Recién hoy, tantos años después, me entero con tristeza.
Que el cielo te guarde, Alejandro.

Alex, Rabbi Alejandro Lilienthal, passed away the day before my 60th birthday, so I will never forget his passing which I opened expecting birthday wishes. 

He took me to parts of Jerusalem where even he was considered a goy, he explained to me South American spirit I was often reminded of when I toured, dafka, Jewish Argentina in song and learning. He always reminded me that he respects me, the scientist, because he had tasted science. Weizmann Institute let us meet, but in Berlin we explored his ancestry and history.

I met Alejandro at HUC in Cincinnati (early in 1987)- I had a postdoc fellowship. Alejandro and I were the two German speaking students who volunteered to help another rabbinical student -my future husband Moshe- with his Hebrew. Alejandro had a great sense of humor-- he told me to check out Moshe's dorm room before marrying him.   I also met Alejandro's mother-- probably, when he was ordained. We kept in contact for many years-- he would send his end-of-the year letter to us. My husband and I visited him and his family  a few years ago when we visited Miami.  We lost contact because we moved often. Now, I was trying to find Alejandro to share the sad news that my husband, Rabbi Moshe Ulmer passed away from an incurable disease. I am saddened to learn that Alejandro passed away. May his memory be a blessing. Professor Rivka Ulmer

Mi recuerdo es de niño, el fue mi técnico de basket. Muy responsable, cariñoso, por momentos era uno más de nosotros. Nos prestaba libros de técnica y estrategias de basket. Un docente de alma, apasionado también, sencillo, generoso y una gran persona que siempre recuerdo cuando hablo de mi fugaz pasaje como jugador del Club Sporting de Montevideo. Un crack. Lamento su partida y un abrazo a toda su familia a quienes no conozco pero seguro el amaba y se sentiría orgulloso.

Alejandro and I met and became friends in Porto Alegre in 1989, where we were both on our first "postings" -- he as a rabbi, I as a diplomat.   The Cincinnati connection cemented it, my hometown being the place where he had studied for the rabbinate at the Hebrew Union College.  (We both counted ourselves as proteges of Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, albeit in different ways, and that was plenty vouching enough for anybody.)   We were both bachelors, born only four months apart.  We were warmly welcomed wherever we went in Porto Alegre.  And who could ever forget a trip to Montevideo with Alejandro (via the overnight bus?)  ...  In the years after he met Sandra and then moved with her to the US, first to Texas and then to Florida, we kept in touch.  Mostly with phone calls.  Which phone calls always, unfailingly, began with Alejandro telling a joke.   He called me "el cometa", that being his term for people who passed through his life with periodicity.  It pains me that I never had the chance to meet his daughters.  Not yet, that is.  If I am ever fortunate enough to do so, I will simply remind them to believe all the tributes to their father that they have heard.  He was one-of-a-kind.  In the best sense.  There was nobody more alive, more witty, more insightful, more profound, than Alejandro Lilienthal.  It pains me even more that he died so shortly before I was finally going to have the chance to see him again.  That is, I am sure, nothing compared to the pain that Yael and the rest of the family felt in his absence at her wedding.   My deepest condolences.  He will be remembered.

So very sorry about this news! My condolences to the girls, and I know Yael, how much he looked forward to your wedding. Alex and I met first Purim 1981, at Weizmann, and last saw each other this past Purim. Our lives touched each other in so many ways! I lid my first Shabbat candles in his HUC dorm in Jerusalem, I danced with a Torah in Har'El, he visited Germany for the first time when I hosted him in Berlin, we discussed his idea of becoming a Rabbi and my conversion; he witnessed my first (catholic) wedding in Jerusalem, I attended his wedding in Rio sitting next to the Archbishop, we attended some of our girls' Bat Mitzvah (Yael, I will never forget your grace and wisdom at that young age!). He called me after his diagnosis and then many times to ask about potential genetic links, new treatments - it was a cruel disease for him, but he made it through it much longer than most. My only comfort now is that he was spared the last stage of this disease and we can cherish his memory as it is. Alex, I will miss you! 

Anoche me enteré de la triste noticia de la partida de Alejandro. Nos dejó consternados. Era el único referente a la familia de mi madre que tenia.  Lo recuerdo desde niño junto a sus padres Felix y Liesel en Montevideo. Fue muy lamentable su larga enfermedad.  Que en todos quede el recuerdo de sus buenos años tanto en Uruguay ,Brasil o USA. Un abrazo a todos. Nita y familia 

My sincere condolences from far away, a town where Alejandro Lilienthal had some roots but never walked...
from a person unknown to the daughters.
Alejandro and I corresponded and telephoned for a while, because he heard about my commemoration efforts for the prewar Wiesbaden Jewish community. This is where his grandfather had been a cantor and his father Felix had grown up. A close friend of his father lived in New York and became my friend around 1992. Although his father had already passed away, Alejandro was really excited to be able to  come from Uruguay to visit  and share a few memorabilia with her.   I was also in touch with his cousin, Rabbi David Lilienthal , who came to Wiesbaden from Holland twice. By the time I was able to travel to Uruguay, Alejandro had been residing in the USA for many years. This left for me only to  commemorate his father Felix at the Montevideo Jewish cemetery.  
And now I will share the Lilienthal family history with todays Wiesbaden Jewish community - founded in 1946. 

I am so sorry to hear of Rabbi Lillienthal’s passing!! My thoughts and prayers are with your family during this difficult time! 
Love,
Miss Susan
(Susan Pavao) 

OBITUARY

Alejandro Gabriel Lilienthal

November 27, 1958 – August 5, 2018

Star of David Memorial Gardens Cemetery & Funeral Chapel

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