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What Haskel Besser does best -- and he does a lot ofthings very well -- is demolish any preconceptionspeople may have of religious Jews.
On the one hand, he is indeed a Hasidic rabbi with ablack suit, a black fedora, and that long gray beard. Hisappearance is always immaculate and he never deviatesfrom it, no matter what the season. If he's just going downto the corner to buy a newspaper, he wears a suit with a vest,starched white shirt with cuff links, and a tie.
Partly that's because of the European tradition inwhich he was raised. But this immaculate attention to imagealso gives away another detail of his personality. He understandshis context in the greater, non-Jewish world, and heknows that when he walks out his door, people will judgenot Haskel Besser, but all rabbis and, hence, all Jews, by theway he conducts himself. That's never far from his mind andaccounts, in part, for his courtly manners that are bothcharming and somewhat out of place in twenty-first-century America. This is a gentleman in the old sense of the word. Itis also someone who takes his position very seriously.
Besides the suit and tie, there is one more crucial pieceof attire: he always has a yarmulke on his head -- outside, inside,anywhere. (And on Shabbos and Jewish holidays, hewears a streimel -- a round, fur hat Hasidic men don onspecial occasions.)
Many years ago, when Haskel Besser was a young manliving in British Palestine, a prospective colleh (bride) askedhim why he continued to wear this outfit, which may havemade sense in Poland, but seemed to make no sense in theairless humidity and heat of Tel Aviv.
"She had a point," the rabbi admits. "It was uncomfortable.But I dressed that way then and now because my fatherand his father did the same."
Traditions, for Rabbi Besser, come in all sorts of largeand small packages and he considers all of them important.But there is another crucial facet to this man's personalitythat sets him apart from many other equally observant Jewswho dress the same way and follow the customs of theirforefathers. He is also very much a part of the outside, non-Jewish world. His circle of friends includes Jews and non-Jews. He has a deeply sophisticated knowledge of literature,music, and politics. And while his understanding of Talmudand Torah is legendary and he is respected by themost famous rebbes in the world, his admirers extend farbeyond that world. He has been an invited guest at WhiteHouse dinners and presidential inaugurations. He is the recipientof one of Poland's highest civilian medals and he isadmired throughout Germany and Austria. He even countsthe president of Romania as a good friend. But power brokersare hardly the epicenter of the rabbi's life.
With a unique sense of humor and a special knack fortelling a story, he is also a master of the disarming gesture.The rabbi has been known to be distracted by moths.
One Friday night, a moth was flitting about the windowof the Besser dining room during the Shabbos dinner. Thecandles were glowing, the rich, warm smells of dinnerwafted through the room, and the rabbi got up to open thewindow to let the confused insect outside.
"It looks like the butterfly would rather be out than in,"he said.
A guest corrected him: "It isn't a butterfly, it's a moth."
"I know," the rabbi responded with that smile, "but it'sShabbos and I wanted the moth to feel a little better aboutitself. Everyone should feel better on Shabbos."
All creatures -- high and low -- get equal treatment.
The Shtibel
Rabbi Besser has a definite destination when he leaves hishouse at 6:30 every morning. It's the same trip he has madedaily for the past fifty years: he crosses the street.
The destination is a brownstone house that, except forthe discreet Hebrew lettering over the front door, looks likeall the other brownstones on this residential block of Manhattan'sUpper West Side. But walking through the frontdoor of that brownstone is like walking through a portalinto another era. You could easily be in Eastern Europe acentury ago.
At 6:30 in the morning, the rabbi is often the first personto arrive. He goes through the usual ritual of unlockingthe door, turning on the lights, and walking up the stairs, perhaps a bit slower than he once did. Sometimes "Doc," hisfriend and the unofficial caretaker of the building (Doc'sday job is cardiology), gets there first and takes care of thesemundane details. But the rabbi is happy to do them himself.
The initial observation of a first-time visitor to thisbrownstone is how unfancy everything is. The first floorcontains only a metal coatrack with wire hangers. There'sa small sink for washing hands and a bulletin board withvarious community announcements tacked up in a haphazardway. On the right is the staircase, covered by afrayed and wornout carpet, which leads to the main roomon the second floor. It smells a little like the stacks of auniversity library containing endless shelves of books datingback to the nineteenth century.
At the top of the steps, a plain curtain separates youfrom the main room of the building. Pulling it back leadsto the next surprise: a scene of what appears to be completedisorganization. Prayer books are scattered on varioustables, and the chairs and tables are set in what appears tobe a completely random way.
Although this is a house of worship, it is unlike most ofthe thousands of synagogues and churches throughout theUnited States where pews are placed in strict regimentalorder, all facing the front ...
The Rabbi of 84th Street
Excerpted from The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser by Warren Kozak
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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