Meir

The topic reminded me of an old hakaras hatov obligation to my “someone” the one who changed the course of my life.

His name was Reb Meir but he was called Bob. Bob Ament was of average height and build in an average job — he worked as a salesman — but as children we saw the director of Montreal’s Pirchei as larger than life with his brilliant smile and exuberant voice. As we grew older — Pirchei members then Pirchei leaders — we sort of took him for granted: He was the guy in the background worrying about the bus coming on time and making sure that the sodas were cold while we were the stars out in front of the kids. We knew that the branch was (and still is) considered one of the most successful with vibrant Shabbos groups a thriving Avos U’banim and Mishnayos program but we never gave it too much thought.

The Siyum Mishnayos was the highlight of the year the culmination of months of learning a gala Shabbos convention for Pirchei branches from other cities. As with so many of the chinuch lessons that Bob disguised as fun he created a tradition in which each annual siyum was dedicated to the memory of a gadol b’Torah. In 1992 our rosh yeshivah Rav Mottel Weinberg was niftar and of course the siyum was dedicated to his memory that year. A few weeks before the big event there was a general staff meeting that included discussion about the video being prepared. Someone asked about appropriate music to accompany the visuals.

Different ideas for sad songs were kicked around. I don’t remember what I said but it was something like “How pathetic that we have to use someone else’s lyrics. We should write our own song about the Rosh Yeshivah.”