Rabbi Stanley Michaels, 73, Integral Part Of Life At London’s Mill Hill Synagogue
(JTA) — Over the past 35 years, Rabbi Stanley Michaels taught hundreds of boys how to put on tefillin.
Michaels was an integral part of life at London’s Mill Hill Synagogue, where he organized Sunday morning breakfasts in honor of the synagogue’s bar mitzvah celebrants. He was renowned for his singing voice, which would fill the synagogue on Shabbat and holidays. Indeed, his was the last voice congregants at Mill Hill heard before the synagogue closed at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak that would claim Michaels’ life.
Michaels died on April 23 of COVID-19 at the age of 73.
The synagogue’s rabbi, Yitzchak Schochet, recalled in his eulogy the last time he saw Michaels, someone he knew for more than 26 years. It was late in the afternoon of March 10, the Jewish holiday of Purim, and Michaels had shown up at his door with a food basket.
To Schochet, Michaels already appeared tired and unwell. Nonetheless, he blessed Shochet and his family with good health. “He only ever cared for other people to be well,” said Shochet.
Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, who prayed with Michaels nearly every morning for the past six years, said he had been inspired by his “sincerity, menschlichkeit, humility, and spirituality.”
By day, Michaels was the managing director of the accounting firm Harford Michaels Kaye, where he specialized in business consulting and tax planning. In his free time, he was a passionate supporter of Tottenham Hotspur football club.
He is survived by his wife, Sonia, and his two daughters, Debra and Alison.
The post Rabbi Stanley Michaels, 73, integral part of life at London’s Mill Hill Synagogue appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
