:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/QT6LWGQLDZCJNA4Q3EOVFHI2UM.JPG)
Sam Sachs was nervous.
The pews were filled with members of the congregation, and more than a hundred more watched online. Since COVID, this was the biggest in-person crowd at the Ohef Sholom Temple.
It was the largest group for which the 13-year-old had played. And the first full congregation service without his mentor.
Sam stood in front of everyone, raised the ram’s horn to his mouth, and when the Cantor sang T’kiyah, he blew a loud and crisp first pitch. His shoulders relaxed; he would be fine.
“Our beloved late Marty is smiling down on us from heaven,” Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg said after Sam’s call to prayer.
Monday was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It is marked by the blowing of the shofar, and begins the 10 days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur. Sam took the place of his mentor, Marty Einhorn, as the new shofar blower, following Einhorn’s death from cancer. The shofar is a call to right action and righteous living according to Mandelberg, and Sam and Einhorn lived this way.
The two shared much in their short time together. Both faced cancer. Both found solace in service — and music.
Blowing the shofar is no easy feat, even on the plastic versions used to build the muscles in your lips, called an embouchure. But Sam was a natural from the first time he picked up a shofar at 3 years old, said his mother, Jenny Sachs.
“He could just blow it,” Jenny said. “It was pretty wild.”
Other children around Sam’s age tried to blow the shofar, but when Einhorn was shown a video of him belting pitches, he knew Sam was something special. Einhorn invited Sam to blow the shofar at the children’s service and took the boy under his wing.
At first, Sam could only blow one pitch. Higher ones take plenty of practice, but Sam was determined to learn. Einhorn gave him tips on how to strengthen his embouchure, what angles to hold the shofar and even advised him to pick up the trumpet when he turned 10. Einhorn also played the trumpet, and for decades would perform during the high holidays, along with blowing the shofar, at the synagogue.
Sam’s huge lung capacity worked in his favor. He could play and hold a note for a long period, a trait for which he would later be applauded.
“The fact that he finds that much breath and that much strength is astonishing,” Cantor Jennifer Rueben said.
About two years ago Sam began to feel sick. He was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia, a rare and aggressive cancer. The body over-produces T-cells, white blood cells that help fight infections. The cells do not work properly and make it difficult for the body’s immune system to function.
During treatment, the pandemic stressed an already stressful situation. Visitation was limited to comply with social distancing restrictions. Sam was in tremendous pain during treatment and was hospitalized in the intensive care unit or the oncology unit about nine times, but eventually, he rose from the hospital bed, ready to stretch his legs.
Sam saw many kids in the hospital fighting cancer and other diseases. He and his family started Sam’s Warriors, a charity to raise money so families can take time off from work to spend time with their ailing children. None of them need be alone.
“I feel if you don’t have someone there to cheer you on to get through it all with you, you kind of lose the will to fight,” Sam said.
He is now in what is called “maintenance,” where doctors are working to keep the cancer from returning. Sam takes chemotherapy pills every day and has blood work frequently. Things are looking up, but Sam contracted COVID-19 earlier this year and doctors are unsure if the aftereffects of the virus are influencing his cell count.
“We are just looking towards the finish line,” said his mother.
Sam’s mentor also was diagnosed with cancer around the same time. Einhorn would call frequently to ask how Sam and his family were doing and offer support.
“So there we were,” Sachs said. “All kind of muddling our way through the pandemic.”
Einhorn was not idle either while in the hospital. He was a lover of the R&B band Tower of Power and paid them to perform at the Atticus Theater in Norfolk to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in 2018. They raised about $33,000.
After his diagnosis, Einhorn still blew the shofar when he had the strength and continued to mentor Sam.
Sam remembers when he, Einhorn and other shofar blowers were allowed to go on the roof of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center and blow the shofar out over the world while families took pictures from below.
“We were just up there and got to blow the shofar, it was really funny,” Sam said.
Sach remembers a youth service where he and Einhorn and were co-shofar blowers. At the time, Sam could only blow one pitch and both tried to play as long as they could. Einhorn played several pitches, but tapped out in less than 30 seconds. Sam blew his note for about a full minute.
“Marty was really happy to give his applause to Sam, and the whole congregation thought it was so funny,” Sach said.
Weekend Scoop
Einhorn, 63, died on Feb. 18, 2021, after a yearlong battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, stressed by COVID-19. A graduate of the University of Virginia and lifelong fan, Einhorn returned home after college and founded Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer, an accounting firm in Norfolk.
He had a large extended family and is survived by his wife, Susan, and sons Will and Jay. Einhorn served in many roles in the Jewish community and was on the boards of 14 nonprofit organizations, including as president of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center.
When the shofar is blown, the congregation is called to prayer, and those who knew Einhorn felt inspired when he would sound his shofar.
Last week, the JCC dedicated a pavilion to Einhorn, and Sam was given the honor to play T’kiyah note. He took in a deep breath and released another incredibly long pitch for Einhorn.
Now, Sam is looking to the future. He wants to be a veterinary ophthalmologist because of his love for animals. Sam, who also likes to play golf, tennis and ski, practices the shofar every day and plans to continue to serve his congregation as the permanent shofar blower.
Einhorn and Sam embody the call to righteous living as the bearers of the shofar. On Yom Kippur, the final day of atonement, those who have passed are mourned, and Sam will, once again, stand in front of the congregation, his ram’s horn stylized with his Hebrew name and the Israeli flag in hand, and blow the shofar with Einhorn in his memory.
Everett Eaton, 262-902-7896, everett.eaton@virginiamedia.com