When he was five years old, Clifford Felder’s doctor told his parents he’d never finish school.

But the boy-genius hampered by debilitating social handicaps clawed his way through, rising to prominence as a crackerjack chemist and breaking through his invisible barriers to become a well-loved member of a very

special community by Binyamin Rose photos Family Archives Formulaf riendship

50 MISHPACHA 10 Av 5773 | July 17, 2013 MISHPACHA 51

“I don’t think he ever had a friend BENEATH THE SURFACE Chaim until he came here, but something Tzvi was tortured by his classmates, but his parents knew there was a diamond special happened in Rehovot inside the sometimes awkward exterior. Chaim Tzvi (Clifford), age 5 (right), with his 3-year-old brother Lloyd. “We were in the way he and the kehillah determined not to let him sink” came together”

The next year, as my mazel would have schoolmates taunted and teased him it, my turn came up again on Parshas mercilessly. Va’eira. This time I agreed to keep my As an adult, his condition often caused However, Chaim Tzvi became far more than the sum total of his profession- turn only if someone would agree to sit him to act more as a curious child than al accomplishments. He had an indomitable spirit, thanks in large part to the next to Chaim Tzvi and restrain him. Dr. Chaim Tzvi Felder, the top research devotion of his parents and a handful of teachers and friends along the way Rather than find someone else to read chemist at Rehovot’s Weizmann Insti- who were able to peer past the veneer of his social awkwardness, and discov- last minute, one congregant picked up tute. His handshake lasted a bit too long, ered his genius and his Jewish soul. Putting it all together, they found a special the gauntlet. That year, only one “whoa” he would shuckle even in normal conver- human being totally devoid of deceit and hypocrisy. came from Chaim Tzvi’s direction. sation, and ending that conversation of- Chaim Tzvi flourished in Rehovot. Thekehillah embraced him and loved, I thought I was doing the right thing ten required an act of diplomacy. All this not pitied him. by standing up for the shul’s decorum. despite the fact that Chaim Tzvi was bril- “I know this is a beautiful community but I assumed their relationship with When I made aliyah to Rehovot 20 Until 19 years later, when I heard about liant and his insights thought-provoking. Chaim Tzvi was all chesed,” said Carol Marlin, Chaim Tzvi’s aunt, on her re- years ago, the gabbaim in the shul I joined the hesped Rabbi Zev Leff delivered at Yet it was that childlike innocence that cent visit to Rehovot for the unveiling of his tombstone. “But everybody here immediately brought me into their rota- Beit Chatam for Chaim Tzvi, who was people who knew him best, and others assured me that it wasn’t chesed. It was true affection. I don’t think he ever tion of baalei korei to read the Torah on niftar this year at age 59. who befriended him, found engaging. had a friend until he came here, but something special happened in Rehovot Shabbos mornings. Rabbi Leff, who lectures regularly at Those who took the time to become his in the way he and the kehillah came together.” WOne of my turns fell on the Shabbos of Beit Chatam, recalled a shiur he once friend felt richly rewarded by the expe- Parshas Va’eira, which contains seven of gave regarding the deaths of Rabi Akiva’s rience and miss him terribly. Never say Never Carol became close to Chaim Tzvi, who grew up in the ten plagues. 24,000 students. Suddenly, a cry of “oy “There is no person I’ve ever known Fall River, Massachusetts, when the Felders moved into her home while As I read each new plague, one con- vey” came from the audience. “I looked who maximized his potential as much their house was being refurbished. Chaim Tzvi’s parents belonged to a gregant would interrupt, shouting out over and saw it was Chaim Tzvi,” said as Chaim Tzvi,” said his cousin Adam conservative synagogue, kept a kosher home, and his mother lit Shabbos “whoa!” Everyone would turn around Rabbi Leff. “I thought, Here I am giving Marlin, a Monsey resident. Marlin says candles. and chuckle a bit. Except for me. The this shiur and I’m not crying, but he’s say- he can count members of Congress and It was already apparent in his infancy that something was wrong. Most ba- other congregants at Beit Chatam — a ing ‘oy vey’ because the deaths of these other highly accomplished professionals bies cry when they want attention and stop when picked up, but Chaim Tzvi shul founded and frequented by native 24,000 talmidim actually affected him.” among his friends and acquaintances, was the opposite. “If you picked him up he would cry and when you put him English-speakers — were already used Chaim Tzvi Felder was a man with a but none compare to Chaim Tzvi in the down he would stop,” says Mrs. Marlin. “He was also a rocker and would bang to this sometimes “disruptive” congre- sensitive soul, at least partly shaped by way he profoundly impacted his com- his head against his crib.” gant, Chaim Tzvi (Clifford) Felder, and his own personal suffering. He had a con- munity, his chosen profession of science, “I remember going into his bedroom one time when he was baby and see- suffered his interruptions with amuse- dition that medical science today might and his family. ing his crib covered in blood,” says his mother, Louise Felder. “It was scary.” ment and tolerance. call Asperger’s, but as a child of the ’60s, Chaim Tzvi developed a model for the When the nursery school Chaim Tzvi attended sent him home for biting, his I found this to be a bit disconcerting. his symptoms defied diagnosis — with study of protein chemistry while working parents determined it was time to take him to a medical specialist in Boston Any baal korei will tell you that after the the exception of the doctor who told his at the Weizmann Institute that is fol- for tests. The doctor’s evaluation was grim. hours of preparation it takes to read a parents that their five-year-old son would lowed in major universities and research “He told us we had to accept the fact that, at best, he would never finish high parshah properly, any distraction can never finish high school. labs worldwide. The Institute valued him school and that we should institutionalize him,” recalls Mrs. Felder. She and throw off the concentration of even the Observing social norms was a ma- so highly it broke all of its time-honored her late husband, David, refused to accept the pessimistic diagnosis, recalling best-prepared reader. jor challenge for Chaim Tzvi, and his rules to grant tenure to this boy-genius. one of their first conversations after receiving the bad news.

