A Tribute to Rabbi Mark Loeb
Rabbi Mark Loeb died on the evening of October 8 while serving as the interim Rabbi in Milan, Italy. We share the profound grief of the Beth El Congregation and the larger Jewish community. Mark was one of the Founding Fathers of the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies, and he remained a trusted friend and stalwart supporter to all of us at the ICJS.
We remember Mark's impatience with long committee meetings and his intolerance of ignorance and bigotry, most especially when robed in pomp and pretension. His moral compass was finely tuned during the civil rights movement, and he did not hesitate to speak his mind when he caught the slightest whiff of hypocrisy or dishonesty. Sometimes his manner was gruff and his demeanor curmudgeonly, but his compassion and curiosity defined his inner core. He challenged Christians to remain faithful to the best within their traditions, and he encouraged them to contest the worst. Yet he did no less within his own community, as his criticisms of Israeli excesses amply showed.
The friendships that Mark forged among so many Christian leaders altered the religious landscape in and beyond Baltimore. He delighted in rigorous intellectual pursuits with them or a sumptuous feast at Linwood's. He shared his love of music and rescued many of us from our Philistine ways. The standards of excellence that he expected from others were applied to his own performances. He was arguably the most gifted orator in Baltimore, and no one was as quick-witted and agile when pressed into impromptu discussions.
A week before his passing, he called us and shared his dream of writing a book about the Christians who inspired the formation of the ICJS. He believed that the Jewish community needed to discover the religious motivations of Protestants and Roman Catholics that have anchored this educational enterprise. He planned to conduct a series of interviews and to document a religious revolution that took hold of Baltimore. It is a source of grief that he did not have more time to relish his retirement or to compose the books that he had envisioned.
Upon learning of Mark's death, Reverend John Roberts, his dear friend and fellow ICJS board member, quoted the words of Louis Armstrong: "Musicians don't retire; they (just) stop when there's no more music in them." John continued to muse: "Mark had much more music in him when his life ended in Milan where he was serving as an Interim Rabbi. He had just left a restaurant in that northern Italian city which is the home of one of the world's great opera houses, La Scala. Milan offered Mark a congregation to lead, good restaurants to visit, and good music to hear! I grieve that he did not have more time to savor retirement. However, death has not silenced the music of the life of Mark Loeb. It reverberates in all of us who were blessed and enriched by his presence. We continue to give thanks for all the music Rabbi Mark Loeb brought to Beth El, to our Baltimore, and beyond."
Chris Leighton, ICJS Executive Director
October 8, 2009
