The Maimonides School community mourns the passing of Joseph Abelow, z”l, who personified a lifetime of esteem, affection, and support for the school.
Mr. Abelow, 94, died Sunday, the 15th of Nisan, in Jerusalem. Burial took place Sunday night in Beit Shemesh.
The Abelow family has been embedded in the fabric of Maimonides School since its inception. Rabbi Leo Abelow, z”l, recruited the revered founder of the school, Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, to serve as Boston’s chief Orthodox rabbi in 1933. Four years later the Rav founded the school.
(Today, the 18th of Nisan, is the 28th yahrzeit of Rabbi Soloveitchik.)
Joe Abelow served with his father on the Maimonides Board of Directors, and continued as a member of the Board until making aliyah several years ago. He chaired the Tuition Committee for some 30 years, investing thousands of hours meeting with individual families. Mr. Abelow also worked on a wide range of other committees and as a dedicated fundraiser. His generosity included establishing an annual student award in memory of his parents.
A graduate of Boston Latin School and Yeshiva University, Mr. Abelow earned semicha at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and a master’s degree in business from New York University. He returned to Boston and worked in textbook sales for Amsco publications for some six decades. “He wanted to be an accountant, but in those days, accountants were expected to work on Shabbos,” said his son Gerald. “Sales enabled him to do what he wanted, which was everything according to halacha.”
“Maimonides School was his whole life,” Gerald said. Rabbi Soloveitchik was mesader kiddushin at his parents’ wedding, he noted, and they remained close. When the Rav was incapacitated by illness for several years beginning in the late 1980s, Gerald said, Mr. Abelow and Maimonides School president Abe Levovitz, z”l, would sit with the Rav every Shabbat afternoon.
Mr. Abelow's wife Greta, z”l, was a Maimonides Elementary School teacher for 30 years and served as co-president of the Women’s Auxiliary and president of the Parent-Teacher Association in successive years. When she suffered a debilitating stroke, her husband cared for her day and night when he was in his 80s. Gerald emphasized “the devotion he had to his wife, his children, and his grandchildren.”
Mr. Abelow is survived by their three children, Dr. Arthur Abelow of New Rochelle, Gerald Abelow of Chestnut Hill, and Esther Tekuzener ’77 of Jerusalem.
The shiva observance will begin immediately after Pesach in Jerusalem at 15 Diskin Street, Apt. 59, beginning Motza'ei Shabbat (estitek@gmail.com) from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 4:00-9:00 p.m.; and at 235 Oxford Road, New Rochelle, NY on Monday (914-632-0224). Gerald will also be outdoors at 34 Willow Crescent, Brookline, next Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (gerald_abelow@yahoo.com, 617-645-4235). May the family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
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