52 MISHPACHA 10 Av 5773 | July 17, 2013 MISHPACHA 53 Friendship Formula

and graduated summa cum laude. Accept- Schuster. Once he discovered Chaim Tzvi was ed to the PhD programs at both Brandeis staying in a hotel in East Jerusalem, Rabbi and Iowa State, he chose Iowa State, mainly Schuster said, “no way, you’re coming back “In the early ’60s no one had because one of the professors he met during home with me!” tolerance for people with these types the interview process took a strong liking After an inspiring Shabbos in Jerusalem’s to this budding chemistry genius. Chaim Mattersdorf neighborhood, Chaim Tzvi re- of afflictions, and the public schools Tzvi was one step closer to his dream of the turned to the Kosel on Sunday for touring, Weizmann Institute. which he found to be a moving, even “exhila- didn’t want to deal with him” rating” experience. From Cloud Nine to Earth In “I felt as if [I was] on ‘cloud nine’ for weeks his autobiographical writings, which his afterwards, until I finally came back to myself. cousin Adam Marlin shared with Mish- Even my friends noticed the change,” he wrote. pacha, Chaim Tzvi mentions that he first Dramatic as this experience was, he was not “We said it’s not true,” said Mrs. Felder. “We knew he was very bright.” became interested in Israel during the ready to take the plunge toward observance, Mrs. Felder discovered just how bright on her second trip to the Boston specialist, Six Day War, when he was 14. nor did he find the environment at Iowa State when she got lost. “The doctor’s practice was at some little house on a side street. “I remember well, how the entire Jewish conducive to religious observance. I couldn’t remember how to get there, but without saying any words, Clifford di- community where I lived was glued to their That all changed during the summer of 1979, rected me. We were only there once before, but he remembered.” television sets day and night throughout the when Chaim Tzvi made his second trip to Is- Chaim Tzvi didn’t speak until he was five, but his mother says she knew he under- crisis. It was impossible to ignore it. The ex- rael, this time, to take that giant leap toward stood everything. Once he learned how to read, he became a bit of bookworm, says perience made a deep impression on me, an his lifelong dream of working at the Weizmann his brother Fred, who at 12 years his junior, recalls Chaim Tzvi as being “studious.” impression which was reinforced significant- Institute. He met there with Prof. Shneior “My father used to take Chaim Tzvi for a drive every weekend to keep him stim- ly during the Yom Kippur War several years Lifson of the Department of Chemical Physics. ulated, so he would become interested in other things, and not just his books,” later, while I was in college.” “It turned out that we had the most fasci- says Fred. LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE Chaim Tzvi made his first visit to Israel as nating discussion together, discussing various “I always knew he had a Mrs. Felder says those drives were not just confined to weekends. “My husband a graduate student at Iowa State, but it was a research interests,” wrote Chaim Tzvi. “Not special feeling for religion.” would take him for a ride whenever he had free time, to get him out of the house, Between Weizmann and the bit of a bumpy ride, as the airline cancelled only was he a most fascinating scientist to and talk to him. We were determined not to let him sink.” Beit Chatam community, his connecting flight out of Chicago. talk with, but he was also a deeply warm and For a while, the Felders gave Chaim Tzvi music