Rabbi Ronald (Ronnie) Greenwald – Torah educator, international hostage negotiator, political advisor, and much more – passed away in Florida this week at the age of 82. His funeral is scheduled to begin in Monsey on Wednesday evening, and he will be buried in Israel.
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) released a statement of mourning, saying, “I am crying today; the Jewish People have lost a giant. Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald was one of the most special individuals that G-d put onto this world. He loved all Jews totally, and was non-judgmental.”
Rabbi Greenwald is survived by his wife Miriam and six sons and daughters, many of whom are renowned educators in their own right, and many grandchildren.
Rabbi Greenwald served as President Richard Nixon’s presidential liaison to the Jewish community, lobbied on behalf of the Torah Umesorah organization for Jewish day schools in the United States, was a community activist, directed a high school for girls in Monsey and the Sternberg summer camp, and helped negotiate the freedom of Natan Sharansky and other prisoners and hostages.
He reportedly made 25 trips to East Germany in the framework of his efforts to free Sharansky, who was finally allowed to leave for Israel in 1986 after nine years in Soviet prison.
He was also renowned for his enthusiastic work for child abuse prevention and supporting victims of abuse whose lives had fallen apart.
The Journal News quoted friends of the deceased as saying he fought hard for Jewish causes but also used his negotiating skills and warm personality to help people. The renowned rabbinic decisor Rabbi Dovid Cohen of Brooklyn said Greenwald worked tirelessly for Jewish people and Israel. “If there was a problem, he did whatever he could. He did a tremendous amount of good things for Israel.”
Greenwald met with kings, presidents, mobsters, spies, and more. The scores of prisoners and captives whose release he worked for included Jonathan Pollard, Israeli citizen Miron Markus whose plane cash-landed in Mozambique, Soviet refusenik Vladimir Raiz, Shabtai Kalmanovitch, and even Lori Berenson.
