R.I.P Judge Gil Rabin
People would tell me all the time, ‘I had Jury Service and you will never guess who I ran into. (Judge) Gil Rabin from Yonkers.’ I attended the funeral service for Judge Gil on Tuesday morning at Riverside Funeral Home. The place was packed as it should be. Before I get into some of the beautiful memories of Gil, I want to tell you how you can best remember Gil whether you knew him or not.
After his retirement as Chief Judge for the Yonkers City Courts, Gil was the guy in charge of Jury selection and much of the Jury process in Westchester County for many years. We constantly hear complaints that the reason why so many criminals are running through our streets is because of backups in the Court System. The backups are caused by you guessed it..Covid. People are turning down Jury Service and getting medical excuses in record numbers out of fear of catching the coronavirus.
I spoke to several judges at Gil’s funeral (my friend Chief Judge Janet DiFiore unfortunately was not there) and I was told that ever so slowly the courts have put into place procedures to keep Judges, their staffs and most importantly jurors safe from contracting or being in a situation where they could catch the coronavirus. The 6 foot distance rule has recently been changed to 3 feet as it has in schools and many other situations.
Want to remember Judge Gil Rabin? Want to keep America safe. Next time you get called to Jury Duty, go! It’s your civic duty. We live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If the Jury system which Gil so heartily respected and managed brilliantly can’t function, don’t expect Crime numbers to go down or our Civil Courts to operate efficiently. And if there should be anything that makes you feel unsafe, you raise your hand, you ask to speak privately to the judge and you voice your complaint. If things don’t improve you walk out of the courthouse and tell them that this columnist from WESTCHESTER Rising Newspapers told you to do so.
When one mentions Gil, one thinks of Gil and Zita, his beloved wife who passed away in 2016. They were an inseparable couple. I would run into them having dinner at Charlie Brown’s on Central Avenue. With close friends they did so much for the hearing impaired as their youngest daughter, Marni was born with a hearing impairment. One of Marni’s first jobs was working for me in a summer youth employment program I ran. She was an exemplary worker!
Gil was remembered by family and friends including the former Rabbi of Lincoln Park Jewish Center, Rabbi Solomon Sternstein’s son, also a Rabbi. Everyone remembered Gil smoking a pipe. When he did it in a private room at the Courthouse, the head judge at the time got complaints. But Gil and the pipe were inseparable. Not much the Chief Judge could do.
He worked for the Court System at times for no pay when budgets were tight. Can’t ask a Jurist doing such important work pro bono to to give up a thing he enjoyed doing.
Rabbi Sternstein referred to Gil as a ‘Shul Mensch.’ This is someone always on call to help the synagogue in good times and times of need. Rabbi Sternstein and his father, longtime Rabbi at Lincoln Park Jewish Center as all who knew him valued his Gil’s advice, calmness, and the fact he was always willing to and would go out of his way to help others.
His daughter Jill talked about how her father wanted her to live life in the spirit of the law. He would always ask people what he could do for them. She joked that people who didn’t know about her fathers life could refer to the extensive, no expensive obituaries that ran in the Journal News and New York Times.
It’s amazing how in the newspaper business (except this distinguished weekly you are reading) they charge so much for obituaries. This tradition goes, sadly back a long time. That’s how the daily papers like the Journal News and the New York times stay afloat, reporting on the deceased. A sad state of affairs.
Jill, a gynecologist said that after her moms death she was charged with her dad’s health, brother Corey was charged with his legal affairs and her sister Marni handled the Human Resources side of things. She joked that every 99 year old man should have a gynecologist in charge of his medical affairs!
The funeral ended with a video of a most beautiful song sung by singer Jason Mraz. The theme of the song: Not a Sad Goodbye. It sure wasn’t a sad goodbye to Judge Gill Rabin 3 months before he turned 100 years young. I will always remember his kind smile and Zita’s warm greetings. I will remember our briefs chats about life and of course things Yonkers, a city he loved.
Honorable Justice Gil Rabin. He, Too was Yonkers, Westchester, a lover of public service, a true gentle man and a friend to me and so many others. His wit and wisdom will be missed!
My Friend Congressman Bowman
I read on our informative website, yonkerstimes.com that Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a man I have sharply criticized in this newspaper more than any other politician was having a Town Hall Forum at Mt. St. Vincent College with the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. It said nothing about registering in advance or press information, so I just showed up early.
Despite the fact that I was not on the official list his kind and sharply dressed aide saw me, said we know who you are and brought me into the press area easily filled with 50-75 journalists including cameramen with their video equipment, photographers with their long lenses, and reporters with computers and phone cameras. I took a seat at the head of several long banquet tables.
The Congressman walks in, says hello to the journalists, introduces one of his students from the day he was a Principal, sees me from afar, says, ‘Eric Schoen’ and embraces me like a long lost brother telling me he was so glad to meet me. He didn’t remember that I met him at a fundraiser, he was standing by himself, I introduced myself to him, he told me he was running against my long time friend Eliot Engel, and I didn’t laugh out loud but indicated my amusement at his choice of office to run for.
As they say, the rest is history. I would have liked to have seen a Town Hall Forum with the intelligent Mount St. Vincent students asking him unfiltered questions, but that was not the case. Aides brought questions to the Congressman and Speaker on topics from the economy to Ukraine, everything sort of pre planned or orchestrated. Those in attendance had apparently been vetted. A forum with diverse questions from students. That’s what I expected.
My colleague David Propper from the Journal News asked Speaker Pelosi the question sitting on the tip of my tongue. He said many people in the Westchester and Bronx district that Congressman Bowman represents were unhappy with his vote against the Infrastructure Bill, a bill that would fix our pothole laden roads, crumbling bridges and infrastructure falling apart like Humpty Dumpty falling down over the wall. She said clearly she too was unhappy with his vote against the infrastructure bill. That was music to my ears, very sad music indeed.
Not many Yonkersites were at the event. Legislator Chris Johnson and his lovely guest, Councilperson Shanae Williams, former Councilpersons Symra Brandon and Robert Stauf were present as was a close supporter of the Congressman, activist Eileen O’Connor. Our Mount Vernon Neighbor and friend Ruth Hassell Thompson was also introduced. Mayor Spano, the guardian of Yonkers was not there. Unfortunate. Apparently at a recent event the Congressman would not shake Mayor Spano’s hand, I truly hope Jamaal gets over the Spano is racist thing!
So what does this mean. Am I changing my opinion on the Congressman. No. Do I feel he should be elected in his new District? No. Did his vote against the Infrastructure Bill take away good Union jobs from black, brown and white people. Yes it did. But his warm welcome and kind staff certainly showed a different side of him than I expected, and it was refreshing!
In conclusion, ROB ASTORINO take down those campaign signs which are illegal and on public property and are sign pollution Yonkersites and Westchesterites don’t want to see!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen on the Westchester Rising Radio Show alternating Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, WVOX.com click listen or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
