Madam Speaker, last weekend, I joined Rabbi Reuben Poupko for the Sabbath at Beth Israel Beth Aaron synagogue in Côte St. Luc in Montreal. I was saddened to learn there of the loss of a great local leader, Debbie Sonberg Ajzenkopf, who passed away recently.
What a rabbi is to the Torah, so was Debbie to everything in that synagogue. She knew who liked to sit where, who was ill, who was doing better, who was getting along with whom, and who was not getting along with whom. Debbie was literally the keeper of everything, of all the knowledge in the synagogue. From the tales of those there, I mean everything.
She was also a committed and passionate Jew, absolutely devoted to her faith and to her synagogue. Debbie embodied the prophet Isaiah's teachings, that each of us should give what we have decided in our heart to give, not reluctantly and under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Debbie was a cheerful giver of her time, and of her love for Judaism and Yahweh.
Baruch dayan ha'emet.