Ursula (Sara) Merkin

Ursula Merkin (1919–2006) was a German-born, American-Jewish philanthropist.

She was born in Frankfurt, Germany to Isaac Breuer, a noted German Rabbi, as Ursula (Sara) Breuer. In 1933, at the age of fourteen, she left Germany with her family for Palestine, where she remained with her father, to whom she was very close, until his death in 1946, at the age of 63, in Jerusalem. Shortly thereafter, she emigrated to the United States, where she found a teaching position at a Jewish girls' school in Paterson, New Jersey.

In 1950 she met and married Hermann Merkin, a German-Jewish businessman, who was twelve years her senior. They had six children and were married for almost fifty years until his death in 1999 at the age of 91. Ursula and Hermann Merkin sponsored the well-known New York venue Merkin Concert Hall and were involved in a variety of Yeshiva University functions as well as with other Jewish philanthropies. They were also deeply devoted to Fifth Avenue Synagogue, of which Hermann Merkin was the founding President.

Ursula Breuer Merkin was a granddaughter of Solomon Breuer, a great-granddaughter of Samson Raphael Hirsch, and mother of writer Daphne Merkin and philanthropist J. Ezra Merkin. Her brothers were Jacob Breuer, and Mordechai Breuer. She was best known for her involvement with Reuth, an Israeli charity for the elderly. She maintained a strong tie to, and a great love for, the Holy Land until her death in 2006. She was known by most as "Ullah."

She also wrote a novel, Borrowed Lands, which was published by Rubin Mass Ltd. in 2000 in a second revised edition.

She died in New York at the age of 86 after a bout with lung cancer.

References

• Paid Notice: Deaths MERKIN, HERMANN - New York Times, March 10, 1999
• YU Today, Yeshiva University, Orientation 2006, Volume 11 No. 1, p.6
• YBA On the Front, American Friends of Yeshivot Bnei Akiva, September 2006, p.4
• Daphne Merkin, She Contained Multitudes, The Jewish Daily Forward, July 28, 2006
• Tim Boxer, RE'UTH - No need for compliments to honor Rabbi Sol Roth, 15 Minutes, Issue 33, February 2002
• Masha Leon, The Power of the Pen, The Jewish Daily Forward, January 13, 2006
• Paid Notice: Deaths MERKIN, URSULA - New York Times, July 24, 2006

External links

• Paid Notice: Deaths MERKIN, URSULA - New York Times, July 24, 2006
• Ursula Merkin, Borrowed Lands, A Novel of Immigrants (Jerusalem: Rubin Mass Ltd., 2000)
• Fifth Avenue Synagogue
• Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies (IBC), Yeshiva University
• Merkin Concert Hall
• Reuth
• Yeshivot Bnei Akiva

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Merkin

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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E0DB1F3AF936A157...

Paid Notice: Deaths

MERKIN, URSULA

Published: July 25, 2006

MERKIN--Ursula. The Board of Trustees and the Staff of Reuth mourn the passing of our organizational matriarch, our chair, and the soul of Reuth, Mrs. Ursula Merkin. Her dedication to Reuth came from a promise made to her mother, Mrs. Jenny Breuer, a founder of Women's Social Service (now Reuth), that she work for Reuth once her children were grown. What began as a duty became a passion as she worked diligently to help grow one of Israel's most important non-profit organizations, consisting of the Reuth Medical Center for chronic care and rehabilitation, a sheltered housing complex and soup kitchen, senior homes, and the Information Center, a free, national community service which answers questions regarding rehabilitation, nursing care, and geriatrics. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to honor Mrs. Merkin at our recent annual Dinner, where we had the opportunity to publicly express our deep affection for her and our gratitude for all her years of devotion to Reuth. Anyone in attendance that evening will remember her wit and presence as she spoke of her history with the organization. Mrs. Merkin led a life dedicated to bringing hope and sustenance to many and taught us all a lesson in the value of giving. A true woman of valor, she moved us all to greater heights of compassion and generosity. She will be sorely missed. We extend our deepest sympathy to her family. May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Rosa Strygler, President

