NEW YORK — On behalf of our 2,300 rabbis and cantors and their communities in North America, T’ruah mourns the loss of Rabbi Everett Gendler, longtime advocate and recipient of T’ruah’s lifetime achievement award in 2013 [pictured].
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, issued the following statement:
“Rabbi Everett Gendler was truly one of the g’dolei hador – the great ones of our generation. He was perpetually ahead of his time –championing feminism, LGBTQ rights, environmentalism, the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians – often decades ahead of almost everyone else.
“An activist for civil rights, Rabbi Gendler brought Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak at the Rabbinical Assembly convention in 1968, just days before Dr. King was assassinated. In more recent years, he traveled with his wife Mary to India to develop an educational program on strategic nonviolence for Tibetans in exile. He also served congregations in Mexico City, Rio Janeiro, Princeton, Havana, and Massachusetts. In his 90s, he published his final book, the culmination of a lifelong project translating the essential works of Rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamares, a late nineteenth/early twentieth century pacifist rabbi. Rabbi Gendler never stopped learning, mentoring younger rabbis and activists, and seeking to create a more just and sustainable world. Those who knew him remember his intense attention to everyone with whom he spoke, and his slow and deliberate speech – those who listened were almost always rewarded with hearing prophetic truths.
“T’ruah honored Rabbi Gendler with our lifetime achievement award in 2013 for his dedication to nonviolence, human rights, the environment, vegetarianism, and liturgical renewal, among so many other commitments. The Talmud teaches that the righteous are considered living, even after their deaths. (Brakhot 18a) Rabbi Gendler’s life’s work will continue to inspire us and to teach us for many years to come.
“T’ruah sends condolences to Rabbi Gendler’s wife Mary, and his daughters Tamar and Naomi, and all of his family and close friends on their loss. May his memory be for a blessing.”
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.