“I started studying Torah every day,” recalled Miedema. “He told me to pray for clarity. The first time I baked challah he put the picture on his Facebook page. I felt so honored.”
Highland Park resident Michael Greenberg was another Facebook protégé. Introduced by a friend who realized that they both shared a love of puns, Greenberg and Dovid connected and as Greenberg explored his own religiosity, Dovid was there to answer the inevitable questions and to offer an uplifting word.
“He never judged or labeled anyone or said anything negative about anyone else if they were doing something wrong,” said Greenberg. “He never pushed Orthodoxy. When I told him that I left my liberal synagogue and had joined a Modern Orthodox one, his response was ‘Welcome home.’”
Greenberg prepared his first Shabbos meal just two weeks ago.
“When I told him what I was doing he said, ‘You have to post a picture of the table after Shabbos,’” said Greenberg.
Greenberg spoke with Dovid after Shabbos, just hours before his death, and told him that the meal had gone well.
“He told me he was running out to learn with his son but would talk to me tomorrow,” said Greenberg.
He never got to share his Shabbos table pictures with Dovid.
“It was just one of those things,” said Greenberg.
Rabbi Benzion Klatzko of Shabbat.com noted that Dovid adopted his organization as his very own.
“He believed in Shabbat.com so much that he would make graphics and video promotions just to get people to join,” said Rabbi Klatzko.
Dovid insisted that Rabbi Klatzko spend a Shabbos as a guest speaker in his hometown of Staten Island.
“There was no saying no to Dovid,” he recalled. “He had me speaking three times at the Young Israel. In the beginning I think they were just humoring him, but at the end they invited me back.”
Dovid took his knack for becoming part of the family seriously.
“We were making a wedding and everything was hectic,” said Rabbi Klatzko. “He came to help in our house on the day of the wedding and helped us get out the door and to the wedding hall.”
Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, author of Jew Got Questions?, admitted that he was “in awe” of Dovid.
“He was the most optimistic person you ever met,” observed Rabbi Hajioff. “Always happy, always upbeat. You never heard a bad word coming out of his mouth about anyone or anything.”
Rabbi Hajioff was at the American Jewish Outreach Program convention that Dovid had hoped to attend when the tragic crash took place.
“He had heard that someone had sponsored 500 books to hand out to secular college students and he told me, ‘I want some. Are you going to be at AJOP? Bring books for me.’”
Rabbi Hajioff brought 25 books to the convention for Dovid to distribute to his students. Sadly, Dovid died in a two-car collision on icy roads, never making it to the convention.
“His heart and soul were dedicated to the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Yitzchok Lowenbraun, national director of the AJOP. “He loved doing good for his fellow Jew and bringing them closer to Torah. We are all shattered by this tragic and sudden loss.”
Despite his efforts on behalf of others, Dovid always made family his number one priority. “He was super involved parent,” said one close friend. “He went to almost every PTA, he drove his girls to play practice and picked them up too. He wasn’t only about chesed; he was an amazing father.”
While Dovid’s death leaves a tremendous void, the life that he led should inspire us all to remember that it is a big heart, not a big bank account, that gives each of us the ability to maximize our potential and really make a difference in this world.