Ira Beer, 82, Dedicated His Retirement Years To Torah Study
(JTA) — In many ways, Ira Beer represented the ideal of the Orthodox Jewish scholar-businessman.
Beer spent years working as a food service design consultant before opening his own firm, Beer Associates. But after selling his business in 2012, he devoted himself to Jewish study, meeting daily with a partner and finishing the entire Talmud at least twice.
“My dad was a very straight guy who was very serious about education and and always doing the right thing,” said his son Michael Beer.
Beer, who died of COVID-19 in Oceanside, New York on April 21 at the age of 82, was born in Brooklyn in 1938 and attended yeshiva at Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As a young man he sang in his synagogue choir and performed with many of the famous cantors of the period, his son said. Beer attended college briefly before leaving to become a professional draftsman.<section class=”post-embed”>
</section>
After retiring, “he put his focus into learning Torah, which was something he couldn’t participate in when working full time. Torah education was important to him and wanted to ensure that his children and grandchildren got a Torah education,” Michael Beer said.
“He was humble, not a boastful guy and turned down honors from many organizations that wanted to honor him,” he continued, “He didn’t get all he deserved during his time, but probably got all he wanted because he was low key.”
The post Ira Beer, 82, dedicated his retirement years to Torah study appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A federal agency survey reportedly asks Barnard employees if they’re Jewish
-
Opinion A Palestinian leader just gave Trump an unprecedented opening to pursue peace
-
Fast Forward NIH bans grants for schools that boycott Israeli companies
-
Fast Forward An elite Jewish society at Yale fractures over its director’s embrace of Itamar Ben-Gvir
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.