Dear Everyone:
Rabbi Lipa Durbrawsky was one of my very, very best friends. I think he also regarded me as a very good friend. Had I known of this blog before, I would have contributed to it right after his untimely passing. I only heard of it several days ago; hence the lateness of this contribution of mine to a massive outpouring of love for Lipa.
I don’t remember exactly when I first met this intellectual, spiritual and moral giant of a man. It must have been in the early or mid 1980s. At the time, I was working as an economist at the Fraser Institute, located in Vancouver, B.C. Lipa invited me to speak at his Chabad House (I always thought of it as his Chabad House, no one else’s). Like a skunk at the garden party, a chutzpanick, I gave a lecture criticizing the Talmudic view of business ethics in general, and of Maimonides in particular. Afterward, Lipa and I got into it a bit, on these issues. We both like to argue. One of the things I most admire in him is that when he engages in debate, it is always in an attempt to get that proverbial one millionth of an inch closer to the Truth. I never saw any ego involved in his participation in our discussions. It is my fondest hope that I may emulate him in this regard. At the time of my talk at Chabad House I remember him saying something like, “Well, we won’t be able to settle these issues standing on one foot.” By which he meant that we would need more time to do so, and he suggested that we have lunch together for that purpose. We did, and continued to do so for almost a decade, pretty much every week or two or so, until I left Vancouver for a job in the U.S. in 1991. But, since my family still lived in Vancouver, and my new job was an academic posting, I was back in Vancouver for about five months a year, and Lipa and I continued our regular meetings until his all too soon passing.
One of the things that sticks out in my mind about our intellectual jousts was not the differences between our two views, mine, libertarianism, his, of course, the Talmud, but the similarities. A lot of the reliance on economic freedom, private property rights, in my tradition came from John Locke. Much of Lipa’s, on these concepts and institutions, from Maimonides, and even earlier sages. Needless to say, I had to concede to Lipa that his sources came earlier in history than mine.
Sometimes, my son Matthew joined the two of us in our intellectual battles. Although his field (computers) is very different than, and seemingly far removed from, the issues Lipa and I discussed (ethics, political economy, Talmud, libertarianism), Matthew has several times told me that the rigorous logic employed by the two of us, me and my friend Lipa, was not only enjoyable for its own sake, but also, at least indirectly, helped him in writing code for computers. I suppose this phenomenon is similar to the study of music and mathematics somehow helping with each other. Matthew was not the only family member of mine drawn into Lipa’s orbit. Our entire families became friendly with each other. Neither of us had any relatives located in Vancouver, so our two families drew closer to each other than might otherwise have been the case. I know that my children, Matthew and Hannah looked upon Lipa and Dena as a sort of uncle and aunt; and that my wife Marybeth looked upon them and their many children in an analogous way. The four of us would go to the Dubrawsky home on a Friday night two or three times a year, and their entire gang would visit us in the wilds of North Vancouver virtually every summer for a picnic. One of the high points of the latter was our annual visit to the horse stable near our home, which featured, in addition to the equines, a very fat goat, a dog that did tricks, ducks, cats; ‘twas a real menagerie. There might have been 15 or more of us walking through the streets of Vancouver to get to that stable. I’m sure we made an interesting experience for our neighbors.
As it happens, Lipa and I were born and spent our early childhoods a few hundred yards from each other in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. One of the high points in my life was when Lipa and I met at 770 Eastern Parkway, and Lipa introduced me to Rabbi Schneerson, who gave me a one dollar bill (along with everyone else). That night I saw Lipa truly in his element. The only real “problem” I had with Lipa when we talked at the Chabad House in Vancouver, was that we were often interrupted by people asking him for his interpretation of the Talmud, wanting to talk to him, wanting to be in his presence. Lipa was regarded as a sage in the “minor leagues” of Vancouver. But the same thing occurred in the “major leagues” of Brooklyn. People were continually coming up to the two of us, well, to Lipa of course, to congratulate him, to ask him questions, to pat him on the back, to be near him. He just had that effect on people. And he did so without even writing and publishing anything (I continually pestered him to do so; I never succeeded). However, his reputation for brilliance, for kindliness, for humility, for being a lovely person, somehow percolated out into the world without any of the usual literary props on which such reputations usually rest. Even more amazing in my view, but a great testimony to the goodness of his soul.
Why did Lipa invite me to give that initial speech at the Chabad House? I miss him terribly for much more than that, much much more, but I never asked him that question, so I don’t know the answer. I can only speculate. My thought is that I was a non-practicing Jew, and this was his way of reaching out to me. There are no t’fillen mobiles in Vancouver as there are in New York City and other such places, and this was one of his ways of substituting for that lacuna. I am very grateful that he did. He opened my eyes to a world, his world, that I would not otherwise have experienced.
My own motto when faced with tragedy is to resolve to do better. To be more productive. To be more kind. To be happier. Whenever I think of Lipa, that is what motivates me. I miss him terribly. He made me a better person. He is still doing so.
Best regards,
Walter
Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business
Loyola University New Orleans
6363 St. Charles Avenue, Box 15, Miller Hall 318
New Orleans, LA 70118
tel: (504) 864-7934
fax: (504) 864-7970
wblock@loyno.edu
http://www.walterblock.com/
“It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.”
Murray N. Rothbard
