A Personal Reflection on the Life and Work of Menahem Schmelzer (1934–2022)

Like the Heavens in their breadth, like the Earth in its depth, The mind of kings-unfathomable" (Proverbs 25:3) Amid the long and horrible years of the Shoah, scholars of Jewish history and culture continued to produce.I have often wondered how they, and so many others, managed to research and write at such a time.Loss, especially unexpected and undeserved, can rob the spirit, muddle the mind, and inhibit ability.Yet perseverance-a rejection of despair-is an integral part of Jewish history, one that continues to infuse our own era as it has for centuries and millennia.