For All and Forever     

Whether he had a crowd of children transfixed by a story at a Pirchei event, or he was doing a Shlumpy Shapiro impersonation to make one little boy happy, for Rabbi Moshe Blaustein it was all part of the same mission. It was all about imbuing Yiddishe children with a love for Hashem

When I came home from shul this past Erev Rosh Hashanah, I was greeted with the news that Rabbi Moshe Blaustein had passed away.

It was the final day of a very tragic year and yet, this report hit in a way that no other had. Absent was the thump of dread, the chilling fear, the jab of anxiety. Instead, a thousand bags of Bissli swirled in my mind’s eye. Piles of RC Cola, mountains of raffle tickets, coach bus loudspeakers booming with the most hilarious impersonations.

And now it was all no longer. Gone in a wisp of nostalgia.

If you grew up in Toronto, you knew Rabbi Blaustein. At more than six feet tall, he was a towering figure, with a powerful voice and a dynamic personality to match.