This Clifton rabbi always wanted to 'help people in need.' He died from COVID-19 at 79
Rabbi Stanley Skolnik, who served the Passaic, Clifton and Bloomfield communities for more than 30 years, died on Friday from COVID-19 complications.
Skolnik, 79, was a Montclair resident and known for being an activist as well as a beloved member of the Reformed Jewish community, his daughter Julie Skolnik said.
"My father was a nice, funny guy, but he didn't care about being liked," Julie said. "He cared about doing the right thing. My dad led a very extraordinary life and as a righteous man he was an activist."
He leaves behind his wife Norma, sister Eva, children Jonathan, Julie Miri (spouses: Masha, Tressa and Al) and grandchildren: Robbie, Tosha, Sonia and Jake.
Skolnik graduated from the University of Cincinnati and attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He was ordained as Rabbi at HUC-JIR in New York in 1969.
He served as rabbi at Temple B’nai Abraham in Hagerstown, Maryland from 1969 to 1974, and at Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina from 1974 to 1975.
He then moved to New Jersey and served as rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in Clifton and Passaic from 1975 to 2009, when Beth Sholom merged with Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield. After the merger, Skolnik served the congregation as Rabbi Emeritus until his death.
During his years in Maryland, Skolnik began his activism work. After being in town for only a month, he served on the low-income housing, interracial, and interfaith committees, his daughter said. During his time there, he fought for a town employee to be fired for using a racial slur and began holding protests against the Vietnam War, which upset members of the community and his congregation.
For subscribersIn ‘target-rich’ NJ suburbs, police battle alarming rise in luxury auto theft
Monkeypox in NJ:Answering your questions about the virus
“He didn’t care about being liked or making waves,” Julie Skolnik said. “He was undeterred and vowed to hold a protest once a month until the war was over.”
After relocating to Passaic, his family eventually moved to Montclair because Skolnik wanted to be in a “progressive political and racially integrated town,” his daughter said.
His activism showed no bounds, she said. In October 1999, Skolnik spoke out against capital punishment in an interview with The Record, saying execution is not supposed to be an act of emotional revenge.
“It should only be used when no other recourse is available for the punishment of a truly heinous crime,” he said. “It is not…moral…to kill someone because it’s cheaper than keeping them in jail.”
A memory that Julie Skolnik said would always stand out was her father's support of a local mosque's opening — despite considerable opposition in the community.
“He did it even though he knew some people at the mosque would be in support of the destruction of Israel, but he said it was religious discrimination,” she said.
The mosque did open and Skolnik remained friends with the leaders there for years.
“Anytime there was an issue of injustice, my father was the first to write a letter, go to a meeting, protest or speak out — whatever he had to do — and it was something he installed in his children,” Julie Skolnik said. “He was never motived by money or faith, he just was doing the right thing even it was at a personal cost for himself.”
When discussing his eulogy, his children said the one message they needed to convey was to stand up for others.
“Don’t just do it when they’re there and asking you,” Julie Skolnik said. “Do it when they’re not there and stand up for other people and help people in need.”
His family said there has been an outpouring of support, from phone calls to social media messages.
His family will remember him jumping to help anyone. Julie Skolnik recalled a memory from her childhood, before people had cellphones. A car came speeding to the front of the Skolnik home and a woman jumped out, screaming “Where’s your father? The baby is dying.” The next thing she saw was her father running out of the house holding his shoes and jumping into the car.
“He would fly in an instant if someone needed him,” Julie Skolnik said. “We love him and will miss him very much.”
Skolnik was taken to Mountside Hospital on July 23 with symptoms of COVID-19. He just finished recovery from a double-bypass surgery and was doing better, his daughter said.
His appetite was beginning to return, and even half asleep, his sense of humor still came through when a nurse asked if he wanted to eat egg salad or a pastrami sandwich, he had to ask, “Where do you get your pastrami from?”
On July 27, Skolnik went into cardiac arrest and was placed on a ventilator.
A funeral will be held Sunday at Temple Ner Tamid, 936 Broad St. in Bloomfield followed by a burial at Menorah Cemetery in Clifton.
Kristie Cattafi is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: cattafi@northjersey.com
Twitter: @KristieCattafi
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Clifton NJ: Rabbi Stanley Skolnik dies from COVID at age 79
