May 11, 2021 – Temple Isaiah

Just last Thursday, when I called him on Rita’s birthday, I told Dick that his place in the history of Temple Isaiah was comparable to the place of Babe Ruth in the history of the New York Yankees. Baseball was just one of many loves we shared.

I think the analogy is apt. Dick continued to play an active role in the workings of this congregation even though he has lived two hours away since 1994.  That was the year Dick left his position as Associate General Counsel and Vice President of the Rouse Company to further his distinguished career in Real Estate Law as a partner in the Ballard-Spahr law firm in Philadelphia.

The climax of Dick’s legal career came with his election as president of the American Collège of Real Estate Lawyers. In March of 2018, Dick received the Frederick S. Lane Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. 

Dick retired from the practice of Law in 2011 but kept very busy in the ensuing years as an adjunct professor at Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law. In addition, Dick lectured and taught Continuing Legal Education Classes across the country.

Yes, Dick enjoyed a truly distinguished professional career, but he spent so much time and energy as a volunteer in the Jewish and general communities that I marveled that he found time to practice Law at all.

In Philadelphia he served as President of his condominium association and the Center for Art and Wood. He was also a very active member of the Franklin Inn Club.

Although he gave time and energy to many activities, there is no doubt at all that Dick’s most passionate community interest was Temple Isaiah.

Dick and Rita came to Columbia a few weeks before I arrived on September 1, 1973, and our lives have been closely intertwined since then. He served as President of the Howard County Jewish Council and then as Temple Isaiah’s president. During that time, we met for lunch weekly and often at other times as well.

I learned so much from him, and I have never met a more dedicated volunteer.

Dick and his beloved Rita were married well over 50 years. Their precious son – their one and only – Andy tragically died in March of 2009. Rita died in the spring of 2018.

After she died, I wrote: “No more poignant definition of the word, ‘Alone,’ comes to my mind than Dick without Rita.”

But Dick bravely and purposefully carried on. He continued to devote himself to community activities and he continued to devote himself in many ways to the welfare of this congregation.

Almost all of us in this room and on this Zoom, have spouses, children, or siblings.  While he cherished the love of Rita’s sister Ellen, and his cousins, Jodi, and Stacey, for Dick, Temple Isaiah was his family. He loved this congregation and with good reason.

The leadership of Rabbi Axler was a great joy to him. His warmth, wisdom and menschlikeit inspired him.

I also cannot count the number of times Dick recalled to me with gratitude the support and comfort he received from Rabbi Panoff in the days preceding and following Andy’s tragic death.

And the Temple returned his love. His birthday Aliyah at the end of April brought him joy. And he was very proud to be, as he put it, “the only two-time Congregants’ Hour speaker in the history of the congregation.”

For Vickie, our children and me, Dick’s death is a very personal loss. Vickie finds it hard to imagine not being able to pick up the phone and hear his voice ever again.

As a little boy Leo reveled in his overnights at Dick and Rita’s. He told me, “Dad, you never had a greater supporter than Dick Goldberg.” When Leo decided to study to become a rabbi at age 42, Dick remarked, “My only surprise is that it took him so long.” Dick zoomed into some of the study sessions and services Leo conducted at his student pulpit in California. Indeed, Just as Dick was a great help to me on my rabbinical path, so has he been to our son.

Sarah Jenny, we like to say, was pushed out of the womb by the matzah balls Vickie ate at the second night Seder we shared at the Goldberg home on April 12, 1979. “He’s gone to be with Rita,” Sarah said when she heard he had died.

Dick gave Ben valuable advice when he left the Financial Planning firm for which he worked and went into business for himself.

As Vickie noted, “The Goldbergs have known us all our married life and have shared every important milestone with us including our children’s B’nai Mitzvah and their weddings. We were so honored to be part of their intimate 50^th wedding anniversary dinner. It is hard to imagine life without them.”

For me Dick remained a friend and confidante until his last days. In our last conversation five days ago, Dick wistfully noted how true he found my words: “The definition of ‘Alone,’ is me without Rita.”

I think Dick endured that “Aloneness” as long as he could. Now, I think, and I hope, Sarah is right. They are together again, Dick, Rita and Andy, all healthy, strong and full of life:

At his Bar Mitzvah, on the Shabbat during Sukkot in 1982 Andy Goldberg read from the Torah these words from the book of Exodus that God addressed to Moses: “I have singled you out by name, and you have found favor in my sight.” (Exodus 33:12)

As the Eternal One welcomes Dick to his Eternal home, I imagine God addressing him with those very words: “I have singled you out by name, and you have found favor in My sight.”

Rest in peace, Dick! You are not alone, anymore.