Rabbi Maizels: A tribute to a leader of eminent distinction
He was a beloved congregational rabbi for decades and the rabbi emeritus of Camps Bay Shul. He was a shohet, mohel, sofer, member of the Cape Beth Din and head of the Cape Town Kashrut Department.
By ALLEN BERKOWITZRabbi Maizels performing a brit milah at Cape Town’s Sephardi Hebrew Congregation.(photo credit: GUY LERNER)Imagine a holy Sefer Torah stepping out of the Aron Hakodesh (holy ark) and taking on human form, embracing you with warm love, guiding you with Godly wisdom, listening and relating to you with the utmost respect, concern and sensitivity, and caring for you with the greatest thoughtfulness and loving-kindness.Rabbi Desmond (Zvi) Maizels was this living Sefer Torah! Rabbi Maizels passed away in Cape Town on January 14 at the age of 71 and was laid to rest at his request in Ariel. As Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein wrote, he “dedicated his entire working life to serving the South African Jewish community, and of course most especially, Cape Town Jewry. How can we even imagine Cape Town without Rabbi Maizels?” He was a beloved congregational rabbi for decades and the rabbi emeritus of Camps Bay Shul. He was also a shohet, mohel, sofer, member of the Cape Beth Din and head of the Cape Town Kashrut Department.I had the great pleasure and blessing of knowing my beloved Rabbi Maizels for more than 23 years. In those 23 years not only did we share a great close friendship, but also I was a loved guest in his home for many a Seder, Shabbat or simply when I was in Cape Town. I was treated like a son, a part of the family. Whenever Rabbi Maizels needed to come to Johannesburg or pass through on one of his global ventures for the huge benefit of South African Jewry and world Jewry, my family and I loved having him stay with us.You see, it is one thing being friends with someone and knowing them as such; it’s another level of interaction when you live with someone albeit as a guest and they are a guest of yours. In both environments I was in the midst of a true tzaddik! (righteous man) It is in these circumstances you see the subtleties of even more true greatness revealed in addition to the greatness others see. Rabbi Maizels was a leader of eminent distinction characterized by multiple facets of true Godliness which is true greatness. Each facet of his greatness culminated in him being a man of true phenomenal success.True success, ongoing and growing success is something Rabbi Maizels wished every good person to have. Be they a fellow rabbi, a congregant, a business owner, an employee, a school child, a teenager or a married couple, a newly married couple or a seasoned couple. In deep honor of our beloved Rabbi Maizels I will enumerate a few more facets of his true greatness – with a thought-provoking inspirational question that you can ask yourself per each facet. How can you too be phenomenally successful and wear the mantle and crown as a leader of eminent distinction wherever you may find yourself in life, and in whatever you are doing?Rabbi Maizels had no ego! He wasn’t full of himself at all. On the contrary, he was full of the light of God! God’s characteristics shone from him in all he did! Godly respect, compassion, brilliance, wisdom, sensitivity, care, love and kindness, to name just a few. In addition to this, he lived by what King David wrote in Psalm 16: “Shiviti Hashem Le’negdi Tamid” (I have placed God before me at all times.) By the way Rabbi Maizels conducted himself you could easily see how he operated – asking himself, “What does God want from me and how does God want it done?” He also lived by the Talmudic sentence, “Da Lifnay Mi Atah Omed!” (Know before whom you stand!)He had a constant consciousness of God and knew that he is accountable to God at all times for what he said and did and the way he did it, especially how he treated all others – always with the utmost dignity. Rabbi Maizels was thoughtful and considerate of others to the minutest degree. He would calculate how he could save people the most money and also how he could benefit people in the best ways possible. Rabbi Maizels always looked to give people joy. We thank God for the amazing blessing of Rabbi Maizels and ask God to please embrace him eternally with love from us all.Our deepest condolences to dear Rebbetzin Maizels, Hillel, Ora, Yael, Gila, their spouses and families. May Hashem comfort them amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.■The writer is the author of books and prestigious articles on and a specialist in the fields of leadership, effective communication, and strategic global risk and crisis management
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