lessons. When a family counselor sug- Chaim Tzvi finally found peace “My only hope to make my plane to Israel caring human being.” gested that performing in a recital might put too much pressure on him, they switched to a for his mind and his soul would be to go standby on the last flight that Chaim Tzvi’s application for a postdoctoral music teacher that did not hold recitals. would get me there on time. Only at the very fellowship was accepted and he returned to Chaim Tzvi learned how to ride a bicycle at age five, with his mother keeping a firm grip on last moment, they announced that I could Israel for good, returning to the US only to the handlebars until he could ride steadily. “He was always being taunted and bullied,” said corrected her. That didn’t make him very board the plane. I felt as though I had just pay family visits. Carol Marlin, “but when he was on his bicycle, he felt safer.” popular.” gone through a great judgment by some great, While it was clearly difficult for a devoted But only a little safer. Yet Chaim Tzvi persevered. He graduated invisible Judge, with the verdict left up in the mother to part company with her special son, He came home from school one day and his mother noticed his legs were black and blue. as the top student in his high school class, air until the last minute.” Mrs. Felder said she encouraged, and even “I asked him, ‘Clifford, what happened?’ He didn’t want to say. I said, ‘You have to tell me,’ which had perhaps 700 to 800 students. Like many tourists, Chaim Tzvi gravitated pushed Chaim Tzvi to move to Israel. “I knew so he told me that the kids had been kicking him. I called the principal, and he was helpful, Chaim Tzvi recorded a perfect 800 score on to the Kosel on his first Friday night, where, it would be good for him. I always knew he had but there wasn’t a day in my life that I didn’t worry that everything was going to fall apart.” his chemistry achievement test. He attended also like many people, he received the pro- a special feeling for religion.” As a schoolboy, Chaim Tzvi developed an unusual interest in science. “He would say he Duke University, earned a BS in chemistry verbial tap on the shoulder from Rabbi Meir Even though they remained close — Chaim had to go to college because then he’ll know everything,” his mother said. “He had heard of the Weizmann Institute when he was 11, and he once said ‘When I grow up, I want to be a scientist at Weizmann.’” The Final Call Studious as he was, nobody dreamed he would actually get there one day. to make that “In the early ’60s no one had tolerance for people with these types of afflictions, and the in the public schools didn’t want to deal with him,” says his brother Lloyd. Rally One Phone Call That includes some teachers who felt threatened by Chaim Tzvi’s brilliance. He once took a Raleigh summer school course in Spanish, and returned home nearly fluent. “He was a senior in high Buy Auction 1.877.686.1313 Tickets Now! or visit us at mesamchelev.org/auction school at the time,” says Mrs. Felder “and he seemed to know more Spanish than the teacher.” The event you’ve been waiting for! A classmate that summer told Mrs. Felder that the teacher wrote up a test on the black- Bring Simcha to Life to widows and orphans board in Spanish and made a mistake, and it was Chaim Tzvi who got up out of his seat and Featuring: and don’t miss this final chance to Magnificent. lavish buffet Be there. win 20 awesome prizes and up Hot smorgasbord. Delicate pastries. to $25, 000 in cash. ...and more! You. Yes, you. Join the Mesamche Lev Auction Drawing Event, Monday, July 22nd! 54 MISHPACHA

