Rabbi Gunther Plaut z”l
Durng the Azkarah yesterday morning, among the names was, of course, Rabbi Gunther Plaut. If you’re reading this, then you already know what a giant he was in our movement, and of the almost unfathomable impact he had as editor and primary author of “The Plaut Commentary” or, if you prefer, “The Plaut-Bamberger Commentary.”I had the privilege of serving as Associate Rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple, where he was the Senior Scholar, and when he passed, one of my old congregants posted his obituary, from one of the Toronto papers, on Facebook. He pointed out something truly extraordinary. This man who “wrote the Torah,” who truly revolutionized Torah learning in the Reform Movement, who is easily one of the most erudite congregational Rabbis in the history of our movement, had his obituary entitled:
Human rights crusader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies at 99
And that, my friends, in the definition of a real Rabbi.