Delivered at ARZENU board meeting - 24.8.2020
Lea, thank you for the privilege of allowing me to pay tribute to my cherished friend, Paula Edelstein, z”l, zichrona levracha.
Our relationship began almost 30 years ago. First she was my boss in Arzenu, my teacher, my mentor, my wise counselor and ultimately my beloved friend. She had a special leadership quality about her that regretfully is lacking in most leaders today – the ability to listen, evaluate and act fairly without fanfare. She knew how to speak her mind in a political world, and make a case for something which did not always accord with the prevailing positions being espoused in the room. Often she was the only impartial voice of reason in the halls of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization. And more often than not, the politics of these organization meant that she was alone in standing up for the truth.
In the days when Salai Meridor was the joint Chair of the Jewish Agency and the WZO, and she was the head of the New Faction, which included Arzenu’s partners HaNoar Hatzion and Ratz, she knew how to guide our tiny group through the political pitfalls that were everywhere. She was respected on all sides of the political aisle for her integrity and her grit, without ever being aligned with the ugly politics that can prevail in those quarters.
Before Salai, in 1992 at the WZ Congress, when Rabbi Dick Hirsch ran against Arieh Dulchin for Joint Chairmanship of the JA and the WZO she managed the campaign. She was everywhere, soliciting support from all the parties. Dick did well, but in the end it was it was too big an ask, even for him and likewise for her. His candidacy was a matter of principle and that is what Arzenu, the Reform Zionist Movement’s party in the WZO, has always been about – principles.
Over the years I came to know her as a very special person. The outpouring of sympathy and condolences from across the globe reflects her unique contribution to the Jewish people and to the Reform Movement in particular. She had friends everywhere – Israel, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, the UK, Hungary, Canada, the US, the Former Soviet Union, South Africa, to mention but a few. In every message, people remembered her compassion, her elegant demeanor, her integrity, her quiet sense of humor, her optimism, leadership, clear vision, her political grace and of course her smile. She was a fighter, but in a cool-headed and realistic way.
She touched lives through her professional and voluntary work in the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, she was a member of the Board of Directors of KK”L, she led ARZENU and our WZO faction for years. She volunteered in the AACI, was vice-chair of Hadassah Women in Israel, and of course, committed to the Reform Movement. She devoted her time to Keren B’Kavod, the Michinah Program, and was head of IRAC. In addition, she was involved with HUC, the URJ, the World Union, and of course was the beloved chair of the IMPJ for many years. This is just the shortlist of her activities.
I think Paula was especially passionate about 4 things:
Her family – her dearly loved husband, Don, her sons Kobi and Joey, and her 7 grandchildren. I really came to know all of them long before I actually met them, through the stories she told. She was so proud of them all.
Her second passion was the Reform Movement. She cared deeply for all that it stood and stands for. Until just a week before her passing she was attending online meetings, or giving counsel offline to its leaders. It was her unassuming wisdom that attracted people and made them want to heed her words. She was a great listener in a time when most people just wanted to hear themselves.
Her third passion was for Israel. She followed the news and the politics and grasped the unseen agendas that passed most of us by. She never despaired that if things weren’t right now, that they wouldn’t get better in the future. She was on a first-name basis with many of Israel’s leading politicians, but you would never know it.
Finally, she loved to sing. And I loved to listen. She was an avid Har-El congregation choir member and practiced diligently. Anyone in the congregation will attest to that. She told me several weeks ago, that someone had sent her a YouTube link to a performance by Debbie Friedman singing “Meshebirech.” It moved her to tears as she recalled that she had been at the event when it had been recorded – she thought it was at the San Diego Biennial of the URJ – probably in the 1990s.
Putting this all together I wanted to try and find the one word which would capture the uniqueness of Paula – caring, compassionate, modest, elegant, integrity, optimistic, realistic, leader, sense of humor, singer, visionary, listener, friend, mentor, respected, loved, loving, sensitive but sensible, values, principled, caring, religious, intelligent, special – the list of adjectives is extensive. It took me a long time to figure out what that one word is, the one that encapsulates all of these qualities – but of course, it is so obvious – PAULA.