Rabbi Neil Kraft, 69, was beloved by Londoners from all walks of life
Rabbi Neil Kraft, left, with wrestler Crusher Curtis in London. Image by Courtesy of Crusher Curtis
(JTA) — Neil Kraft’s smile was one of his most effective tools as a rabbi, people who knew him said.
Kraft’s warmth was also the reason that many people from very different faiths and backgrounds were pained by his death at the age of 69 from the coronavirus in London, where he had for 17 years led the Edgware and Hendon Reform synagogue. He was just weeks from his scheduled retirement date when he died March 27.
“Just the nicest man who we all adored and was such a positive influence on my eldest son,” one congregant, Spencer Millman, wrote on Facebook about his late rabbi.
Kraft, who was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, was “hugely popular” in London, the Jewish Chronicle wrote — and not just among his congregants or even the Jewish community.
As a public service during this pandemic, the Forward is providing free, unlimited access to all coronavirus articles. If you’d like to support our independent Jewish journalism, click here.
An avid wrestling fan, he was eulogized by such icons of the local sport scene as Crusher Curtis, who wrote about Kraft on Facebook: “This guy was one of the happiest guys you could’ve ever met. It was always a highlight of mine to have a catch up with him and his son Oscar after every show. I never saw the Rabbi not smiling.” Curtis ended his post with a Hebrew-language condolence greeting.
Kraft officiated at the wedding in the United States of the well-known Jewish-American wrestler Darren “Tex” Benedict, the British Wrestlers Reunion group recalled in its Facebook post about Kraft, who had been living in the United Kingdom for decades and was due to retire in several weeks.
On March 21, he appeared unwell after conducting part of the Shabbat service via a livestream, the Chronicle reported. He was later admitted to the hospital where he was put on a ventilator in intensive care but died Friday.
“I don’t really know what to say other than my family and I are completely devastated. Not only did he mean a lot to us. He also meant a lot to the wider Jewish community,” his son Elie wrote.
Kraft, who had two sons with his wife Susannah, is scheduled to be buried Tuesday in a small funeral with only a handful of close relatives.
Do you know someone who has died of COVID-19? We want to share their story. Please fill out this brief form.
The post Rabbi Neil Kraft, 69, was beloved by Londoners from all walks of life appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