Tzvi used to keep his Skype running in his “I tried very hard to make sure he was different was fine, because when we see office so that he could chat with his mother felt at home and that he was part of the someone different it doesn’t frighten us.” periodically during the course of the day — community,” says Rabbi David Stein, the Many congregants befriended Chaim Tzvi, “the fact that Chaim he was completely self-sufficient, said Adam rav of Beit Chatam — a kehillah of 80 member and invited him for Shabbos and Yom Tov Marlin. “Social graces were not his norms, families, whose central location in the heart meals, among them Michael and Marilyn Tzvi was different was but he worked to learn them. And his kibud of the religious neighborhood makes it a draw Joseph. “We always enjoyed having him,” av v’eim was unbelievable.” for as many as 200 locals every Shabbos. says Michael Joseph. “He became very close, fine, because when we see Chatam has always been unique, in that its not only with me, but with my wife, children, someone different it doesn’t Two Way Friendships After his membership is a broad mix of chareidim and [eventually] grandchildren. He was al- first full holiday season in Eretz Yisrael, and national religious, English and Hebrew ways very humorous. His humor was very frighten us” which he spent with religious cousins in speakers, balabatim and kollel men, who spontaneous, but it came from the heart.” Jerusalem, the chemistry genius decided appreciate each other and get along. The Josephs were always struck by how to become a baal teshuvah. “Everybody at Chatam is — to a certain ex- Chaim Tzvi would send them a personal Chaim Tzvi quickly settled into Rehovot’s tent — different,” adds Rav Stein. “Everyone thank-you note after each of their children’s frum community. He purchased an apart- appreciates each other for their own unique weddings. chavrusa of many years, said one lasting impression of Chaim ment within short walking distance of Beit way of thinking, so the fact that Chaim Tzvi Raphael Bloom, Chaim Tzvi’s longstanding Tzvi was how he often wanted to take a minute or two before Chatam. If Rehovot was a good fit for him learning to discuss current affairs. “A lot of times, he would be professionally, it was also the right place for very upset. ‘Am Yisrael has problems,’ he would say. If he heard him personally. about government budget cuts, he would get very upset over Rehovot is a unique community in many how yeshivah people would manage.” respects. In the last 20 to 25 years, probably Chaim Tzvi was also very sensitive to other people’s honor. a dozen new neighborhoods have cropped When Raphael began giving a shiur in Mesilas Yesharim at Beit up in Israel that are suitable for Anglo olim. Chatam, he found the going a bit rough at the beginning, but Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, when the Chaim Tzvi was his biggest fan. “He was very supportive of me options were much more limited, Rehovot With his and he would tell people they should go hear me. One reason was a little-known, but solid choice. PhD from I was willing to give it a second try this year is because of his It is one of Israel’s few truly “mixed” cities, Iowa State, encouragement,” says Raphael. even though its large chareidi community Chaim Tzvi Yet it was often difficult for Chaim Tzvi to sit still during a is concentrated in one main area. Rehovot was one shiur. When Rabbi Stein would give his halachah shiur before step closer is also home to some of Israel’s original Ye- the Torah reading, or at Seudah Shlishis, Chaim Tzvi’s hand to his dream menite immigrants and it became a big draw would be the first one in the air to ask a question. If by some for Russian olim who poured into Israel after chance, he wasn’t acknowledged, he would shout out his ques- the fall of the USSR. Housing is more afford- tion or comment. able than in Tel Aviv, and coupled with the The most famous line at Seudah Shlishis at Beit Chatam fact that it is only 30 to 45 minutes away by was “Chaim Tzvi, let the rav talk!” But very often, Chaim Tz- train, Rehovot is a good home base for com- vi’s outbursts were “spot-on” and inspired the congregation muters to hi-tech and other scientific jobs to focus on the essence of what was being discussed, says his in the vicinity. cousin Adam Marlin, who lived in Rehovot for a short period And then there’s the draw of Beit Chat- of time and would make periodic visits to his closest cousin. am. Chatam was founded by a group of En- From his standpoint, Rabbi Stein was always able to maintain glish-speaking “kollelniks” in 1983 who saw his aplomb and his tolerance. “If you looked past Chaim Tz- the need for a community of their own. vi’s rough edges, you saw a beautiful soul inside. People saw Just as Chaim Tzvi’s parents mainstreamed he was a yerei Shamayim; someone who meant well and had a him, Chatam’s goal was — and is — to main- lot of content.” stream its English speakers so that they feel at home, both in shul, and in the wider, He- Bidding Shalom If Chaim Tzvi was leibedig at shiurim brew-speaking community. Chaim Tzvi soon in shul, he exhibited the opposite behavior at professional became a beneficiary of their support system. conferences, says Joel Sussman, a professor of structural

