- Shimon Glick, M.D.
Director, Center for Medical Education
Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev,
Beer Sheva, ISRAEL
Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 7 (1997), 77.

Benjy was a scholar in every sense of the word, thorough, methodical and analytical, scrupulously honest and self critical. A trained philosopher who was in his natural milieu in abstract philosophic thought, he was nevertheless very much down to earth, working at the front-lines of the most difficult problems as a practicing hospital ethicist. To the patients' bedside he brought sensitivity, compassion and wisdom beyond his years and a superb analytical capacity. His wit and optimism helped both his patients and himself in coping with life and death issues.

In the academic world of bioethics he was one of a very few individuals who had both the knowledge of, and deep committment to, Jewish traditional values. He was a practicing and committed Orthodox Jew, loyal to the doctrines of the Torah and the halakhic process. But he managed to blend these age-old sancta with the Western values of autonomy and emphasis on the individual with extraordinary skill and with insightful and original analyses of the traditional sources. His latest book Duty and Healing: Foundations of a Jewish Bioethic, available only on the world wideweb (Its URL (web address) is is a remarkable blend of Judaism and philosophy, of theory, and real life cases.

Benjy loved life and its pleasures, but he knew how to place these indulgences in their proper position in his set of values. He was dedicated to his family and put much thought and effort into his children's education. His love for his faith and people expressed itseltf also in an intense love for Israel. He dreamed of settling in Israel and making his contribution in the rebuilding of the Jewish national entity in the Holy Land. Unfortunateley this was one of the dreams that was left unfulfilled by his tragic, premature death.

When he learnt of his dread illness he proceeded with the calm and presence of mind which so characterized all of his thought processes. He put his affairs in order, took care of his obligations to students and others. He took each day with equanimity and courage, fed by his deep faith. His wife Barbara described his last days to me most movingly. He died as he lived - full of accomplishment and concern for those around him. In discussing individuals of Benjy's stature in our tradition. we say : "Alas for those who are gone and irreplaceable." May his memory be blessed.