MERKIN--Ursula. The worldwide Shaare Zedek family mourns the loss of this exceptional matriarch who personified in all aspects of her life the majesty of Judaic values, traditions and ethics. Together with her beloved husband Hermann, of blessed memory, the Merkins' myriad deeds of tzedekah and chesed reflected their heartfelt belief that their resources were granted by the Almighty to benefit others. Platinum Founders, the Merkins were sponsors of our Annual Concert for more than four decades. In recognition, the 2000 concert was named the Hermann Merkin Memorial Concert. We will forever be grateful for their naming of the original Shaare Zedek School of Nursing in memory of Mr. Merkin's mother, Sara Merkin, zl. May children Dinah Mendes, Deborah Gerber, Jacob Ezra Merkin, Solomon Nechemia Merkin, Daphne Merkin and Rabbi David Merkin and siblings Yaakov Baror, Prof. Mordechai Breuer and Tzipora Schneller Meir and the entire family be comforted amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem Erica Jesselson, Chair Emeritus Jack C. Bendheim, President Prof. Jonathan Halevy, Director-General Paul S. Glasser, Nat'l Director Lee Weinbach, President, National Women's Division

MERKIN--Ursula. The officers, Board of Directors, and staff of UJA-Federation of New York mourn the passing of Ursula Merkin, who was deeply devoted to the Jewish community through her exceptional generosity. Along with her late husband, Hermann, she created a philanthropic tradition that was embraced by their entire family. We extend our deepest sympathies to her children, J. Ezra, Solomon, David, Daphne, Dinah Mendes, and Deborah Gerber, and to all members of the family. Morris W. Offit, President Susan K. Stern, Chair of the Board John S. Ruskay, Exec. V.P. & C.E.O.

MERKIN -- Ursula. The Trustees, Faculty and Staff of The Mount Sinai Medical Center mourn the passing of Ursula Merkin, a dedicated supporter of health care and medical research. Her personal generosity and the generosity of her family included the creation of the Hermann Merkin Professor of Palliative Care and contributions for other important programs at Mount Sinai. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Ursula Merkin's children and to the entire family. Peter W. May, Chairman Kenneth L. Davis, M.D. President and CEO

MERKIN--Ursula. The Aleph Society mourns the passing of Ursula Merkin, mother of our esteemed benefactors J. Ezra and Lauren Merkin. The legacy of her loving-kindness continues through the good deeds and the grace of her children and grandchildren. May the family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz Jack Nash, Chairman Ludwig Bravmann, President

MERKIN -- Ursula. Fifth Avenue Synagogue announces with deep regret the passing of its Trustee Ursula Merkin, wife of Founding President Hermann Merkin, z'l, and mother of Synagogue President J. Ezra Merkin, and extends heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family. Yaakov Y. Kermaier, Rabbi Ira Leon Rennert, Chairman

MERKIN--Ursula. Heartfelt sympathy to the Merkin family on the passing of our esteemed board member. We relied on her wisdom and she will be greatly missed. Women's Club Fifth Avenue Synagogue Anne Hiltzik, Chairman Mona Gelbart and Maidy Jeger, Presidium

MERKIN--Ursula. Yad Sarah, its volunteers in Israel and its friends in the USA note with profound sadness the passing of Ursula Merkin, a warm and sincere friend. Our heartfelt condolences go to her son, Ezra Merkin, and the entire family. B'Yerushalayim tenuhamu

MERKIN--Ursula. Michal and Uri Lupoliansky deeply mourn the loss of Aunt Ulla Merkin and express their condolences to the whole family.

http://forward.com/articles/519/she-contained-multitudes/

She Contained Multitudes

By Daphne Merkin

Published July 28, 2006, issue of July 28, 2006.

Ursula Merkin, a philanthropist who played a prominent role in various Jewish institutions, passed away on July 23. Her daughter, novelist and cultural critic Daphne Merkin, delivered the remarks below at a memorial service this week.

My mother was one of the most vivid people I’ve ever met. She was full of contrary impulses, all of which she conveyed with equal emphaticness, which makes it the more difficult to speak about her today in her absence, which is very real but also very recent. Indeed, I’m half convinced that, despite the evidence to the contrary, she is still listening somewhere with her hyper-critical ear attuned to every potential misstatement, lapse in grammar, or misperception. Daphne, I can almost hear her say, speak slowly and clearly. And remember: No one wants to hear another word about your childhood.

In fact, though, of her gifts to me, perhaps the most generous was that she tacitly gave me the right to tell my version of our complicated family life — which she allowed me to do without resisting or, as they say, guilt-tripping me. Since my mother was something of an irrevocable truthteller herself, it seems to me in keeping with her style to err on the side of realism even here.

