Introductory note: I had the honor and privilege last week to deliver a hesped on behalf of our community at the levaya of Adam Gussen. I decided to publish it in this week’s Jewish Link and I hope it did him some justice and that his wife Shari, and his children Molly and Sidney, will always remember how much we appreciated them lending him to us for so long. Below is the hesped.

I am humbled and feel unworthy to be up here delivering a hesped for my dear friend, our dear friend, neighbor, mentor and deputy mayor Adam Gussen. I ask for mechila from Adam on behalf of myself, my family and everyone here for every time we disagreed with him and he told us we were wrong. When I spoke about Adam at the last Teaneck Council meeting, I mentioned that he taught me one extremely valuable lesson: that we can agree to disagree. And that was important, because Adam in his quest to take life to his fullest, made sure he knew every detail of anything he would get involved with. So arguing was generally futile.

I will make my comments short as the heavens are blessed with the reopening of Café 482. Adam always spent midweek working on his dough ahead of his Friday baking and I’m sure he’s quite anxious to get back to work. Adam—you finally are getting the commercial oven you talked about and yearned for for years.

I didn’t sleep last night and spent the time reading all the posts written by his friends. Standing here, there is little I can add. Everyone here knew his bigger-than-life personality and his eagerness to welcome new people to the neighborhood, not just with an intro but with an invite to come over to his house after shul for a kiddush (gathering to eat after services). Many went. Few left. Adam was the bartender in Cheers, and Shaare Tefillah (our temple) was his bar.

Adam joined our shul when we were still in Lincoln Place and immediately took up residence in the kitchen. He held court there, and then downstairs in our new building thereafter, for over 15 years. People would sometimes ask me why we, as shul leadership, didn’t ask them to please go into the sanctuary and daven. The answer was simple—the entire shul was his sanctuary. For new neighbors coming into a strange building not knowing anyone, having Adam downstairs by the coat room and kitchen was by far much more important to him, to them, and to us as a community

Adam and I had our weekly therapy sessions in the kitchen as we prepped kiddush for years. I often had to remind him to focus on food prep while he talked, and I had to shoo off others by telling them not to talk to the staff. His goal was to master everything he tried to do, not just the how but the why. The understanding of the process, whether it be the halachot of matzah baking or how to best let the dough rise. It was in these sessions that we spoke about the harder parts of life and the rare times he was unsuccessful. His loss in the 2014 council race hurt him, hurt this very proud man, but he was able to turn it around for good and spend the time on new ventures. Same for Congress, when he was sitting alone with two to three of us in a hotel room in Saddle Brook watching the results come in. He was so excited to go down to Washington, sleep on a relative’s couch, and represent his people. It took him a while to shake it off, but everyone here knows it was for the better.

I will leave off with an almost weekly occurrence that took place during Café 482’s heyday. Many people heard about him and the great product reviews of his food. But one question people always asked me: What was the hashgacha? Can we trust him? My response, almost instantly, was to explain that Adam didn’t just follow the rules, but more importantly, understood the rules, the reason behind them, and the reasons behind those reasons. Adam had no formal yeshiva/Jewish education but went the extra distance to excel in his learning of the halachot of what he worked on. One can only imagine what it would have been like being in a Gemara shiur growing up with him. God help his rebbeim.

Last memory to share—I remember our walks to the hospitals, both the last few months as well as in his prior illness a decade ago. What is the true definition of a foodie? Adam Gussen having his condiment bag at the side of his bed, to properly season his hospital food. I will never look at a sriracha packet again in my life without that memory

With that dear friend, it’s time to say goodbye. My favorite part of my hard weeks, by far, is making the Hamotzi on the challah Friday night and then having my wife’s chicken matzah ball soup. It truly starts the weekend. Our family would always compare every challah we have to that of Adam’s and his turmeric-colored ones.

This week, this Shabbos, our challahs will bring back the memories of Adam as they will every week going forward but will be mixed with our tears as we cry for a life cut way too short.

To those in heaven, prepare to eat well. First 10 souls will get challah this Friday. Pick up any time you want. The door to heaven is opened.