WHITE LAKE – The community of White Lake is mourning the loss of Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Fishbain, a spiritual leader known for his compassion and inclusivity that served for over 50 years in Sullivan County. 

Laid to rest last week in Monsey, NY, among hundreds of friends and family members, Fishbain had just celebrated his 99th birthday and is survived by widow Rebbetzin Sarah Rivkah, who moved to Sullivan County with Fishbain in the early 1970s. 

Rabbi Fishbain served as Rabbi in Congregation Anshei Hurleyville until the tragic death of a colleague who served as rabbi in the White Lake Synagogue. The White Lake Congregation, inspired by Fishbain’s oratory skills, hired him as the new Rabbi of their synagogue in 1972.

“Rabbi and Rebbetzin Fishbain raised a large family in White Lake, and touched the lives of thousands of people,” said Joseph Kolakowski, who served as assistant rabbi to Fishbain since 2011. “Rabbi Fishbain was also well-loved by people of various backgrounds, not only the Jewish community, with strong and lasting friendships with many of the local town officials, especially former Bethel Town Supervisor Allan Scott and late former Bethel Highway Superintendent Linden Lilley.”

Fishbain’s friend Daniel Mayer remembered him for his kindness and ability to look past differences: “In the walls and ways of Rabbi Shmuel Fishbain [exclusion] was never the case. He breathed an air of brotherhood in his manner and in his mandate, that bespoke a combined dose of love and legacy to us all…. Regardless the advancing years, or the weather he’d have to brave in Upstate NY Sullivan County, he would tend to his flock faithfully—visiting the sick, comforting the recently bereaved, providing solace from grief or rejoicing in their successes as if they were his own.”

“My 35-year-old was 12 when our family spent our first summer in Kauneonga Lake,” recalled Fishbain’s friend Jay Rand. “My wife went to camp there in 1973. Unlike colonies or developments, the summer membership in a town synagogue is often made up of an eclectic group of homeowners, guests and some tourists. Rabbi Fishbain made each person feel like a regular, regardless of their level of observance.”