Rabbi Dovid’l Weinberg found connection on the wings of isolation
How do you define yourself?
Two years ago, Rabbi Dovid’l Weinberg might have filled in the blank like this: I’m a vigorous, bearded, young man, who lives with his wife Rina and young family in Ramot and teaches Torah in the Old City of Yerushalayim.
But suddenly and unexpectedly, those adjectives no longer fit him. A disquieting diagnosis landed Reb Dovid’l and his young family in the USA for treatment, where over the course of two years, Reb Dovid’l would continue to teach, compose music, and even write a sefer, all while fighting for his life. The Weinberg family battled a formidable enemy far from their true home in Yerushalayim, but the gifts they gained by journey’s end were real and lasting.
Reb Dovid’l was born and raised in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. His father, Dr. Jerry Weinberg, is an ophthalmologist by trade, but Reb Dovid’l describes him first as a man “in love with learning.” His mother, Mrs. Fran Weinberg, kept the books at his father’s practice, but her primary focus was raising the couple’s three sons. Reb Dovid’l attributes his thirst for knowledge to his parents: His mother has always been a voracious reader and his father, who is never without a sefer, “finds equal pleasure in studying a daf of gemara, a teaching from the Ben Ish Chai, or an esoteric passage from the Arizal — for him, it’s all a single ocean.” That receptiveness and breadth made a deep impression on Reb Dovid’l, who sought out diverse Torah figures as mentors as he grew into adulthood.
The lymphoma diagnosis was not sudden — it was preceded by the typical parade of doctors, rounds of tests, and lots of waiting. Then came the decision making: Though there were treatment options in Israel, the Weinbergs ultimately relocated to Bergenfield, New Jersey, so the extended Weinberg family, living nearby, could lend their support while Reb Dovid’l would be treated at Hackensack University Medical Center.
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