Ursula Merkin (left) presents
award to Rabbi Dr. Sol and
Mrs. Roth. | RE’UTH
No Need For Compliments
To Honor Rabbi Sol Roth By Tim Boxer  E’UTH board chair Ursula Merkin decided to dispense with the usual platitudes that precede the presentation of an award. Instead, at the organization’s annual dinner at New York’s Pierre Hotel, she honored Rabbi Sol Roth of Fifth Avenue Synagogue by recalling how her late husband, philanthropist Hermann Merkin, was so devoted to the rabbi that he would never miss his Monday night Talmud class.
“He went even when he was confined to his wheelchair,” she said. Roth’s cheering section included Cantor Joseph Malovany, David Yagoda, Ingeborg Rennert, Re’uth president Rosa Strygler and emcee Sy Syms. Syms was the only guest who came in a tuxedo. ”Why not? I sell them!” Avi Ohry told how he became director of rehabilitative medicine at Re’uth Medical Center of Lichtenstadter Hospital in Tel Aviv. He was a doctor stationed at the Suez Canal when the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973. 
Jennifer Roth (from left), senior vice
president of Sotheby’s New York,
Re’uth president Rosa Strygler and
Rivka Saker, managing director of
Sotheby’s Tel Aviv. | Surrounded by Egyptians, Ohry and his 23 men fought a fierce battle. After four days, only eight were left alive, and taken prisoner. “How I survived was a miracle to me,” Ohry said. “Some of my friends wanted to commit suicide but I persuaded them not to.” Although badly injured, he treated his wounded comrades. He had to amputate the arm of his commander. “He died in my arms two days later,” Ohry said. “I was not prepared for that.” Upon his return home, he went into rehabilitative medicine for brain-injured patients. “At Re’uth,” he said, “we treated the young people from the terrorist attack on the Dolphinarium disco.” | 
