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Professor Benny Kraut, revered professor and mentor from the Jewish studies department, passed away in September.
The beloved member of the Queens College community passed away on Friday, Sept. 26, after collapsing on Sept. 19 during a baseball game, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a Jewish newswire.
Kraut had been teaching at QC for over a decade. It was in 1998 that Kraut joined the history department. He then went on to serve as the director of the Jewish studies program and Center for Jewish Studies until 2006.
"I was privileged to have studied with professor Kraut during my time at Queens College," said Talia Katz, a former student who represented Kraut's former students at his memorial in September.
She said that when she took his "History and Religion - Jewish Responses to Historical Suffering" course, it was the most difficult course she had enrolled in, but it changed her life.
"He demanded that we challenge ourselves, that we extend ourselves to the fullest capacity and that we tax our minds and emotions," said Katz.
"What made professor Kraut truly exceptional as a teacher was his capacity to give and share himself with his students," Katz added.
She said Kraut stayed true to his Jewish culture and roots in the classroom.
"His philosophies reinforced in me a belief in the power of human will and the dignity of man," Katz said.
Katz remembered Kraut making one statement she believed that demonstrated his overall character: "I try to share my enthusiasm with my students and to imbue them with that same passion and with an appreciation for how an analytically rigorous academic approach to Jewish ideas and perspectives can resonate in their lives."
"I will always remember his warm personality, charisma and, of course, his wit," said Nicole Iny, another former student of Kraut.
"I find it hard to describe how special Benny was," said Pat Tortorici, secretary of the Jewish studies department.
She said that she missed his presence around the office.
"Benny was ready to answer your questions and solve any problems that arose," she said, on the topic of Kraut's giving nature.
"From my first contact with him until my last, I saw Benny as an educator whose life, as an example, embodied the best that academia can offer," said Eric Miller, another student who took a course with Kraut in 2003.
"After spending a number of years in Israel, I returned to New York to help my aging parents," said Miller.
"His support was always positive and personal, with a truly caring spirit whenever I approached him, depsite his very heavy workload as head of the Jewish Studies Center and department," Miller said.
Miller worked with Holocaust archives in Israel and even though he thought he was familiar with subject, Miller said, "I found Benny's instruction insightful and passionate, adding new perspectives to knowledge that I already had."
"As a son of Holocaust survivors, Benny was able to understand and convey the urgency of a proper understanding of the implications of the Holocaust not just for Jews, but for society as a whole," said Miller.
Kraut wrote both modern- and American-Jewish history and was formerly the editor of book reviews for American Jewish History.
Kraut penned three books, over three dozen scholarly essays and book chapters and nearly 150 book reviews.
In 1985, Kraut co-edited Jews and the Founding of the Republic with Samuel Joseph and Jonathan D. Sarna.
He was working on his latest project on Yavneh, the National Jewish Religious Students Association, at the time of his death.
The Jewish studies program and Center for Jewish Studies at QC described Kraut as "a beloved teacher and colleague" who "inspired all with his intellectual brilliance, unflagging energy, devilish humor and tender compassion."
Kraut is survived by his wife, Penina, his children, Racheli (Mordy) Hackel, Yehuda and Yosefa, and his grandchildren, Elisheva and Rena.
A renowned scholar of Jewish history, Benny earned the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004.
Kraut was the professor emeritus of Judaic studies at the University of Cincinnati and received his master's degree and doctorate from Brandeis University.
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