Honest Sam

My parents' previous rabbi, Jonathan Katz delivered a stirring eulogy of my father drawing parallels between my dad and his hero -- Abraham Lincoln. The eulogy is below.

A couple of months I attended a bat mitzvah in Chicago at Anshe Emet, one of the most prominent conservative congregations in the country. When I faced the sanctuary from the pulpit, after being called up for an aliya, I beheld a pleasing yet somewhat surprising sight. There, etched on a large stained glass window above, was a stunning image not of one of the patriarchs, nor of Moses, but of Abraham Lincoln. It seemed a bit odd, but also wonderfully refreshing to have President Lincoln present at every service of the congregation. I began to think how much he did indeed belong because in so many respects, he embodied Jewish values.

Maybe that’s why, when you visit the Fogel home, you see so many figurines of Abraham Lincoln on mantles and tables and in book cases. Sam Fogel so admired our 16th president. I am told he read everything he could about him. I can imagine him poring over Carl Sandburg’s classic six volume biography, one of the many works about Lincoln Sam was no doubt familiar with.

I can imagine Sam being drawn by Lincoln's honesty, integrity, humility, and wonderful dry sense of humor. What a model Lincoln was for public service, protecting the rights of all people, for decency, compassion and righteous action in the face of daunting circumstance. Maybe Sam had Lincoln in mind when he ran for the Indiana State House, when he took the lead in an unprecedented product liability case that changed Indiana law, when he always made sure his children were safe on their bikes, in the neighborhood, in the car, in the world.

Maybe Sam had Lincoln in mind making the trip from Huntington to the Temple on snowy Sunday mornings for religious school when kids who actually lived in Fort Wayne stayed home because of the weather. Okay, it wasn't in the category of Lincoln walking all those miles to school, but it still represented Sam's determination to get there, to make good on a commitment to learn.

Lincoln was always well-dressed, as was Sam. Though Lincoln knew so much, he didn’t make a show of his learning. That also sounds like Sam, who was extremely well-read, on any number of topics. As you’ve heard, books were his true companions, they went with him everywhere. I was always impressed how informed Sam was on things. But he didn’t try to impress me with his knowledge or lord it over you. There was no sense of “Gotcha, see how much know more I know about this than you.” No, his self-esteem and self-security didn't require him to make sure you knew how much he knew.

Perhaps, that was because for Sam true, authentic knowledge wasn't reduced to how many books you’d read, how many advanced degrees you'd acquired, or by how many people were impressed by how much another individual ostensibly knew. Rather, knowledge for Sam was only important if it led to wisdom, knowing when to speak and when to hold your tongue, when to express criticism without being mean or vindictive, how to distill knowledge into real insight, sincere action.

I’m sure Sam knew a heck of a lot more about certain things than I did, even Jewish things. But he was always respectful of others no matter their learning level. He was never so learned, so sure of something, so caught up in his own opinion of things, that he wasn't interested in the ideas of others.

I recall talking to him about Martin Buber. It wasn’t on the level of being able to recall a particular a book Buber had penned. It wasn't a competition. It was the overall concept of Buber. He respected that we both had come to know Buber, not in merely an academic sense, but a human one. Again, that sounds like Lincoln too.

Like Lincoln , Sam had no stomach for pomposity. He wasn’t looking for admirers. He was so much inclined to talk about religion but personally manifest its values. Sam didn’t wear his religion on his sleeve. He didn’t have to. He didn’t need to parade his Judaism, but he took great pride in it, its cherished principles were etched in his very being.

Yes, Sam was a great lawyer but not the best businessman. Fine, but maybe that accrues to his character. He always put his clients first, did all he could on their behalf. Okay, maybe Sam wasn’t Mr. Social. But he had a quiet, steady certainty that made you recognize he was someone of substance.

In the last few years, there has been speculation that Abraham Lincoln may have actually been Jewish. The community from which his family originated in Lincoln , England has an interesting Jewish history because it was given special protection during the Crusader riots at the end of the 12th century. The Bishop of Lincoln taught that Jews should be loved and respected. When he died, Jews mourned him. It has been suggested that when Lincoln's Jews were later expelled from England some of them remained behind in secret and that Abraham Lincoln’s family was one of them.

Lincoln ’s great-grandfather was named Mordechai, and he was the only President not to have a formal religious affiliation. He was apparently not raised in a church nor belonged to a church.

I’m sure Sam knew this and was also aware of Lincoln ’s positive relationship with the Jewish community. He would not, under any circumstances, brook anti-Semitism. He appointed Jews to important posts. He personally revoked an anti-Semitic order given by General Ulysses S. Grant that Jews had to evacuate certain areas because of military profiteering it was claimed they were engaging in. Lincoln wrote, “To condemn a class (of people) is to condemn the good with the bad. I do not like to hear an entire class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.”

When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, whole Jewish communities sat shivah. The founder of our movement, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, commenced his eulogy: "Brethren, the lamented Abraham Lincoln believed himself to be born from our bone and flesh. He supposed himself to be a descendant of Hebrew parentage. He said so in my presence."

In talking to Sam’s family you realize just how central the law was to Sam’s life. Everything, he felt, depended on it. There was just so much at stake. No wonder then that he entered the legal profession. He obviously seeking to both fulfill and safeguard it.

When Lincoln was asked about his religious beliefs he always mentioned the 20th chapter of the Book of Exodus, the Ten Commandments, The Law. How ironic and fitting that this was very same Torah portion we were reading when Sam passed.

Let us recall Sam with appreciation and respect. He deserves it. Amen.