We are
gathered here today: people from all
walks of life and from all parts of the state:
The powerful and the mighty, along with the simple and the common folk. The leaders, movers and shakers of our state
are all here, as are the humble everyday citizens who loved and elected Marvin
Mandel to every office he aspired to hold.
We have come to honor, and to lay to rest our beloved Governor Marvin
Mandel, Moshe ben Elky.
We come to
pay tribute to him, to recognize an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary
life, a life of tremendous accomplishment.
And we are here to say thanks – thanks for all that he did on behalf of
the people of the State he loved so dearly.
Some 2,000
years ago the ancient Jewish sage Ben Sira wrote words which seem so appropriate
today. He wrote:
Let us now praise distinguished
leaders, those who came before us. They
are a great glory to Adonai, the God who created them, for their lives proclaim
the Lord’s majesty.
They were honored in their generation,
and were a source of pride in their times.
Some have left a name so that all declare their praise, while there are
those who go unremembered.
Not so our leaders whose good deeds
will not be forgotten. Their posterity
shall endure forever, and their glory will not be blotted out. People will recall and recount their wisdom,
and the congregation will sing their praise.
And so today
we recall and recount the wisdom, the career and the enduring impact of Marvin
Mandel, the 56th Governor of the State of Maryland.
Growing up
in Pikesville as I did, I recall the pride that we in the Jewish community took
as one of our own climbed the ladder in Maryland state government, becoming the
head of a powerful committee in the House of Delegates, then elected as Speaker
of House of Delegates, subsequently becoming Governor, and even serving in a
national role as head of the Democratic Governors’ Association. We were proud of his meeting David ben
Gurion and for solidifying our state’s relations with the State of Israel.
With his
uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time, coupled with his
sharp political instincts and keen intellect, he shattered ceilings and helped
to forge a path which allowed members of the Jewish community to realize that
we could fully participate in government.
It was therefore no surprise therefore that as Governor he saw to it
that opportunities were offered to women and blacks, that thresholds were
lowered, barriers removed and doors opened for all.
I stand here
not only as a rabbi, but as someone whose mother’s life was saved because
Marvin Mandel had the vision and the ability to steer through the legislature
the bill to create the Shock Trauma Unit at the University of Maryland
Hospital. And I am also here as someone
who worked with Governor Mandel when I was the student liaison to the state
government in the early 1970’s at a time when there was rioting on the College
Park campus.
From these
and other associations and connections, I speak on behalf of all who were the
beneficiaries of all that Governor Mandel did for us when I say that Marvin
Mandel left a lasting legacy. He did
what he did because he truly cared about the safety and welfare of all and
sought to use the instrument of government to better the lives of all the
citizens. This is how he will be judged
and this is how he will be remembered.
For the true measure of a man is not what position he achieves, but what
he does with the positon he attains. And
as we will hear today, he did much for many.
As we all know,
Marvin was not very tall. (I had
jokingly said at his 90th that maybe that was why he looked out for
the little guy.) Yet despite his
stature, he cast a giant shadow.
Pirke Avot, The Sayings of the Sages,
from the Talmud tells us of the importance of having the courage of one’s
convictions. It tells us: “Bamakom
she’ein anashim, histadel lehiyot ish:
In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man” – which I
paraphrased at the celebration on his 95th birthday, in the case of
our beloved Governor, “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a
Mandel.”
Rabbinic
literature says that a man does not pursue leadership. Rather, leadership pursues the man. This was the case with Marvin Mandel.
Psalm 72, a
psalm about leadership reads:
אֱלֹהִים--מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, לְמֶלֶךְ תֵּן; וְצִדְקָתְךָ לְבֶן-מֶלֶךְ
O God, endow
the king with Your judgments, that he may judge Your people rightly…
Let him
champion the lowly among the people, and deliver the needy folk…
He saves the
needy who cry out, the lowly who have no helper.
For he cares
about the poor and the needy…
Let prayers
for him be said always, blessings on him invoked at all times…
May his name
be eternal…let men invoke his blessedness upon themselves…
Blessed is
the Lord God, God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
בָּרוּךְ, יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים--אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: עֹשֵׂה
נִפְלָאוֹת לְבַדּו וּבָרוּךְ, שֵׁם כְּבוֹדוֹ-- לְעוֹלָם ֹ
We will hear
from some of his colleagues and friends, those who worked closely with him and
who witnessed up close his acumen and skills, his ability to get things done,
and then from family members who will share the more private side we may not
have not known. In addition to all that
he accomplished for so many, the feelings of deep loyalty he engendered and of
the lasting and abiding friendships he had tell us a great deal about the kind
of person he was.
And so it is
time to bid farewell and lay to rest an enigmatic man -- naturally shy, but who
took on the most public of roles and for whom so much of his life was played
out in public. A man who had a brilliant
mind, who knew how to get things done, and who did so much to improve our state
and our world.
Into your
care O God we entrust the soul of Marvin Mandel.
Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt
Congregation B'nai Tzedek
Potomac, MD
September 3, 2015
