If you want a role model of passionate involvement in communal affairs and the issues that animate Jewish life, you want to get to know Max Wisotsky.
He was born and raised in New York’s Lower East Side during the Depression, one of four children. He attended the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva and public elementary and high schools, then the City College of New York, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree; the University of Connecticut, where he earned a master’s; and Penn State, where he obtained a Ph.D. He also served in the U.S. Army.
He married Honey in 1954, and in 1964 they moved to Highland Park, where they raised three children—Elise, Marc and Dan. Max worked at Exxon Research Center in Linden for 30 years as a research chemist, where he received 100 patents worldwide, including one that won Exxon Chemical’s Most Valuable Patent of Year Award in 1986. Honey worked in the office at The Moriah School and Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva (RPRY) for 37 years.
Max retired in 1994 and started what he calls “my much more rewarding and amazing second career” of actively helping raise their nine grandchildren who lived nearby. Max and Honey now have two great-grandchildren.
Max is a Renaissance man, with many diverse interests. He obtained a pilot license in 1987 and owned his own airplane, flying out of Linden and Manville airports. He enjoys “fixer-upper” projects, home repairs, photography and travel, and served on the boards of RPRY, Jewish Federation and Congregation Ohr Torah in Edison. Max and Honey were honored at Israel Bonds’ dinner in 2008 and at Congregation Ohr Torah’s annual dinner in 2015.
In his later years he has begun an accelerated Daf Yomi program, where he learns three daf a day instead of one, so that he can finish the Daf Yomi cycle in about two and a half years instead of seven. He calls it “Chap-a-Daf.”
One of Max’s signature forms of communal involvement is writing thoughtful letters to a variety of prominent news outlets, many of which get published. To date he has a total of about 140 letters published in various outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Post, the Star Ledger, New Jersey Jewish News, The Jewish Press, and 48 letters in The Jewish Link.
He says: “Since coming into our area, The Jewish Link has been like a family newspaper. Besides my own letters, the paper has also published letters from my son (Dan), grandson (Coby) and brother (David). In addition to the letters to the editor, I also enjoy reading the editorials, news items, columns about our local area activities, and features like Ben Rothke’s outstanding book reviews, and anything Moshe Kinderlehrer writes. I’m a great fan of his.”
By Harry Glazer
