- LETTERS
Summing up Adi Garfunkel’s life
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25241/stomaeduj.2018.5(2).letter.1
Author:
Prof. Gabi Chaushu, DMD, MSc Head, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva, Israel
Head, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Editor Stomatology Edu Journal
In memoriam
Summing up Adi Garfunkel’s life, I keep coming back to one thought. “Never will you meet a man who loved his students more than Adi”.
I met him when I was in my third year of Dentistry. He was serving as the Dean of the Dental school in Jerusalem. Still, he had time to instruct students and encourage their scientific work. Adi was a teacher of all things. His method was simple. He taught by example. At any age, when faced with a dilemma, I have found myself coming back to one simple question. What would Adi do? Adi’s teachings are endless. Let me share a few. Adi was one of my instructors for the MSc degree. When I first approached him with a result he said – “it’s nice, but one observation equals zero observation”. Later in my life I have found myself “selling” the same advice to my students. Adi taught me to concentrate my research on few issues, but to have deep knowledge of them and do everything I can to be the best in the world at those issues. Later, when I was appointed Head of Maxillofacial Department he called to congratulate me and was prouder than me of my achievements. He supported every step in my career with advice, recommendations, introducing me to people, writing articles or any other thing I needed. I was only one of his students. This approach was intended for all his students.
Adi always treated all the people around him as equals. Students, professors, young, old, rich, poor everybody was treated the same and spoken to as Adi’s best friend. Adi never let another person down. He fulfilled all his obligations. He always kept his word and everyone knew it. Adi was self-made and self-reliant. From his education to his career, Adi was proud to be a dentist. In his clinic, he kept instruments from the first days of Dentistry. Adi loved the good things in life including art and music, travel and photography, food and wine, and friends and family. He was an amazing cook and could establish intense relationships in minutes. The number of people who called Adi their friend was immense. Adi never made an enemy. While he came across people he had to confront, he solved the problem by simply avoiding them. He always insisted that every crisis may be solved in a peaceful way. Adi was loyal to his friends. He maintained good ties even with his childhood friends. Adi loved a good joke, including every imaginable kind of ethnic joke. Yet his humor was never mean spirited, nor designed to hurt or humiliate. I never once heard him utter a racial slur, nor did he ever treat anyone with anything other than respect and kindness. Adi spoke openly of his admiration for the female figure. Adi’s support for women’s development in career and life created a perfect balance for his character. Adi had a quiet dignity, respecting himself the way he respected others. As he faced his final days, his body ravaged with the malady that ate his body, he never lost his good humor. He never had one moment of self-pity.
Farewell, Adi. You did good. You did real good. We miss you so much…….
Prof. Gabi Chaushu, DMD, MSc Head, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva, Israel
Head, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Editor Stomatology Edu Journal