By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — One of the mystical traditions of Judaism is that a person’s soul remains close to the body until the 30th day after death, when it departs for the next world.
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, San Diego Hebrew Day School observed the 30th day following the passing of 99-year-old toy and game designer Reuben Klamer. His retirement was enlivened by the special relationship he had developed with the K-8 Orthodox school.
Known especially as the modernizer of the popular board game “The Game of Life” (which Milton Bradley created in 1860), Klamer was a multi-talented engineer, businessman, and marketer credited with creating over 200 toys. They ranged from Moon Rocks and a special Hula Hoop, created for Art Linkletter, popular host of television’s “Kids Say the Darndest Things” to a phaser rifle for “Star Trek” at the request of its creator Gene Roddenberry.
Dr. Dennis Goodman, a cardiologist who had treated Klamer for more than 30 years and became his friend, introduced the inventor to Hebrew Day School, which emphasizes not only secular and Judaic studies but also places great emphasis on ethical living, known in Hebrew as middot.
Moved by what he saw, Klamer told Goodman and Head of School Rabbi Simcha Weiser that he wanted to be involved. He helped to create for the school the Reuben Klamer Game of Life Youth Leadership Program which, according to Estelle Workman, the school’s director of operations, “developed presentation skills, planning and team building skills, trust-building activities, brainstorming activities to support innovation and creativity [and] listening skills and the ability to relate to all people.”
One example of the programming came in 2013 with the inauguration of the A.C.E. Community Service Program- Day of Volunteerism in response to then President Barack Obama’s call for a National Day of Community Service. A.C.E. stood for Achieving Chesed [Kindness] and Excellence.
Students from Hebrew Day fanned out to four activities. One group went to Seacrest Village Retirement Community in Encinitas to spend time with seniors. Two groups went to the Lawrence Family JCC, where one shelved books and did other tasks at the Astor Judaica Library, while the other spent time helping at the Nierman Preschool, assisting in activities to celebrate Tu B’Shevat (the birthday of the trees). A fourth group of students remained at Hebrew Day School, helping to maintain physical structures in the library and in the prayer hall.
At the school assembly on Wednesday to bid Klamer’s spirit a safe journey to the next world, Rabbi Weiser told a story from the Talmud about a certain rabbi in ancient Israel who was walking through the village market place when he came to understand that the Prophet Eliyahu [Elijah] was walking alongside him. The rabbi asked Elijah who among people in the marketplace would earn a place in the world to come? Would it be this person, known for his kindness, or perhaps that person, who is a teacher? Elijah pointed to two men who were known as jokers. They would tell jokes to people to make them smile; or if they saw people arguing, they would try to resolve the argument in a way that left both disputants happy. Elijah said it was not big rabbis, nor great scholars, but those who tried to bring happiness to others’ lives, who assuredly would earn a place in the next world.
Rabbi Weiser said Reuben Klamer was such a person. “At age 99 he was less active, but he was no less involved in looking everyone in the face, and asking ‘Is everybody happy? Is there something I can do to make someone more comfortable?'”
Dr. Goodman said that his good friend Reuben Klamer embodied six important attributes. 1) An amazing, positive attitude. 2) Gratitude for everything he did or received. 3) Kindness. 4) Compassion. 5) Incredible integrity. 6) Generosity of spirit.
“No matter how well you do in school, think about how you treat other people,” Goodman advised the assembled students. “And think about Reuben!”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com