Rabbi Mark Sameth

“My father was a composer and a combat veteran of World War II; he had crippling PTSD all his life. When he died of Alzheimer’s disease, I was new to the synagogue, and Rabbi Mark didn’t know my family at all. But he spent a lot time with my mother, sister and me, coming to our home and getting a feel not just for my father, but our family. He “got” my father — his difficult life and Judaism’s place at the center of his art and worldview. At the funeral, the rabbi showed tremendous insight into a man he’d never met. He comforted us immensely.”
—AMY LYNN LEWIS (also nominated by 11 others)