Last week Frank Hall died. As a former mayor of Teaneck, he was a true friend of the Jewish community, although most people who remember his efforts on our behalf are no longer around. When Bnai Yeshurun was vandalized with a swastika in 1978, Mayor Hall publicly expressed his outrage at such a desecration. His words were “Anyone who expresses hate towards my brother expresses his hate to me also, and this will not be tolerated.” But he did much more. In the late 1970s, Teaneck was desperately trying to build a mikvah near the Bnai Yeshurun site but could neither get the land nor the board of adjustment approval to do so. As mayor, Frank Hall single-handedly came up with the idea of using a township-owned parcel of land between Temple Emeth and the Bergenfield border to be sold to the Jewish community for the express purpose of building a mikvah. His reasoning was—who is going to object? Certainly not Temple Emeth (which has graciously let mikvah patrons use their parking lot!) and the people of Bergenfield don’t have a say with respect to Teaneck’s land usage.
I got to know him after I read that he served with the 3rd Marine Division in WWII and told him about my experiences with that unit in Vietnam as their Jewish Chaplain. When the park alongside Windsor Road was dedicated in his honor, he asked me to give the invocation—an honor which I will never forget.
May his memory be a blessing.
Frank Breslau
Teaneck
