Dr. Daniel Rettberg, z"l

I was so sad to hear that one of my mentors at HUC, Dr. Daniel Rettberg, lost his battle to cancer yesterday at the relatively young age of 61.  Dan was the Rare Book Librarian, and was that rare person who not only loved books, but was passionate about sharing that love with everyone he met.  An extremely well-educated Orthodox Jew, it seemed as though every time I came into the library, he had something new to show me about which I knew nothing: an article, a book he'd found, or a reference that he thought I might be interested in.

He co-taught a class on Masoretic Text with Dr. David Weisberg, a Bible professor, held in the Rare Book Room itself, and for my final paper I did a comparative study of the scriptural style of 17th century Hebrew manuscripts from Persia, Yemen, and Kei-feng, China, looking for the liturgical origins of the Kei-feng works.  It was extremely detailed, painstaking work, comparing the millimeters of border areas in the text, analyzing the angle of a letter's side slant, and trying to determine if the ink had been penned with a quill or a reed based on the thickness of the lines.  Everyone thought I was crazy but Dan - he helped me figure out the actual methods to conduct my research, supplied all the physical tools, and literally guided me through the back stacks of the RBR so that we could get the exact texts I needed.  I never would have completed that paper - or really, even become interested in the topic - without his influence.  

At one point with Dan's encouragement I even applied for a scholarship to go to a Rare Book School conference, and Dan was all set to go with me - I can't remember now why I didn't go (maybe I was too pregnant with Ari?), but he was so wonderful all the way, and he shared all this great information from the sessions with me when he got back.

All in all, he was a fantastic teacher, a kind and genuine friend, and a warm, caring man.  He understood the part of me that is fascinated by old books and bookbinding and fonts, to an extent that no one else ever has.  The library won't be the same without him, and he will be greatly missed.  May his memory be a blessing.