![](https://www.newenglishreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Marion.jpg)
by Phyllis Chesler
Together with Moshe Rabinowitz, her brother, and my rabbi, Benjamin Skydell, I helped organize a funeral service for my dear friend, Marion Dreyfus (z”l). She died on Thursday, August 10, 2023, and was buried on August 13, 2023.
Her death was utterly unexpected. Here is what I said at the grave site in Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens on a fiercely hot day.
Marion was larger than life—so colorful, so whimsical, so creative; what she did with scarves, how she wound them round her head into the most amazing turbans, constituted performance art—and add to that her jewelry, her elaborate makeup, her matching tunics, caftans, cloaks, and multi-colored fur coats—and truly, you would think you were dining with a Jewish grandee in Turkey or India some centuries ago.
Yes, Marion was larger than life and now she might also be larger than Death. Friends, family, editors, publishers, and political allies will all remember her pithy, hard-hitting, sometimes outrageous words and ideas as long as they live.
Marion was a woman of great passion and boundless energy. She was a dear friend and a frequent Shabbos guest—but she was also a fine poet, an accomplished journalist, in both the arts and the sciences, a world traveler (she visited at least 107 countries), did five tours of duty in the IDF—and she was also a professional calligrapher, a graphologist, an actress, a wit, and a quintessential Dame About Town.
She used to bike everywhere and she lived to tell the tale of countless stolen bikes in this fair city of ours. Her life was hard, not easy. Her laptop and her cellphone defeated her again and again; money was a constant worry, as was the state of the Union, and above all, the state of Israel. She worried about her sister in Chicago as well and spent long hours trying to contact her.
Marion studied Torah with Fern (Ariella) and myself on Sunday evenings. We were always suspended in time, out of step, between parshiot, and thus, we always had the choice of either lingering overly long with the last chapter, or beginning the next one a day early.
And now, Marion, once so vital; Marion, who was just here among us— now Marion, your Miriam Dvorah, is with you, God. As Isaiah said: “Nahamu, nahamu, Ami…be comforted my people….Cal Habasar hazir…All flesh is grass…yavaaysh hazir naval zif…the grass withers, the flower fades….V’Dvar Eloheynu yakoom l’olam…But the word of our God shall stand forever.”
(Isaiah 40:1; 40: 6-8).
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5 Responses
I have a friend, who’s recently deceased, a lovely loving loved soul beyond decrease.
Forgetable never,
A sweetheart lasting beyond forever.
Lovely memorial.
If I knew everything I now know about Marion I may have been intimidated in her presence, but she was always warm & open without any pretension. She was a comfort in spite of a scary intellect. She was always focused on truth & reality-a virtue missing from the journalists of today. I will often be reflecting on her being gone from this world but will be comforted by her spirit being left behind in her writings.
It took me quite a bit to get over this completely unexpected sad news… I was just calling Marion, but there was no voice message anymore…
I wish more people commented about knowing Marion and posted photos, as I miss her so much. Too bad we lost touch the last few years and didn’t get together as planned…
I met Marion in Israel in around 2001 or 2, where we went with the group of Americans to see Israel. Even though I have many close relatives living there, it was my first time in Israel, and I wanted to get to know Israelis from different walks of life.
I remember taking a bus tour to Masada, up a winding road. Marion got noxious and I sprayed water on her face. I got sick too and got off the bus, walking up the hill. My disappearance caused anxiety of the group – they later told me that I could have been kidnapped by Bedouins…
Back in NY, we met a few times, and talked here and there, communicated on the web…
The way I remember Marion now is on her bike, wearing high heels, loving life, wise, working hard, warm and caring. It is hard to accept that we will not talk again…
I have to look for her poems she sent me – that was so long ago … it seems.
I wanted her to hear my new music…
Here is my latest, though I need to work more on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8qLNipmr4
Shalom shalom Marion…
Today would have been Marion’s birthday. I am brokenhearted that she is no longer with us.
Marion, memories of our friendship and the times we spent together will stay with me always. You were a joy to know and so easy to love. One day we will see each over again b’shamayim im yirtzeh HaShem.