Men and boys linked arms, danced in frenzied circles and kicked up their heels as a newly completed Torah was accompanied under a chuppah from Hebrew Academy of Cleveland to Congregation Zemach Zedek in Cleveland Heights March 1.
The new Torah scroll was commissioned in memory of the shul’s 57-year leaders, Rabbi Zalman Kazen and Rebbetzin Shula Kazen.
Their four daughters reunited for the occasion: two from Crown Heights, N.Y.; one from Johannesburg, South Africa; and one from University Heights. All of them embraced the Yiddishkeit for which their parents were renown and have taken on the in-reach of Chabad. Their dozens of children have done the same on all five continents. Their brother, the late Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, founded Chabad in Cyberspace and Chabad.org. They had a fifth sister as well, the late Esther Alpern, who was the Chabad emissary in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
While the program was going on at Hebrew Academy, there was a parallel tribute going on in Russian language at Zemach Zedek led by Mark Katarlitskiy.
“All our lives our parents were just here for the community,” said Rochel Goldman, who lives in Johannesburg, where she raised 11 children, most of whom have become rabbis or married rabbis. “My father, they say, was Cleveland’s kindest man. He delivered chickens to people who didn’t have kosher chickens. He would do so many kindnesses and we was just an amazing person.
“My mother didn’t stop. I was 9. I had to collect children who were 6 years old and do a Shabbat program for them. And my sisters, all of us were doing programs. So from this, many, many people became more observant. So my parents were very open minded, were very loving of every type of Jew and it wasn’t popular in those days.”
Torah dedication in memory of Kazens’ 57-year tenure
Born in Russia, Rabbi Kazen was part of the underground Chabad movement led by the Schneerson family. At the encouragement of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the movement, the Kazens settled in Cleveland after their arrival from Europe in 1953.
Kazen was a schochet at Coventry Poultry in Cleveland Heights and was first hired as a chazan on High Holy Days at Zemach Zedek on Lee Road, later becoming its full-time rabbi. He and his wife welcomed Russian refugees in the 1970s offering them support and education from their first days in Cleveland.
Their grandson, Rabbi Mendy Alevsky, leads Chabad at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He served as master of ceremonies at the program honoring the Kazens at Hebrew Academy.
He told the story of his grandmother greeting a Russian family who had just arrived, immediately offering assistance.
“Many years later, (their) children joined the Chabad house in Solon, and they’ve been active members there. Now their grandchildren attend the Chabad house at Ohio University (in Athens) with the children and grandchildren of Rabbi and Rebbetzin Kazen,” Alevsky said to applause.
Even in Crown Heights, where the Kazens moved in retirement, Shula Kazen continued to be sought after for advice, he said. “There’s countless stories, and many of you in the audience have had those moments, where Rabbi and Mrs. Kazen looked at you and shared something personal and it had an incredible impact on your life.”
Rabbi Simcha Dessler, educational director at Hebrew Academy, spoke of building the ark, a task, he said, that is never quite finished.
