Chazzan Samuel Stal, who officiated at Winands Road Synagogue for more than 35 years, passed away on Thursday, June 12. The Northwest Baltimore resident was 88.
Chazzan Stal served as cantor of the Randallstown shul at 8701 Winands Road from 1972 until 2010, most of those years with Rabbi Sholom Salfer. In 2018, the congregation merged with Pikesville’s Beth Tfiloh Synagogue and held its final services in Randallstown.
Cantor Stal, who worked as a marketing executive, was a native of the eastern Polish town of Wlodawa. His family fled to Russia in December of 1939 after the Nazi invasion of Poland.
“Our family was fortunate to survive the war,” Chazzan Stal wrote in a Dec. 2018 article for the local Jewish publication Where What When. “The years 1945 to 1949 found us in a DP (displaced persons) camp. As my father loved music, he managed to purchase a violin for me and found a violin teacher outside the camp. He convinced me to learn to play the violin.”
The family moved to the United States in 1949.
“I was able to play my violin, but I also wanted to sing,” Chazzan Stal wrote. “After my bar mitzvah, Cantor Glinkowsky, at the Agudath Achim Congregation [on Park Heights Avenue], asked me to join the choir. I continued my vocal study with other cantors in the Baltimore and Philadelphia area for a number of years. In 1972, the Winands Road Synagogue Center, located in Randallstown, Maryland, asked me to become their cantor.”
Cantor Stal is survived by his wife, Evelyn Stal (nee Haransky); his children, Chaya “Phyllis Ribakow” (Tuvia) Azer, Yossie (Tami) Stal and Naomi Stal Johnson (Ryan Johnson); his sister, Sonia Ostrow; his grandchildren, Shoshana (Shlomo) Guggenheim, Miriam (Noach) Kraut, Dovid (Ayelet) Ribakow, Yaakov (Avigail) Ribakow, Akiva Ribakow, Moshe (Rachael) Ribakow, D’vora (Chesky) Lerner, Ruthie (Mordechai) Jhudovitz, Moishy Stal, Kimmie Stal, Heshy Stal, Momo Stal and Batya Nechama Johnson; many great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his brother-in-law, Harry Ostrow; and his parents, Morris and Dora Stal.
Services were held Friday, June 13, at 1 p.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel, 8900 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. Interment at Chevra Ahavas Chesed Cemetery, 9780 Liberty Road in Randallstown.
Contributions in his memory may be sent to Bikur Cholim of Baltimore, 2833 Smith Avenue, Apt #242, Pikesville, Maryland 21209, or Hatzalah of Baltimore, 2930 Taney Road, Baltimore, Maryland 21209.
“The Chevra Ahavas Chesed Board of Directors expresses our sincere condolences on the passing of our member Cantor Samuel Stal,” the organization posted on the website of Sol Levinson & Bros. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the entire family.”
The family will be in mourning at 2903 Fallstaff Road, #206, in Baltimore. For shiva information, visit sollevinson.com/memorials/samuel-stal/5605892/.
“He was so special to our family,” Steve and Barb Arbesman posted on the Levinson website about Chazzan Stal. “Over the years, he officiated at our wedding, our daughter, Candice’s wedding. He performed at our daughter’s Hope baby naming (many years ago). He officiated at both of our daughters Bat Mitzvah. We have so many memories of Cantor Stal and what he brought to the Winands Rd Synagogue community. May his memory forever be a blessing to all.”
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