Indefatigable educator, Abraham Gannes dies at 92

In an essay he wrote a few years ago called "Retirement in Action: Post Retirement -- 23 years," Abraham Gannes tried to sum up what he accomplished in his so-called twilight years.

He conducted a colloquium on Jewish education at Stanford University. He spent a year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He wrote and published several books and pamphlets, and wrote a monthly column for the San Jose Jewish Community News. He taught at San Jose State University. He gave lectures and taught at Congregation Beth David in Saratoga. He and his wife adopted a Russian family.

And that was only part of it.

The indefatigable Cupertino resident, who was once called a founding father of Jewish education, died July 8 in Mountain View. He was 92.

In 1977, Gannes finally retired -- but in name only -- and moved with his wife to California to be near their children and grandchildren. They settled in Cupertino and joined Congregation Beth David.

Rabbi David Pressman, spiritual leader of Beth David, said Gannes was the type of congregant who never missed a Shabbat service and would always offer his own commentary on whatever drash Pressman gave on that week's Torah portion.

"I've always been a community man," Gannes told the Bulletin in 2001, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. "When I moved here to retire, I called the federation right away."

In 1994, Gannes published a memoir called "Childhood in the Shtetl." To do the research, he spoke to more than 150 people across the country and traveled frequently to Haifa, where some of his family members had ended up. In a Haifa synagogue, he found a map of his shtetl and met numerous survivors willing to give their oral histories.

"I began to write these stories down when I took a literature course in college," he told the Bulletin in 1994. "I lost those original writings. I told my wife, my children, my grandchildren these stories, but didn't write them down. I wanted them to gain an insight into a world that has passed."

Pressman recalled that in the last few years, Gannes was always shaking his head in worry over what was happening in Israel. At last count, Gannes had visited the Jewish state 41 times.

Chuck Taubman, a friend of Gannes since he arrived in California, began studying Hebrew under Gannes' tutelage four years ago. They had a Tuesday morning ritual, which was mostly devoted to the study of the language, but also included time for updates on the family and philosophical debates. Taubman said that in his last conversation with him, Gannes was telling a joke.

Taubman further said that everyone who studied with Gannes had a unique relationship with him, that he made everyone feel special. And at synagogue, if there was a new face, he would always approach the person and introduce himself.

"He was a lesson for all of us. He would go talk to a new face, and inevitably he knew their great-uncle," said Taubman. "I would sit in the corner and talk to my friends, but that was not the way he operated."

Rabbi Daniel Kermaier, who teaches with the Jewish Study Network, had Gannes as a student in his weekly Tuesday night class.

"He was able to learn from every person and despite all his scholarly accomplishments, he was still able to come to a Torah class and learn from someone 60 years his junior," said the 29-year-old rabbi.

Gannes was born Avrum Ganapolsky in 1911 in the small shtetl of Winograd, Ukraine; his exact birth date is unknown. One of his earliest memories was of hiding with his family in a priest's cellar at the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

In 1921, he came with his parents and older sister to New York City, where his father set up a small business.

Gannes quickly mastered English, and at age 13 he received a camp scholarship at the Central Jewish Institute. That proved to be prophetic, as he returned there 32 years later as executive director of its successor organization, Cejwin Camps.

He was also selected from Marshallia Hebrew High School to attend a multiple-year Hebrew immersion program for future Jewish educators.

He earned his bachelor's degree from City College in 1933, and in 1936 he married Miriam Jacobson. They were married for 59 years, until her death in 1995.

He received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1938, and then a Ph.D. in Jewish education from Dropsie College in 1952.

Gannes held several positions during his long career in Jewish education. In 1938, when Jewish camping was still quite new, he bought Camp Keeyuman in the Pocono Mountains, and served as its executive director for 13 years.

In 1944, he moved to Miami, where he became the first executive director of its Bureau of Jewish Education. From there, he was offered a job in Philadelphia as executive director of its Council of Jewish Education.

After that, he returned to Cejwin Camps, which used to be the Central Jewish Institute, to be executive director. There, he oversaw a staff of 600, with 100 counselors-in-training and 1200 campers.

His son Howard said that no job was too small for his father. He remembers Gannes picking up a dead skunk, but he was most known for his "Batmobile," which was his Nash Rambler equipped with a spotlight, so he could drive around the camp grounds at night in search of young couples.

In 1968, Gannes became the director of the Department and Education and Culture -- American section of the World Zionist Organization in New York City. While there, he expanded the "Israel Experience" for 1,000 students and teachers, created an intensive Hebrew-language program, developed the National and International Bible Quiz and developed a Hebrew-language section for promoting the use of Hebrew. He also was an adjunct professor at New York University and served as the chief administrative officer of the Hebrew Culture Foundation.

Gannes is survived by his son, Howard, of Cupertino; daughter Judy Nydell of Albany; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Donations can be sent to the Miriam Gannes Memorial Reading Program, Congregation Beth David, 19700 Prospect Road, Saratoga, CA 95070.