When Ezra’s brother David Cornman went to Israel for a year after graduating High School, upon a Rabbi’s advice, David made a commitment to make a change & not watch movies for 2 months to improve himself religiously & concentrate on his studies. Soon after, David met Rabbi Simcha, the son of revered Rabbi Sheinberg who was known throughout the world as “The Tzizit Rabbi” for handing out Tzizit to men in an effort to get them to carry on this mitzvah. When David asked the Rabbi’s son for a pair of his father’s Tziztit he was told that they no longer give them out. David could not get this tzizit out of his mind, and tried tracking down the Rabbi Simcha for weeks & weeks, constantly trying to reach him & never giving up. One day he finally had enough & was about to give up but tried the Rabbi one last time & miraculously reached him & asked for the Tzizit. He said he had one pair of his father’s tzizit left & was leaving to go to America in a half hour & if he wanted it he had to come & get them immediately. He somehow found his way there by jumping on the back of someone’s moped & thanks to his persistence at long last he found himself with a pair of Rabbi Sheinberg’s special Tzizit! Ironically the day he received it was exactly 2 months to the day he had had made the commitment!
Inspired by his own desire to wear the Tzizit, David wondered how he could possibly get more of his friends to wear Tzizit every day. One of the reasons men wear tzizit is to remind themselves that Hashem is part of our lives every moment of every day. Wearing Tzizit is symbolic to doing all 613 mitzvot! David called up a relative at the company Jacque Moret & asked him to manufacture & send him a box of Tzizit so David can hand them out to his friends. They generously donated them, and David handed them out to friends as he retold his amazing Rabbi Simcha Tzizit story, hoping it would motivate them to wear it. One day, after David had handed out Tzizit to one particular boy, the boy wore it home and his father admired it. He promptly called up Joey & asked for a box as well. This was the start of a newfound Tzizit enthusiasm for many community men!
When our community suffered the tragic loss of Ezra Cornman A’H this past summer, the pace of the Tzizit frenzy took on even more steam! As people paid respects, hundreds of Tzizit were delivered & being handed out each day of the Shiva, asking men & boys to please wear the Tzizit & recite a prayer on it “lillul nishmat Ezra”. Then the most amazing thing happened. Rabbi Simcha heard about Ezra’s passing & came all the way to Jersey to pay his respects in person. He burst into tears when he arrived & what he said next was chilling. “My whole life I watched my father struggle to get men to wear tzizit, and if he was lucky he was able to get a few hundred men to wear it, but here it’s only been a few days since Ezra passed away & this 12 year old boy in just a few days was able to accomplish what took my father his entire lifetime! What he has done is miniscule in comparison to what Ezra has done to people in such short a time!!”
It’s also important to note, that right after Ezra’s tragic accident when Ezra was lying in the hospital bed, David sent someone to find & get his precious Tzizit which he put on Ezra in his final hours. David’s hope was that this special Tzizit, which was of such value to him, would help his dear brother. The Rabbis knew how important this particular pair of Tzizit was to David & informed him that Halakhah dictated that Ezra must be buried in the Tzizit if he took his last breath wearing it. David thought, and decided to leave his precious pair of Tzizit with his beloved brother Ezra.
Weeks after the Cornman’s loss, a young boy Nathan Tawil (son of Rozie & Jacob), called up Caroline, Ezra’s mother, & asked if he can be a part of helping to get yet even more community boys to wear Tzizit. “I felt something more had to be done for Ezra,” exclaimed Nathan. “The amazing thing about the Jewish people is that we act as brothers who will always help out no matter who you are. Knowing this I decided to try and get a few pairs of tzizit with Ezra’s name on it on some boys to help the zechut of this amazing child.” The determination and energy of Nathan & Mrs. Cornman quickly turned this small idea into a huge vision. A distribution chain was set up to get free Tzizit into all yeshivas, including Shaare Torah, YDE, Magen David, Flatbush, Or Hatorah and Magen Abraham. “All the boys were so eager to wear their brand new tzizit, smiles from ear to ear!” said Nathan. “ It was amazing to see everyone ecstatic to help a fellow brother!”
The Cornman family is grateful to everyone for their support & their yearning to elevate Ezra’s Neshama. They are continuously touched by the warmth & love shown by all. The Cornmans invite feedback & thought via email RememberEzraCornman@gmail.com. All are welcome to visit them on Facebook at Ezra Cornman Foundation to see all the wonderful accomplishments of their newly established Bar Mitzvah Foundation are doing.
This article pertains to the legacy of Ezra Cornman A”H. While aimed to inspire others to do mitzvot in Ezra’s name to perpetuate his Neshama, it also shows how truly wonderful our community members are.
