I hadn’t yet met Manny in person but his reputation preceded him. A well-known person in many circles Manny developed a reputation as a mover-and-shaker and wasn’t afraid to tackle important social initiatives even if it rubbed some of the community’s pillars the wrong way. He was outspoken bombastic and what he lacked in formal training he made up for with enthusiasm and drive.
Manny was a guy who had seen way too many frum kids from his community lost to the nightmare of addiction. Taking on a personal commitment to stem the tide of this scourge after a former chavrusa committed suicide Manny had become a community advocate and did his best to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. After finishing yeshivah and completing his semichah exams he’d spent the last decade developing a grassroots organization to publicize the issue of addiction in the frum community. He’d brought together speakers led substance-abuse interventions and created training programs for rabbanim and mechanchim that would teach them to recognize the signs and symptoms of addiction in their talmidim. Manny was a true powerhouse.
As a reward for his tireless efforts Manny had been threatened a number of times by both secular and religious institutions for speaking up publicly about historically taboo issues and upsetting some prominent stakeholders in the process. But Manny always stayed out of trouble because while he wasn’t afraid to break a few eggs he was honest as could be and never said anything that didn’t need to be said or that wasn’t true.
So when I received an e-mail asking for “help with a challenging case ” I was more than happy to call Manny back as soon as I got a break. After all in my line of work he was somewhat of a legend.
