Thursday, July 21, 2005

Synchronicity Redux

On the left is a picture of one of the most admired and beloved individuals in NYCDOE history, Stewie Weiner. He passed away over a year ago after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Somehow when William Margulies mentioned the Jungreis name it sounded very familiar and it's not because I dovin (yiddish for pray). Stewie had gotten a very dire initial prognosis, even for pancreatic cancer. Stew's wife, Sharon, happened to work for an organization called Hineni, an organization affiliated with Rebbitzim Jungreis. The Weiner's, though not very religious, were encouraged to seek counsel with the Rebbitzim. So early in the morning, in his asst. principal's office, Stew would wrap Tefillin and perform other religious rituals that were certainly foreign to me. His cancer went into a remission that was not anticipated and his health was rejuvenated. As Tanta Ida would say, "Go know?" Unfortunately this miracle lasted only less than a year and Stew just as suddenly passed away. Still all of us who knew and loved Stewie, especially the kids in our school, were grateful for the extra time we were allowed to spend with him.

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