of his books, which I very much enjoy.
Have a great 90th birthday, Rabbi!
Marcia Horn Montgomery, community editor, Kansas City Jewish Chronicle