A Leaf Grows in Leonia

Artist: Tobias Weissman (1952-2014)

Today we celebrate a new life and I can't help the memories that flood my heart for one who passed through this world much too quickly. Tobias has a grandson, Thiago. The Levine’s and the Kestenbaum’s will be congregating this morning at a Temple to give this new baby boy a Jewish name. Too bad we can’t also give him back his grandfather.

Tobias was a modern day Renaissance man. He made a difference in so many lives and in so many ways. From their days at Erasmus Hall High School, Tobias gifted his friends with his keen sense of humor and fierce loyalty. Norman, Abe, and Tobias all eventually moved on from Erasmus and then retired from teaching, but Tobias kept going, becoming Principal of a very troubled Passaic High School. He turned the school around in the few years he graced the halls with his presence, giving every teen a chance to succeed. In education, Tobias made a difference.

To his family, Tobias was the center of their world. His mother was a survivor of the Holocaust and Tobias wrote a play in her memory. As the playwright of "The Leaf," Tobias brought Edith’s story to life in a deeply personal way on the stage of the Spotlight Theatre. We applauded her life through the words of her son and the music of our son, Sam. To his small family, to Iris and Moriah, he gave of himself in a very big way. He gave them his love and a beautiful tree of life. We all wanted to be a part of his tree. He was the very definition of a family man.

Norman and I have our own favorite memories of this man who is now a grandfather. Tobias and Iris went with us on our honeymoon to Jamaica, a bond that started many years ago and continued to weave us together through early morning sips of coffee with Rivi the dog on the porch in Monroe to a delicious Shabbos dinner on one of his final nights in Leonia. To me and to many others, he was also an artist. His home was filled with pottery he sculpted and designed. His hands were a gift to the art world, a modern day Da Vinci, only a whole lot more talented, if you ask me. 

Passaic High School ran a memorial service for their principal, Mr. Weissman. Our friend who epitomized the legacies of the past through his family morals and traditions was honored in a very modern way. A Twitter feed on a screen above the stage scrolled with hundreds of students thanking him for giving them a chance. He was a Renaissance man who fit right in wherever he walked. He is an angel to Paula, a gift to everyone who knew him, and a grandfather to Thiago. Today we celebrate a precious new leaf on his tree.