We didn’t appreciate the essentialness of Reb Shalom until he was no longer there
On Shabbos morning, we arrive in shul. Some of us early, and some later. We look up from our siddurim to see who’s going up for Shacharis. Later in the davening, we look up again to see who’s davening Mussaf. As men are called up for aliyos, heads turn to see who is getting shlishi and who is getting shishi. And of course, by Maftir, everyone wants to know, “Who got Maftir today?”
When fathers come home, their wives ask, “Who davened Mussaf today? Which niggun did he use for Kedushah?
Early Thursday morning on the tenth of Kislev, I was informed that R’ Shalom Dreyfuss had succumbed to the coronavirus.
Shalom was just 42 years old and left five orphan boys ranging in ages from 4 to 17.
After hespedim in Passaic, Shalom was buried in Lakewood, and the family began their shiva.
That Shabbos morning, when the four oldest boys began to recite Kaddish together, there was not a dry eye in the shul.
Besides the tragedy of the death and his leaving five orphans, Shalom was the baal korei of the shul. He had over 25 years of experience and was a baal korei par excellence.e had leined the entire Torah, and just this past Sukkos he leined Koheles in the shul.