(By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times)
This week, the Five Towns community lost an outstanding individual. Rabbi Gilbert Klaperman z”l, 96, was a remarkable individual who came of age during the second World War.
Ben Brafman, a member of his shul, remarked that Rabbi Klaperman was, “perhaps one of the greatest Jews of his generation. Without his hard work, integrity and vision, the Orthodox Community in the Five Towns and Rockaway, would not have grown and all of the wonderful shuls and yeshivot that we all take for granted, they would not be here. We all owe him our quality of life.”
Rabbi Klaperman, as a chaplain in World War Two, witnessed the destruction of Klal Yisroel and participated in the subsequent rebuilding of the Jewish nation. He saw it all. He touched us all. and, most importantly, he led us through it all.
He was the Rabbi Emeritus, of Congregation Beth Shalom in Lawrence, a true community shul that performs remarkable chessed for the entire community. Rabbi Klaperman left an indelible impression on the shul and upon its members – who follow in his ways. He was past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, and was also the head of the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry.
Rabbi Klaperman’s efforts for Soviet Jews yielded fruit. With determination and political skill, the Soviets eventually freed tens of thousands of our Jewish brethren. His approach was one of quiet but firm pressure. It worked, boruch Hashem.
Rabbi Klaperman had a warm and loving personality, and he left his mark on the members of his shul – indeed, upon all those who came in contact with him. The shul is currently led by Rabbi Kenneth Hain, who follows in his great predecessor’s footsteps in looking out for all of Klal Yisroel.
Rabbi Gil Klaperman, a chaplain for the allied forces from Canada, wore a Canadian chaplain uniform with three pips on his shoulders indicating he was a captain. However, when these pip were surrounded by Jewish stars, he appeared to others as a three-star general. Imagine that – a 24 year old young man who appears to be a three star general. It actually helped him enormously in his work – this appearance of looking like a three star general.
In terms of Torah growth in our Five Towns community, Rabbi Klaperman’s efforts were no mere appearance.
Rabbi Gil Klaperman was a three star general in every sense of the word. From almost nothing, he carefully persevered and help build a remarkable Torah community. He was one of the many who quietly and carefully helped to orchestrate the greatest rebuilding of Klal Yisroel since the second Churban.
ON ERETZ YISROEL
In conversation with this author, Rabbi Klaperman remarked that there is not enough being done in our communities about “really truly appreciating and loving eretz yisroel.. There is not enough hakarah for what it is.. Even here [in the more Zionistic area of the Five Towns], we do not have enough recognition of what eretz yisroel truly means and is bichlal. We talk about it every day, and we daven for it, but we are not cognizant in our davening as to what it is. Eretz Yisroel is beset with enemies every day.. That bum gets up in the UN..”
Rabbi Klaperman worried about how to get younger people to support Eretz Yisroel. “We have the zchus now of being in a generation where we finally have Eretz Yisroel under Jewish leadership.. We need to get younger people to take leadership roles for Klal Yisroel, for building our Yeshivos, for ensuring that all Jewish children are in yeshivas and for Eretz Yisroel..People here in the Five Towns have to get together and do something.. people here have to offer tangible support and create more appreciation and awareness of what can be done.
ON YESHIVA EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE
“For those parents that send their children to Yeshivos.. they are heroes.. ashreihem mah tov chelkam.” We talk about project Birthright to get people into leadership roles and to care about eretz Yisroel. But what happens to these kids when they get back? Those parents, again that send to Yeshivos.. They are the future of our nation.
ON CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM
“I love this shul.. I helped build it. It is filled with remarkable, wonderful people. Not all of them were talmidei chachomim but they were and are good Jews.. Let me tell you, for example, Herbert Tenzer. He was a man that helped save his people in the Vaad Hatzolah during World War Two. He was a businessman in real estate. On Purim once, I stopped by to drop off shaloch manos that my wife baked.. He was reading the megillah at home.. Can you imagine? A major real estate mogul that could have been in his office. No. He was reading the megillah at home.”
ON PRIDE IN BEING A JEW
“We no longer have role models. The intermarriage is a disaster.. Once it becomes accepted in our families then it is okay. This is something that has changed over time. Once, intermarriage was anathema. Now, it is somewhat accepted and that cannot be.. For Reform Jews all is muttar.. But within our own community it is a growing problem that we should be concerned about.
And the best response is with a solid chinuch.
But more than that. We have to tell our children that it is great to be a Jew. We have to make them feel it inside and outside.. We have to be that role model that shows this. We have to develop a dedication within our children from knowledge and from commitment. It must come from us first so that we can be a role model for our children. Once we have this, then we can take on the other problems. Assimilation.. The Islamists. They are taking over the world.
There is an ignorance in the beauties of Torah out there – an apathy.. This must be combated and the only way to do it is through chinuch and instilling the joy and pride of the Torah way of life.”
Rav Klaperman is survived by his devoted wife, Susan Alter; his children, Joel (Renee) Klaperman, Frieda Klaperman, and Carol (Ira) Morrow; and stepdaughters (Beth and Shira Alter). He leaves behind his grandchildren, Gabriel, Jessica (Adam), Jeremy (Elaine), and Harrison; step-grandchildren, Ayelet, Aaron, Aden, and Aviv; and great-grandchildren, Miles, Elizabeth, Elle, and Jolie. He was the cherished brother of Sylvia and the late Irving Tuchman. He was predeceased by his first wife and childhood sweetheart, Libby, and by his daughter, Judy (Harold) Goldman, as reported in the New York Times.
Rabbi Klaperman was a great man whose impact on the community, his shul, and everyone that knew him was quite great. Yehei Zichro Boruch.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
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One Response
While agreeing with what Rabbi Yahir Hoffman stated above, he failed to mention Rabbi Klaperman’s stance toward traditional yeshivos and Charedei Judaism, known as the Yeshiva world, which he referred to as a problem in Yiddishkeit. As president of the RCA in 1984, he called upon its leadership to defend Centrist Orthodoxy lest the right wing legislate centrist and left wing Orthodox out of the fold.