Rabbi Ervin Preis, spiritual leader of the Suburban Orthodox Toras Chaim congregation in Pikesville for more than 26 years and a guiding force in the Baltimore-area Orthodox Jewish community, died at his home yesterday of bile duct cancer. He was 67.
Rabbi Preis had been struggling with cancer for two years, but he led daily services through his last days.
After moving to the red-brick Pikesville synagogue in 1976, Rabbi Preis shepherded the congregation as its members grew more deeply observant. For about a dozen years, he led the Rabbinical Council of Greater Baltimore.
"He had respect from all rabbis," said Rabbi Herman N. Neuberger, president of Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Pikesville. "He wanted things done in unity and in concert with everyone. He was a consensus person."
An unstinting dedication to pastoral duties was a hallmark of Rabbi Preis's tenure. He cut short trips outside Maryland to comfort new widows. Even while away, he would telephone a dozen or more elderly congregants each day to make sure they were all right.
"We didn't even know until recently," Sheldon J. Berman, a congregant of 26 years, said of the daily calls. "We found out when he was sick. Some of these people started calling, asking, 'What's doing? We haven't heard from the rabbi today.'"
With the British accent he picked up as a young boy in England, Rabbi Preis gave learned sermons that showed a sophisticated understanding of the Torah, Talmud and other Jewish texts.
"He would always talk about the importance to put your best face forward, to be the most understanding, the most forgiving, and not to say anything bad about another person," said David Sidransky, chairman of Suburban Orthodox's board.
In a 1997 sermon on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, Rabbi Preis talked about a man who had repented years after stealing from Suburban Orthodox. The man, who signed only as Mark, had written a letter of apology, saying he was taught by his grandfather to dislike Jews.
"I hope that Mark doesn't hate his grandfather. He still owes him honor and respect - even if he realizes that his grandfather was a product of his grandparents, and even those before," Rabbi Preis said.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Rabbi Preis was the son of a cantor and grew up intent on becoming a rabbi. As a young boy, he and his family fled to England just before World War II. After the war, they moved to the United States.
Rabbi Preis studied to become a rabbi in New York, but it was a year of study in Israel that shaped the character of his spiritual leadership. Ever since, he stressed the importance that Israel held for American Jews.
Whether addressing the congregation of 240 families or just one member, Rabbi Preis said that Israel gave American Jews a religious and national identity.
Rabbi Preis, congregants said, was a Zionist. At Suburban Orthodox, he helped organize an Israel Action Committee that raised funds for Israel, adopted a city in the West Bank and sent missions, and even a Torah, to the settlement.
He would visit Israel from time to time. "But he would always go for a short time," Sidransky said, "because he wanted to be in the synagogue."
A funeral will be held today at 10 a.m. at Suburban Orthodox, 7504 Seven Mile Lane, Pikesville. His body will then be taken to New York and flown to Israel, where he will be buried.
Rabbi Preis is survived by his wife, Anita Preis, of Pikesville; two sons, Yitzchok Preis of Cincinnati and Yosef Preis of Brooklyn; a daughter, Esther Ribakow of Baltimore; a brother, Robert Preis of Long Beach, N.Y.; and 19 grandchildren.