Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 7, 2020

(JTA) Just before his synagogue in Chicagos West Rogers Park shut down in response to the current pandemic, Yerachmiel Rick Beilis made a siyum, a festive meal celebrating his completion of a tractate of Talmud. Only weeks later, he was dead, struck down by the coronavirus.

Beilis, a high-tech worker who died April 4 at the age of 52, leaving behind four children and a wife who is herself battling the coronavirus, was a pillar in my shul, said Rabbi Efraim Aaron Twerski, leader of Congregation Khal Chasidim, in a video message on crowdfunding website The Chesed Fund.

He was a dedicated member of the Chicago Jewish community and Congregation Khal Chasidim. With a warm smile and friendly cheer, he warmed the hearts of all who saw him every day, the community said in its financial appeal.

According to the site, Beiles family was deep in debt because he spent every penny he made on his childrens education and his wife Elisheva Lisa Beiles recent battle with cancer, which left her with a compromised immune system.

He was a baal teshuva, said Chaim Worch, who used to sit next to Beilis in synagogue, using the Hebrew term for a Jew who returned to traditional Jewish observance. Everything he did was for the sake of heaven.

Worch recalled Beilis volunteering to help set up in the synagogue every week, working alone without complaint and still finding time between work and family to study Torah.

The community is shocked beyond shocked. The people Ive spoken to are flabbergasted that its happened. Obviously, God has his reasons, but everyone is shocked, said Worch. His wife went into the hospital when they found him and the neighbors were there with the kids until she came home.

Theyre still in denial, Worch said of the children. Its hard to watch them lose a parent.

More Bonds of Life

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Yerachmiel Beilis, 52: 'Everything he did was for the sake of heaven' - JTA News

Category: Talmud
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