A Life in Parables and Poetry: Mishael Maswari Caspi

It is said that the greatest Mitzvah or good deed is to carry the coffin or bier on which a departed friend lies; the reason being that that departed friend cannot return the favor or honor. A modified version of this Mitzvah is employed by academics; it takes the form of a memorial volume in honor and memory of a departed academic who was most effective and beloved during his or her career. Thus, this memorial volume, dedicated to the honored memory of Professor Mishael Maswari Caspi, is just such a Mitzvah. The essays in this volume are of first class academic worth; a small digression of the norm of their contents being totally objective is that they were crafted with the addition of two emotions not found in academic works: great love and respect. Professor Caspi subscribed to the view that the greatest gift a former student or colleague could give to a professor was a piece of his or her critical mind. The fruit of some of those critical minds are enshrined within the covers of this memorial volume. The reader will return often to this volume and its special morphology crafted in honor of an accomplished scholar, pedagogue, poet, and Mensch. He tasked us before his departure to never become slack in our efforts to advance scholarship, but to never attempt to achieve this end through academic dictatorship. Misha remains in our memory forever. z”lThese; however, are not the only gifts that this volume contains. There are a number of reflections herein that, combined, provide another form of Mitzvah: that of personal experience with Professor Caspi, and reveal a side of him that would never be reflected in a well-crafted, academic essay in his honor. The combination has produced a Mitzvah Gdolah (a great deed). The reader will return often to this volume and its special morphology crafted in honor of an accomplished scholar, pedagogue, poet, and Mensch. He tasked us before his departure to never become slack in our efforts to advance scholarship, but to never attempt to achieve this end through academic dictatorship. Misha remains in our memory forever. ‘z’l‘