Rabbi Howard Morrison

I am heartbroken to learn that Mr. Eli Dovek has passed away. My memories of him and the store go back to when I was a little boy growing up in Brookline. My parents brought me in often to the former location on Harvard street. When I was old enough, I went to both locations on my own. Over the years, I purchased all kinds of things for me and others whether they be works of art, books in English, or Limudei Kodesh in Hebrew. I am now sixty-one years old working as a congregational rabbi in Toronto. Many of my books and Judaica, which I am gazing at right now, originated from the Israel Book Shop. I will always remember Mr. Dovek putting Tefillin on my older son prior to his Bar Mitzvah, Tefillin which I purchased from the Israel Book Shop. That boy is now twenty-seven years old living in Denver. 

More important than all the purchases was the warmth exuded by Mr. Dovek. The store was like a home, and he demonstrated Hachnasat Orchim to me and to all who entered. I always felt like I was with family with him, his wife, and all who represented the store behind the counter. Mr. Dovek and the Israel Book Shop represented the best of Judaism. He himself was a strictly pious Jew. His store, unlike many Judaica stores today, was completely pluralistic, carrying book titles and authors from the entire spectrum of Jewish thought and practice. 

I am writing this message on Motzaei Pesach and Motzaei Shabbat, after having recited my own personal Yizkor just hours ago. I will truly remember Mr. Eli Dovek, a true mentsch and exemplar of Judaism's highest Middot.

Baruch Dayan Emet.

Yhi Zichro Baruch.

Rabbi Howard (Howie) Morrison

formerly of Brookline