For me I think the most important thing to be said about my mother is that she, like the poet Walt Whitman, contained multitudes. We are none of us, of course, entirely the integrated and unified personality we pass ourselves off as being to the world, but in the instance of my mother this was doubly or triply so. There were many different sides to her, sometimes depending on which day you got her. She was capable of enormous warmth and generosity, but she could also be almost chillingly objective. A legacy of her own richly textured upbringing was a deeply ingrained sense of cultural sophistication — my mother’s mother, my grandmother Jennie Breuer, received the international version of Time magazine every week in her apartment on Keren Kayemet in Tel Aviv, and my grandfather, Isaac Breuer, was as avid an appreciator of Thomas Mann’s “Buddenbrooks” as he was of Rashi’s commentary. She also had, thanks to her backgroud, an abiding investment in the aesthetics of ritual observance, what is referred to as “hidur mitztvah.” Long before anyone heard of the word “presentation” or Martha Stewart, my mother arranged photo-worthy Purim and Pesach tables with a punctilious and unbending eye for visual detail: the silver had to be freshly polished, the flowers fresh, the napery crisp. Her Purim table was especially memorable: It featured her abiding sense of whimsy, strewn as it was with brightly colored confetti, with sparkling beveled glasses in deep shades of garnet and green next to each plate and paper dreidels hung from the dining-room chandelier. Along with her sophistication went a delight in the childlike, an almost primitive approach to the world that enabled her to bond with the very young and to successively charm most of her 21 grandchildren. If you resisted my mother’s complex allure you did so at your own peril, never sure if the problem was with you or with her.

Although she lived to all observable purposes a conventional, upper bourgeois life and was deeply committed to the Modern Orthodox, torah-im-derech eretz tradition in which she was raised in Frankfurt, on another level she harbored a rebellious, even defiant streak which showed up in any number of ways. These ranged from her curiosity about ways of life other than her own — which made her, among other things, unfailingly open to converts to Judaism, for whom she seemed to harbor a special understanding — to her ability to coolly deflate any and all illusions one might harbor about her own or other people’s motives. She was unfailingly interested in my reports from the cultural edge and one of the last pieces of my writing she read — or rather, which I read aloud to her — was a forthcoming magazine column on several new books about the erotic life and its contemporary vicissitudes — a piece that not only failed to excite her disapproval but led her to suggest that I needed more space in which to air my welter of thoughts. I think she prided herself on being unshockable, at least in theory, and although this aspect of her engendered confusion when I was growing up — there was always the possibility that the person whom my mother secretly admired or aspired to be (and thus aspired for her daughters to be) was not the wife and mother who attended shul Shabbos in and Shabbos out but someone more flamboyant or daring or simply odd. I believe it also fostered a kind of intellectual freedom in her children, a low tolerance for social pieties and a regard for straightforwardness. It was this same quality that allowed me to tell her what was on my mind, however dire, when I was a child, and also to try and call things as I see them when I write. It is, in the end, to my mother that I owe my love of literature and interest in writing, and it is her whom I blame for what I think of as my truthtelling gene.

My mother died with the same anomalous force with which she lived. She fought the dying of the light with a tenacity that Dylan Thomas himself would have appreciated and her ability to reconstitute herself after severe setbacks was quite astonishing to observe. Indeed, I think her formidable energy and ongoing wish to remain independent — even, sometimes, at cost to herself — created an indelible impression on those around her, ranging from hospital aides to family members. My mother prepared for her own death with a morbid sense of humor — she was thinking of having new carpet installed on the staircase in honor of her own shiva — and with the same high degree of organizational skill and executive functioning with which she ran her beloved Re’uth, the philanthropic organization that cared for the sick and elderly in Israel begun by her mother and Paula Barth. Yesterday my sister Dinny and I searched in the neat chest of drawers near her now-empty bed for the package of her carefully wrapped tachrichim — shrouds — that she had specially made according to German custom for both my father and herself. Over the tissue paper my mother had placed a label in her unmissable handwriting, itself a mixture of sophistication and childishness, on which she had written her initials “U.M.” in large bold print and then underneath, in smaller print, “until 120….if not sooner.”

It is difficult for me to grasp that my mother will not be around to discuss the details of her own funeral with, to gossip over who was wearing what and who said what and who failed to show up. There was a kind of glamour to her personality, as well as a core elusiveness that rendered her permanently fascinating — and essentially unknowable — for even those who were closest to her. She was a remarkable combination of impulse and restraint, and her dignity and resolve in the face of increasing pain and debilitation were quite something to behold. Indeed, my mother had little tolerance for her own vulnerabilities and, up until the very end, her own tears, rare as they were, unhinged her. “All our lives,” the poet Yehuda Amichai wrote, we “choke back our tears and run/ a long way, our tears closed in, stifled in our throats.” But if, as he went on to observe in that same poem, “Death is nothing but a good cry that lasts forever,” then I hope my mother is finally indulging herself.

Ursula Breuer Merkin

• U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007
• Birth: Sep 4 1919 - Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg, Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
• Submission date: Mar 1963
• Father: Isaac Breuer
• Mother: Jenny Eisenmann