A celebration of life

MONROE — Jonah Ehrenreich was gentle, but spoke his mind. He had strong opinions and great passion for his grandson, for Yiddish, for Irish music and for growing tomatoes. He was 87 when he died July 29 in his Monroe home after a long fight with Parkinson’s disease. He was unafraid, said his son, Jake Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich was born into a well-off Polish family where laborers worked the family’s vast lands while he and his siblings studied Jewish texts from a young age. But his life, like that of so, so many, changed with World War II. Ehrenreich and a few teenage friends, including his future wife, Bella, survived by slaving away at a Siberian labor camp. His family who had remained in Poland did not. “He didn’t find any family when he came back (to Poland),” said Ruth Sussman, his companion of 20 years. “He knew he had to work with his hands.” Like many survivors, he struggled with his conception of God in the years that followed. “The holocaust mostly gave my father problems with the prayer book when he had to say ‘All merciful and loving God,’” said Jake Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich and his young wife chose lives in the United States because, as their son said, “If you read what (America’s) supposed to be at it’s best, it’s the finest example of Jewish tradition.” His first home in the United States was a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. He learned English and earned his General Education Diploma at night school. Despite teachers’ pleading, he ended his formal education because by that time he had a wife and three young children to support. The father Jake remembers worked in an upholstery business seven days a week with neither spare time for the community nor talk of his past. Today Sussman, who is 87, shares anecdotes and wisps of Ehrenreich’s wisdom. She sits and talks about him in the living room of the house the pair shared among his beautifully upholstered furnishings. They are delicate and unique with vibrant patterns that can be felt. A genuine feeling of care lingers, a rare blessing in a mass produced world. These couches and this community were where Ehrenreich chose to unleash his plethora of experience. Jake Ehrenreich described his father as a teacher of responsibility. “I thought it was just the Jews the world didn’t care about,” Jonah Ehrenreich, who subscribed to around 12 periodicals, once told his son. “But it’s all people.” Ehrenreich dished out lots of time and money to belong to two temples. By belonging to two temples, the conservative congregation Eitz Chaim and the Monroe Temple of Liberal Judaism, Beth-El, Ehrenreich believed he could have the greatest impact on the most people. As an 85th birthday present, Jake Ehrenreich organized his father’s biographical information, political and social dissertations, Yiddish translations, and awards into a book. It was the size of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. In other words, long. Out of love for culture and tradition Ehrenreich taught Yiddish classes, and translated vast amount of songs, books and documents between Yiddish and English to revive the slackening language. The self-proclaimed patriot melded American and Yiddish tradition by writing Yiddish lyrics to “Meet the Mets.” He and Sussman spearheaded an effort to raise funds for Sudanese refugees, responded to phone calls at all hours to help elderly and reinvigorated holocaust memorials. When Ehrenreich needed a break, he sought refuge among his juicy red tomatoes and towering corn stalks. “He used to pay his electric bill and give them a bag of tomatoes,” said his son. While small kindnesses may live on in hearts and minds, Ehrenreich’s formal awards range from Temple Beth-El’s Man of the Year to New York State accreditations and certificates. There are other things, maybe just as defining, not represented on Ehrenreich’s wall of plaques. He told his son he loved Irish music because he could “hear the potato famine,” or the soul of the people. He believed Israel should not have taken the West Bank and Gaza from the Palestinians. And though he had qualms about politicians, he never missed an election. Jonah Ehrenreich’s survivors include his son Jake Ehrenreich, daughter-in-law Lisa and their nine-year-old son, Dovy, who Jake Ehrenreich said, “taught (my father) how to love on a different level.” Daughter Wanda Ehrenreich and Ruth Sussman also mourn. He was predeceased by daughter, Joan Ehrenreich. Sussman estimated around 200 guests mourned at his funeral. Ehrenreich was buried at the King David Cemetery in Putnam Valley. Family has held Shiva, a Jewish remembrance ceremony, and an online guest book and obituary is posted on the Web site of Legacy. Contributions may be made in Ehrenreich’s name to the Monroe Temple of Liberal Judaism or Congregation Eitz Chaim. About 200 people attended his funeral at Monroe Temple of Liberal Judaism. “Jonah had seen some of the worst things people can do to each other,” said Rabbi Gary A. Loeb, who presided over the funeral, “and he also saw some of the most wonderful things.”