April 22, 2025 • 13 mins
Family version, with nice ending Grandpa Kirshner
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/torah-with-simcha--4985090/support.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/torah-with-simcha--4985090/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
So I wanted to read to you something that I wrote,
just reflections that I wrote and stuff that I wrote
the family, and I wanted to share with you some
reflections that I wrote on Grandpa. Some of my family
has heard this already, but Dina is hearing it for
the first time. So here we go. And I specifically
wanted to write this before the funeral today because I
(00:27):
wanted it to be my words and I didn't want
to be influenced by any other words that are written.
So in order to ensure that it's as authentic as
can be, I wrote it before anyone else. Okay, Dina
hasn't heard it yet. So Grandpa was the most unique
person I ever met. The way Torah blended into his
(00:50):
personality was so real and authentic. Well, I've had Rebeyon
who had this type of blend. Grandpa stood out because
of his personality. He carried Toro with a show business
personality expressed in his humor and even tone of voice.
Toro personified this unique personality. It's impossible to comprehend how
(01:14):
this translates itself in real life through imagination alone. You
need to meet him, and to those of you that didn't,
you missed out every family. Simha was like a continuous
share a radio show style, entertaining yet deeply serious, humorous,
(01:34):
but deeply spiritual. When I say serious, I mean focused
on Toro. There are people who live with joy, then
there are people who are joy. Grandpa with joy. His
humor was not a part of his personality, It was
so much more. It was integrated into his essence. He
brought light into a room just by being himself, making
(01:56):
Yiddish kite look beautiful as the most natural, life, life
giving path a person could walk. In Chicago, everybody knew Grandpa.
People would ask me who I was, and I'd say,
I'm married to the granddaughter of Sheldon Kirshner.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
That was all it took.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
He was known by everyone across every sect of Orthodoxy
rasid garadi Tioni.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
He related to them all.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
He was a tamil rochem, especially in Tnach, with a
special love for the Moblems commentary for Parnossa. He worked
as an electrician, designing complex traffic like traffic like patterns
for the city, but he was not an electrician who
happened to learn. He was a maggot, cheer giving mobm
(02:41):
in shoals in the community throughout the week. He was
a torah teacher who worked in electricity to support his family.
He also did a lot of kressaid with his electrician skills,
helping people, making it cheaper for people who weren't able
to afford what the full price would have been. Sometimes
(03:05):
people think religious Jews are deprived of the pleasures of life,
but Grandpa made yiddishkite soga schmack so fulfilling that it
became clear if there was any deprivation, it was on
the other side.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
He approached life with as mimistic a wholesome sincerity.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
One of the most beautiful examples of this was his
wedding to Bubby.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
It was in a basement with no guests.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
This authentic Torah was passed on to each of his
seven children. There are many ways to tell whether the
torah is being transmitted and lived in a way that
is authentic part and parcel of their personality, and there
are ways to tell whether the parents are being mechanic
to each child in a way that Torah is sweet
to them. One of the biggest proofs to me is
(03:51):
not just the fact that all children, grandchildren, and great
grandchildren are show more torah imitzos, but all of them
have a krasakayan and have chosen the path that is
unique from each other. Not only that, but at times
they even chose a different sect of Orthodoxy. Grandpa supported
each path, and the love for Torah didn't stop at observance.
(04:16):
It extended into learning and a passion for teaching. He
was the life of every party, the center of every Kiddish.
It's hard to picture a Kirshner simpol without him. People
often say when someone passes, they'll be missed or they
will be an empty seat at the table, and while
those words are always true, they don't come close to
(04:38):
describing the loss we feel with Grandpa. This is a
loss felt deeply across multiple generations. The Kirshner extended family
was like immediate family, and this was well known across
the city by the way, and I was told this
even before I got married into the family. I'm gonna
(04:58):
finish what I wrote, but I'm I'm gonna add some
words of my own over here. This is the words
that I wrote, here are my own.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I'm gonna add.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
More words off script in a minute.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Most of us lived nearby.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
We bonded over simphlas and shavice meals, over holidays and
ordinary days. Grandpa helped prepare so many of the grand
the grandchildren for their bar mitzvahs. I would imagine there
are great grandchildren as well on their yeah, great grandchildren
as well, which further bonded their connection. We always say,
(05:33):
may the Nifter be a militz yusher, an advocate in
heaven for the family. We say it, and we hope.