56 MISHPACHA Friendship Formula

biology at the Weizmann Institute who “They were afraid he would leave. So 25 was a main sponsor of prizes for youngsters worked with Chaim Tzvi for 20 years. years ago, they secretly gave him tenure, at Beit Chatam’s avos u’banim program. A seminar speaker would begin, says Suss- breaking all the rules, without telling Clif- Both of Chaim Tzvi’s brothers flew in for man, and Chaim Tzvi, without hesitation ford or anybody else. This only came to light the funeral and were overwhelmed by the would begin asking questions. A few minutes at his shivah,” says Adam Marlin. outpouring of the kehillah. “I always knew later, he would appear to be asleep and could Chaim Tzvi fell ill several months before that Chatam was an interesting part of my even be heard snoring. he finally passed away this past January. brother’s story,” said Lloyd. “Granted I was “I would be sitting right next to him,” said Michael Joseph, who accompanied Chaim in shock and grief, but at the funeral and the Professor Sussman. “The seminar would end. Tzvi to one of his chemotherapy treatments shivah, I saw there was more to it than that. People clapped. When the session was opened at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, didn’t fully ap- They were genuinely grieving over his loss.” for questions and answers, Chaim Tzvi would preciate at the time what Chaim Tzvi him- Lloyd was tasked with cleaning out Chaim ask the most pointed and best questions. self knew. “He told me he felt like he needed Tzvi’s office. “He had two stacks of CDs of People were stunned. They didn’t under- a miracle to get out of this.” equal height, one of his science and one of his stand how he did it when he slept through Rabbi Stein, who took Chaim Tzvi’s petirah Torah learning. I think these stacks really the seminar.” very hard, had helped arrange a 24-hour-a summed up his life,” said Lloyd. Sussman was always wowed by Chaim Tz- day watch at Chaim Tzvi’s side in his final vi’s photographic memory. “I would ask him days, and said, “we had many more volun- He Was Right Toward the end of his a question about some problem, and he would teers than openings.” life, with his strength waning, Chaim Tzvi say, ‘Joel, why didn’t you notice this on page The morning before he passed away, Yona- showed up at work one day, and announced three on the third column of the manual? tan Kopelevich, one of the Kohanim in Beit to his colleagues that their approach to a par- The answer is there.’” Chatam, arrived at the hospital to bless Chaim ticular biochemistry project was “all wrong.” At Weizmann, Chaim Tzvi specialized in Tzvi with the Bircas Kohanim. Chaim Tzvi Joel Sussman gasped, because according the study of dipoles, the electrostatic distri- answered Amen and fell asleep. to Weizmann Institute legend, “Clifford’s butions of charges in a molecule. He created “When I was leaving, I whispered refuah never wrong.” a tool called the dipole server, used today by shleimah to him,” said Joseph, who was there He wasn’t wrong this time either. The chemistry researchers around the world, help- during the blessing, “but he really didn’t speak Weizmann team made a sharp U-turn, and ing scientists understand proteins and how after that Amen.” with Chaim Tzvi’s new approach, solved a they react with other molecules inside a cell. Chaim Tzvi’s cousin through marriage, problem that had baffled them for a long time. “This is particularly important because Dovid Kramer, was in Chaim Tzvi’s room But as the end of his life approached, Chaim there is a certain protein, p53, which is called when he passed on to the Next World, al- Tzvi made a spiritual U-turn of his own, says the guardian of the cell because it can turn on though by then he was on a respirator and Dovid Kramer, as he became increasingly a process of breaking down cancer-like cells,” could no longer communicate. Kramer, who disturbed about Israel’s changing political Sussman explained. “But the p53 is intrin- had also accompanied Chaim Tzvi to one climate. sically disordered. Most people assumed all of his first chemotherapy treatments a few “He would often speak to me about the proteins have a structure and function. Clif- months earlier, recalled how Chaim Tzvi importance of the army and getting an edu- ford discovered that some proteins function spent that treatment absorbed in some Torah cation and earning a livelihood. These issues by not having a structure.” and parshah sheets he brought along. “After a were very high on his agenda,” says Kramer. While Chaim Tzvi was often concerned while I just felt like I was in the way. I asked “But toward the end, he started saying that that he would lose his job because of his in- him if he needed me and he said, no, he has he wished the broader public would realize terpersonal difficulties, his employers had what to read and will be fine.” that it is the yeshivah boys who are giving a the opposite fear. Weizmann Institute policy After Chaim Tzvi’s passing, Adam Marlin kiyum to Eretz Yisrael.” forbade anyone from remaining for longer and another cousin, Gershon Tobias, went In his own work, says Kramer, Chaim Tzvi than five years without becoming a tenured through his personal possessions. Those was always very careful to adhere to the letter professor. After five years, Weizmann saw that possessions included an eclectic collection of his employment contract. Being upright Chaim Tzvi would not master the manage- of seforim, some with no relevance to him was an inseparable part of his nature and ment skills required for a full professorship, personally, such as how to survive as a Jewish permeated everything he did, either at work but they were afraid to lose him. One option widow. “We figured out he probably bought or in the kehillah. was to let him go, then allow him to reapply many of these just to help support the author,” “He left the world exactly as he had been for a new fellowship a few months later. said Adam, who also noted that Chaim Tzvi created — as an adam yashar,” said Kramer. —

58 MISHPACHA 00 Month 0000 | Month 00, 0000 MISHPACHA 59