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From Generation to Generation: An Interview with Rabbi Ira Stone

April 1, 2019

Mazel tov to Rabbi Emeritus Ira Stone on being honored by the Center for Contemporary Mussar for his lifetime of contributions to the Jewish Community and Mussar.


What does L’Dor Va Dor mean to you? This is the question I asked the Kitah Zayin class on my first day teaching in the Neziner Hebrew School. At the core of this Jewish idiom is the bond between generations.

A focus of our class became interviewing and storytelling. How better to learn about our personal and communal past than through interviewing our own zekaynim? We learned about composing a compelling interview question and the importance of drawing out the story from the subject. My goal was for the students to interview a member of their family and for us, as a class, to interview an important member of our community. It did not take me very long to decide that for our class interview we would invite Rabbi Stone. The students composed their own questions hoping they would help to draw out stories of Rabbi Stone’s childhood, his opinion about the impacts of Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax on Jewish History, and his reasons for becoming a Rabbi.

Please tune into this candid interview with our very own Rabbi Stone. Rabbi Stone’s open spirit shines through clearly. I was honored to be part of this special audience with one who has so much to teach and pass onto our younger generation.

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