But with Grandpa, it's hard to imagine anything but that.
You can almost hear him going up to Shamayan and saying,
I don't know if these would be the exact words,
but you could, this one needs us, should have this
(05:56):
one of parnasslaw, this one show him bias. I don't
think those would be the exact words, but I do
think he had a special attachment to the family. He
wasn't like that Mulloch type presence, which is just gonna
go up to Shamayim and see how everything's good and
leave it at that. He's gonna remember what it felt
(06:18):
like down here. That's what I think. But because Grandpa cared.
He cried not from being He cried from being so
deeply real at every aliyah the iliyas he would get
at every simphra, he cried, everybody knows that, and I'll
end with this story. It's a small one, but it
(06:39):
captures his spirit. One time, after dobbinating in Anshe mattelaw
the show where he served as Goadby. That was a motela.
He came over to me and he asked, how's my
son doing? You see, I married his granddaughter, so automatically
I become his grandson. And if I'm his grandson, naturally
my father must be his son. The only thing is
(07:01):
my father was in the same class as him, so
my father clearly was.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Not his son. But so I said, he's doing well today.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
He's learning or rashulkan elo nishmas his father. It's the
York site of his father. People who overheard were completely confused. Wait,
his son is learning his father's yor site. Who's the
son again? It didn't make sense, but it made people laugh,
(07:30):
And that was Grandpa. Sometimes he created the humor, but
sometimes Hashem made the humor.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Ashem just made the world funny around him.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Perhaps it's because when you make your will his will,
he makes his.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Will your will.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I say with sonko Kurzonoha with sona Kurtz sonkra that's
the mission on perkeyovos.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Grandpa, We're going to miss you so so much.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Please being male it Zeuscher for the entire Kirshner family,
Gershman family, left In family, Kleiman family, the other Kirshner family,
Newman family, and for all of Claude Straw but you're
a shama have a true in lofty illea hamak Jewish line.
(08:21):
Just to add on a couple more words, please don't
allow me to share a reflection about the loss that
all of us feel and how we may feel it
in different ways, but not necessarily less painful, just different.
(08:41):
The children and those closest to Grandpa feel the loss
most intensely on an emotional level w listening, but ultimately
regarding Koch and the continuity of being shomne toro imitzos.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
The ones who have the.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Greatest loss are the children like Erukhom Shalom and Camia.
May have alluded to this at the levaya regarding his
own children. The first thing, Dovie said, it might have
been the second thing.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
The first thing, Dovie seven he heard about Grandpa's passing
at least in this house.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Was I feel so bad for Yurukom Sholam right? Or
did Adobe not say that when a multi so.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Adobe said that when a multi generational shomri toro omitzvo's
family loses a spiritual power house like Grandpa, we can
no longer take anything for granted in transmitting the massoro.
For me, Grandpa's greatest impact on my life was the
comfort he brought. The greatest feeling of failure or devastation
(09:46):
I would feel in life is if the flame of
Torah is not passed on to each of my children.
So to me, Grandpa provided a comfort because I had
confidence that this flame would be transmitted. Perhaps it was
wrong for me to have this confidence, but I did.
Grandpa combined the three most essential ingredients in transmitting this
(10:08):
flame all into one, the combination of Shabis, Simha, and toro,
including pet which was being delivered all at once. There
are very few families that have this, very very few.
