Ursula Merkin (left) presents
award to Rabbi Dr. Sol and
Mrs. Roth. |
RE’UTH
No Need For Compliments
To Honor Rabbi Sol Roth
By
Tim Boxer
 E’UTH
board chair Ursula Merkin decided to dispense with the usual
platitudes that precede the presentation of an award.
Instead, at the organization’s annual dinner at New
York’s Pierre Hotel, she honored Rabbi Sol Roth of Fifth
Avenue Synagogue by recalling how her late husband, philanthropist Hermann
Merkin, was so devoted to the rabbi that he would never miss his
Monday night Talmud class.
“He
went even when he was confined to his wheelchair,” she said.
Roth’s
cheering section included Cantor Joseph Malovany, David Yagoda,
Ingeborg Rennert, Re’uth president Rosa Strygler and
emcee Sy Syms.
Syms
was the only guest who came in a tuxedo. ”Why not? I sell them!”
Avi Ohry
told how he became director of rehabilitative medicine at Re’uth
Medical Center of Lichtenstadter Hospital in Tel Aviv.
He was a doctor stationed
at the Suez Canal when the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973.
Jennifer Roth (from left), senior vice
president of Sotheby’s New York,
Re’uth president Rosa Strygler and
Rivka Saker, managing director of
Sotheby’s Tel Aviv. |
Surrounded by Egyptians,
Ohry and his 23 men fought a fierce battle. After four days, only
eight were left alive, and taken prisoner.
“How I survived was a
miracle to me,” Ohry said. “Some of my friends wanted to commit
suicide but I persuaded them not to.”
Although badly injured, he
treated his wounded comrades. He had to amputate the arm of his
commander.
“He died in my arms two
days later,” Ohry said. “I was not prepared for that.”
Upon his return home, he
went into rehabilitative medicine for brain-injured patients.
“At Re’uth,” he said,
“we treated the young people from the terrorist attack on the
Dolphinarium disco.”
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