This week, our community lost one of its spiritual luminaries with the passing of Rabbi Gustav Buchdahl.
To be completely honest, I never got to know Rabbi Buchdahl too well. We’d often run into each other at community gatherings, and exchange pleasantries and smiles. He was always courteous and gracious, with a wonderful smile and what seemed like an almost puckish sense of humor.
It was clear by the way he carried himself and spoke that this was a man of formidable intellect, self-confidence, empathy and compassion.
I always got the impression that Rabbi Buchdahl was one of those clergy members who wasn’t in it for the spotlight or the glory, that he was all about his congregants and community. Of course, I heard many wonderful stories about him through the years, from other rabbis and lay leaders. You don’t survive more than four decades of congregational life and politics in the Jewish community without knowing how to get people to respect and like you.
Like my friend Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg – whose farewell celebrations at Beth Am last weekend after 16 years there brought out a wide range of emotions for all of us in attendance – Rabbi Buchdahl was simultaneously down-to-earth and approachable, yet cerebral and erudite. Those are rare, incredible qualities to find in a spiritual leader … or anyone.
My favorite personal memory of Rabbi Buchdahl is of when I was a fairly young reporter. I knew the late Paul Umansky from his role as spokesman for Sinai Hospital. Paul was a lovely guy, and he called one day to ask if I would meet up for an informal lunch with Rabbi Buchdahl, just to shoot the breeze.
Paul was a member and lay leader at the rabbi’s longtime congregation, Temple Emanuel, and he wanted to attract more attention to the synagogue. At that time, Temple Emanuel had just moved to a new location in Reisterstown after being tucked away for decades in a sleepy section of the Liberty Road corridor and losing membership.
I said I would be delighted to catch up with the rabbi and get to know him better.
When I met Rabbi Buchdahl, he was attired in his trademark bowtie and sports jacket. As always, he was friendly and mannerly. But right away, I sensed that he wanted to get something off his chest.
After asking a little about myself and probably sensing my nervousness (after all, the guy was there at MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech), the rabbi flashed me an impish smile. He called me “Mr. Feiler” at all times, with a formality and bearing that betrayed his origins in Germany. He seemed to be a man from another era and world.
But then, he got down to the point.
“Mr. Feiler, I am sure you have only good intentions, and I do appreciate you being here, and I am happy to get to know you better,” he said. “But I want to make one thing clear upfront. I am only meeting with you because our mutual friend Paul Umansky asked me to be here and come and chat with you, to help raise the profile of Temple Emanuel. That is my only agenda and nothing else.”
I was quiet at first. I wasn’t used to such straightforwardness and couldn’t decide if I should feel honored or insulted. I told him that I came to meet him to hear if he would like any news or information about Temple Emanuel to be passed on to the public.
He smiled at me and nodded, but I could tell that playing the publicity game was not his kind of thing and he wasn’t going to chat up the brotherhood’s next barbecue cookout. He was driven more by pursuit of spiritual and intellectual endeavors, as well as helping his congregants and others navigate through life. Selling himself or his temple simply wasn’t his schtick.
Nonetheless, the rabbi remained pleasant and cordial throughout our lunch. At one point, I tried to make some small talk and asked how he liked Temple Emanuel’s new digs in Reisterstown.
Rabbi Buchdahl didn’t seem to understand the question and asked me to clarify.
“Well, I know you were at your other location on Milford Mill Road for many years and it was your home base for such a long time,” I said. “I’m sure it was difficult to decide to leave and go somewhere else after so much time, right?”
At this point, the rabbi leaned in and looked me straight in the eyes. He obviously wasn’t in a sentimental mood or interested in trite questions. “Mr. Feiler, there’s one thing you need to understand, that we all need to understand, in this life,” he said. “And that is that change is life’s only constant.”
He paused and allowed that to sink in. I simply nodded and let those words marinate in my head for a while. I immediately thought it was wise counsel to live by.
It was only later that I learned the line wasn’t actually Rabbi Buchdahl’s – who never claimed it — but was originally uttered in some form or another by the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus.
Still, it’s a good line and has stayed with me.
For more than a quarter-century, Rabbi Buchdahl volunteered at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport as part of its “Pathfinders” program. Whenever I went to the airport, I always scanned the premises for the rabbi. For some reason, I thought it would be somewhat amusing to see this courtly, elderly Jewish scholar sitting at a welcome desk helping anxious travelers reach their next destinations.
I never did spot Rabbi Buchdahl there, but I’m sure he helped many people get to where they needed to go, much like he did for many members of our community over the decades.
People still talk about the great rabbis of yesteryear who made the Baltimore area’s Jewish community unique – Jacob Green of the Rogers Avenue Shul, Nathan Drazin of Shaarei Tfiloh, Beth El’s Rabbi Jacob B, Agus and Mark G. Loeb, Samuel Rosenblatt and Mitchell Wohlberg of Beth Tfiloh, Rabbi Morris Kosman of Frederick’s Beth Sholom, and Chizuk Amuno’s Joel Zaiman, just for starters. I’ve no doubt that Gus Buchdahl will always remain on that list as well.
May Rabbi Buchdahl’s memory always be for a blessing for his family and this community. To paraphrase Shakespeare, we shall not look upon his like again.
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