Our community here in Chicago has been blessed with expert
marchandran and we've been blessed with kihilos that create avo
(10:33):
of the highest quality ruach And to me, that show
is calcasidim, which I don't even dominate anymore, but almost
everybody remains from to my knowledge, but not everyone. It's
been said that more important than the Jews keeping Shabists
is the way Shabis has kept the Jews. Pe is
(10:55):
also of a similar theme, and with school comes resent.
Grandpa's family had a one hundred percent success rate in
observance with him gone. The parents of the children that
will never have lived through such experience are the ones
that have every right to feel fear and are not
(11:16):
only well justified. The fear is appropriate and is an
indicator that you care about Toro and are in touch
with the bitter gullis that we are. In the daily
spiritual attacks on yiddishkit they continuously get stronger in our generation.
The iquiso demechiko. Grandpa was a pillar, a foundation that
(11:36):
has been removed. Those of us that had him as
a rebbe or father or grandfather are most fortunate. The
hopeful message is that after someone is nifter, their good
meddos are like hefker, so perhaps we could bring some
of it back into the family. I wish I could
(11:58):
end off on a good note, but our loss is
very real. Nashem comfort the veilim Nasham watch over the
younger generations and guide them in the path of Torah
in a way that this flame is transmitted. After downing
(12:23):
at Auntsha Mattala's hall, No, no, this is a poem.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
This is the same story, but a poem.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
After dovining at anshy Matala's hall, he asked me gently,
not odd at all. How's my son doing? He said,
with delight. You see, I'm his grandson by marriage. Is right,
so my father, by logic became his own, even though
they'd grown up in the same zone. I smiled and replied,
(12:50):
he's learning today. It's the York side of his dad,
so he's learning away. People nearby just stood there, confused,
But Grandpa, of course, was deeply amused. Sometimes he crafted
the humor he brought, and sometimes Hasham with a wink,
just taught when one lives with simho with Torah and
(13:11):
cheer the ribonoschel Eilam makes laughter appear. Grandpa will miss
you more than word. Show your wisdom, your warmth, your
spiritual glow. Please be our Melit's yoischer guide us with love,
and may your Neshama rise gently above
So I wanted to read to you something that I wrote,
just reflections that I wrote and stuff that I wrote
the family, and I wanted to share with you some
reflections that I wrote on Grandpa. Some of my family
has heard this already, but Dina is hearing it for
the first time. So here we go. And I specifically
wanted to write this before the funeral today because I
(00:27):
wanted it to be my words and I didn't want
to be influenced by any other words that are written.
So in order to ensure that it's as authentic as
can be, I wrote it before anyone else. Okay, Dina
hasn't heard it yet. So Grandpa was the most unique
person I ever met. The way Torah blended into his
(00:50):
personality was so real and authentic. Well, I've had Rebeyon
who had this type of blend. Grandpa stood out because
of his personality. He carried Toro with a show business
personality expressed in his humor and even tone of voice.
Toro personified this unique personality. It's impossible to comprehend how
(01:14):
this translates itself in real life through imagination alone. You
need to meet him, and to those of you that didn't,
you missed out every family. Simha was like a continuous
share a radio show style, entertaining yet deeply serious, humorous,
(01:34):
but deeply spiritual. When I say serious, I mean focused
on Toro. There are people who live with joy, then
there are people who are joy. Grandpa with joy. His
humor was not a part of his personality, It was
so much more. It was integrated into his essence. He
brought light into a room just by being himself, making
(01:56):
Yiddish kite look beautiful as the most natural, life, life
giving path a person could walk. In Chicago, everybody knew Grandpa.
People would ask me who I was, and I'd say,
I'm married to the granddaughter of Sheldon Kirshner.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
That was all it took.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
He was known by everyone across every sect of Orthodoxy
rasid garadi Tioni.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
He related to them all.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
He was a tamil rochem, especially in Tnach, with a
special love for the Moblems commentary for Parnossa. He worked
as an electrician, designing complex traffic like traffic like patterns
for the city, but he was not an electrician who
happened to learn. He was a maggot, cheer giving mobm
(02:41):
in shoals in the community throughout the week. He was
a torah teacher who worked in electricity to support his family.
