Sunday, January 19, 2025
Yehoshua Kalish, longtime rabbi and educator in the Five Towns community died at 80 years old on Nov. 16.
He had cancer.
Kalish was born and raised in New York, where he attended Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn and received his semicha — a Jewish tradition that certifies a person’s proficiency and authorizes them to serves as a rabbi — from Beth Medrash Gohova Yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey.
For 28 years, Kalish served as rabbi at Harborview Beit Medrash in Lawrence, while simultaneously teaching at Yeshiva Darchei Ayson in Far Rockaway.
“Rabbi Kalish was not only a teacher but a guide and a friend to all who sought his counsel,” Samuel Nahmias, Lawrence mayor wrote in an email. “His commitment to fostering a sense of community, his inspiring teachings, and his genuine care for each and every person were hallmarks of his life’s work. Whether through his lectures, his personal guidance, or his acts of kindness, Rabbi Kalish exemplified the values we all strive to uphold.”
Kalish was a distinguished Torah scholar and gave Daf Yomi — page of the day — classes at Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Lawrence.
He left an impact on his family and on anyone who met and interacted with him, Daniel Kalish, his son, said. Kalish made everyone feel truly loved and appreciated treating each student as his own child, Daniel added.
“Every child, every einekel walked around with such pride, a pride in having a father and grandfather who was a servant of Hashem, a lomaid Torah, a lover of Yidden,” said Daniel Kalish.
Kalish was well known and respected not only in Lawrence, but also by the whole Five Towns community.
“As we grieve this loss, we also celebrate the profound impact Rabbi Kalish has had on our lives,” Nahmias wrote. “His legacy will continue to live on in the lessons he imparted and the example he set for us all.”
Kalish was dedicated to his life’s work as a Rabbi and educator, and to his wife, Beaty, who always beamed with pride about him, Daniel said.
During his own health struggle, Kalish remained worried about the soldiers in Israel and those impacted by the war overseas in his immediate community.
“Yet in his passing, as in his life, Rabbi Kalish continues to teach us,” said Rabbi Efrati, Rabbit at Harborview Beit Medrash. “For just as his last conscious moments were spent singing zmiros Shabbos, so too does his legacy continue to sing. In the hearts of his family, in the minds of his students, and in the deeds of all those who seek to emulate his extraordinary example.”
His wife Beaty Kalish, his son Daniel Kalish and daughters Malky Russ, Dasi Ben Izby, Shevy Strajcher and Ahuva Kaminetzky survive him.
A funeral service was held at Harborview Beit Medrash in Lawrence on Nov. 17.