He also did a lot of kressaid with his electrician skills,
helping people, making it cheaper for people who weren't able
to afford what the full price would have been. Sometimes
(03:05):
people think religious Jews are deprived of the pleasures of life,
but Grandpa made yiddishkite soga schmack so fulfilling that it
became clear if there was any deprivation, it was on
the other side.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
He approached life with as mimistic a wholesome sincerity.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
One of the most beautiful examples of this was his
wedding to Bubby.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
It was in a basement with no guests.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
This authentic Torah was passed on to each of his
seven children. There are many ways to tell whether the
torah is being transmitted and lived in a way that
is authentic part and parcel of their personality, and there
are ways to tell whether the parents are being mechanic
to each child in a way that Torah is sweet
to them. One of the biggest proofs to me is
(03:51):
not just the fact that all children, grandchildren, and great
grandchildren are show more torah imitzos, but all of them
have a krasakayan and have chosen the path that is
unique from each other. Not only that, but at times
they even chose a different sect of Orthodoxy. Grandpa supported
each path, and the love for Torah didn't stop at observance.
(04:16):
It extended into learning and a passion for teaching. He
was the life of every party, the center of every Kiddish.
It's hard to picture a Kirshner simpol without him. People
often say when someone passes, they'll be missed or they
will be an empty seat at the table, and while
those words are always true, they don't come close to
(04:38):
describing the loss we feel with Grandpa. This is a
loss felt deeply across multiple generations. The Kirshner extended family
was like immediate family, and this was well known across
the city by the way, and I was told this
even before I got married into the family. I'm gonna
(04:58):
finish what I wrote, but I'm I'm gonna add some
words of my own over here. This is the words
that I wrote, here are my own.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I'm gonna add.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
More words off script in a minute.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Most of us lived nearby.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
We bonded over simphlas and shavice meals, over holidays and
ordinary days. Grandpa helped prepare so many of the grand
the grandchildren for their bar mitzvahs. I would imagine there
are great grandchildren as well on their yeah, great grandchildren
as well, which further bonded their connection. We always say,
(05:33):
may the Nifter be a militz yusher, an advocate in
heaven for the family. We say it, and we hope.
But with Grandpa, it's hard to imagine anything but that.
You can almost hear him going up to Shamayan and saying,
I don't know if these would be the exact words,
but you could, this one needs us, should have this
(05:56):
one of parnasslaw, this one show him bias. I don't
think those would be the exact words, but I do
think he had a special attachment to the family. He
wasn't like that Mulloch type presence, which is just gonna
go up to Shamayim and see how everything's good and
leave it at that. He's gonna remember what it felt
(06:18):
like down here. That's what I think. But because Grandpa cared.
He cried not from being He cried from being so
deeply real at every aliyah the iliyas he would get
at every simphra, he cried, everybody knows that, and I'll
end with this story. It's a small one, but it
(06:39):
captures his spirit. One time, after dobbinating in Anshe mattelaw
the show where he served as Goadby. That was a motela.
He came over to me and he asked, how's my
son doing? You see, I married his granddaughter, so automatically
I become his grandson. And if I'm his grandson, naturally
my father must be his son. The only thing is
(07:01):
my father was in the same class as him, so
my father clearly was.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Not his son. But so I said, he's doing well today.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
He's learning or rashulkan elo nishmas his father. It's the
York site of his father. People who overheard were completely confused. Wait,
his son is learning his father's yor site. Who's the
son again? It didn't make sense, but it made people laugh,
(07:30):
And that was Grandpa. Sometimes he created the humor, but
sometimes Hashem made the humor.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Ashem just made the world funny around him.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Perhaps it's because when you make your will his will,
he makes his.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Will your will.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I say with sonko Kurzonoha with sona Kurtz sonkra that's
the mission on perkeyovos.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Grandpa, We're going to miss you so so much.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Please being male it Zeuscher for the entire Kirshner family,
Gershman family, left In family, Kleiman family, the other Kirshner family,
Newman family, and for all of Claude Straw but you're
a shama have a true in lofty illea hamak Jewish line.
(08:21):
Just to add on a couple more words, please don't
allow me to share a reflection about the loss that
all of us feel and how we may feel it
in different ways, but not necessarily less painful, just different.
(08:41):
The children and those closest to Grandpa feel the loss
most intensely on an emotional level w listening, but ultimately
regarding Koch and the continuity of being shomne toro imitzos.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
The ones who have the.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Greatest loss are the children like Erukhom Shalom and Camia.
May have alluded to this at the levaya regarding his
own children. The first thing, Dovie said, it might have
been the second thing.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
The first thing, Dovie seven he heard about Grandpa's passing
at least in this house.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Was I feel so bad for Yurukom Sholam right? Or
did Adobe not say that when a multi so.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Adobe said that when a multi generational shomri toro omitzvo's
family loses a spiritual power house like Grandpa, we can
no longer take anything for granted in transmitting the massoro.
For me, Grandpa's greatest impact on my life was the
comfort he brought. The greatest feeling of failure or devastation
(09:46):
I would feel in life is if the flame of
Torah is not passed on to each of my children.
So to me, Grandpa provided a comfort because I had
confidence that this flame would be transmitted. Perhaps it was
wrong for me to have this confidence, but I did.
Grandpa combined the three most essential ingredients in transmitting this
(10:08):
flame all into one, the combination of Shabis, Simha, and toro,
including pet which was being delivered all at once. There
are very few families that have this, very very few.
Our community here in Chicago has been blessed with expert
marchandran and we've been blessed with kihilos that create avo
(10:33):
of the highest quality ruach And to me, that show
is calcasidim, which I don't even dominate anymore, but almost
everybody remains from to my knowledge, but not everyone. It's
been said that more important than the Jews keeping Shabists
is the way Shabis has kept the Jews. Pe is
(10:55):
also of a similar theme, and with school comes resent.
Grandpa's family had a one hundred percent success rate in
observance with him gone. The parents of the children that
will never have lived through such experience are the ones
that have every right to feel fear and are not
(11:16):
only well justified. The fear is appropriate and is an
indicator that you care about Toro and are in touch
with the bitter gullis that we are. In the daily
spiritual attacks on yiddishkit they continuously get stronger in our generation.
The iquiso demechiko. Grandpa was a pillar, a foundation that
(11:36):
has been removed. Those of us that had him as
a rebbe or father or grandfather are most fortunate. The
hopeful message is that after someone is nifter, their good
meddos are like hefker, so perhaps we could bring some
of it back into the family. I wish I could
(11:58):
end off on a good note, but our loss is
very real. Nashem comfort the veilim Nasham watch over the
younger generations and guide them in the path of Torah
in a way that this flame is transmitted. After downing
(12:23):
at Auntsha Mattala's hall, No, no, this is a poem.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
This is the same story, but a poem.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
After dovining at anshy Matala's hall, he asked me gently,
not odd at all. How's my son doing? He said,
with delight. You see, I'm his grandson by marriage. Is right,
so my father, by logic became his own, even though
they'd grown up in the same zone. I smiled and replied,
(12:50):
he's learning today. It's the York side of his dad,
so he's learning away. People nearby just stood there, confused,
But Grandpa, of course, was deeply amused. Sometimes he crafted
the humor he brought, and sometimes Hasham with a wink,
just taught when one lives with simho with Torah and
(13:11):
cheer the ribonoschel Eilam makes laughter appear. Grandpa will miss
you more than word. Show your wisdom, your warmth, your
spiritual glow. Please be our Melit's yoischer guide us with love,
and may your Neshama rise gently above
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.