FLORIDA – An 11 year old yeshiva student from Surfside got a unique lesson in civics this week when he was named the town’s honorary mayor in recognition of his compassionate efforts to comfort an elderly woman during the Champlain Towers memorial service held in June.
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Kasriel Gewirtz was awarded the title at Surfside’s August 8th town commission meeting, taking an oath of office administered by Representative Fabian Basabe and joining town officials on the dais, where an official nameplate bore his name and the words “Honorary Mayor.”
Dressed in a grey yarmulka and blazer along with a pair of black and red Converse high-top sneakers, Gewirtz opened the meeting by leading the Pledge of Allegiance and posed for pictures with town officials as Mayor Shlomo Danzinger presented him with a town ID card and a miniature police badge, both bearing his newly-given title, as well as a certificate of honor.
Addressing the meeting, Basabe took a moment to speak directly to the young honoree’s parents, Aaron and Meira Gewirtz. Basabe was visibly moved as he told of the memorial service, and how one woman was crying so hard that her heart wrenching sobs were bringing everyone else to tears.
“This young man sat down next to her and put his arms around her and consoled her and brought peace to the woman and, I swear, I thought they were related,” said Basabe. “And I just went up to congratulate her on having a great relative and she said ‘I don’t know the boy; he just came and sat next to me.’”
Basabe recalled that he couldn’t believe what he had just scene at the memorial service and then advised the Pardes Day School student to be grateful to his parents for instilling in him the necessary life skills of kindness, compassion and empathy.
“Consider me a friend,” said Basabe, who came to the meeting with a state proclamation honoring Gewirtz. “Anything you need in life, I will be by your side.”
Basabe wasn’t the only one to take notice of Gewirtz’s actions at the memorial service. The Miami Herald ran a picture of him sitting together with the distraught woman, but that photo only reflects half the story of the heartfelt support that the grade schooler offered on that day. Gewirtz returned to his family in tears, but was ready to leave the house once again a short time later.
His father, Aaron Gewirtz, told VIN News that he knew right away that his son was returning to the hotel where the memorial service had taken place in order to spend more time with the woman he had comforted earlier.
“He went to look for her to make sure she was okay and he sat with her the rest of the day,” said Aaron Gewirtz.
Kasriel Gewirtz’s behavior came as no surprise to either of his parents.
“He has always been a very empathetic kid,” said Aaron Gewirtz. “He would bring home animals that were hurt and give money to the homeless. He feels bad for anyone who is suffering and has a really big heart.”
The third of five children, Kasriel Gewirtz is the Friendship Circle of Miami and North Dade’s youngest volunteer. His crowdfunding page for a 5K run held in March brought in $984 and told of his rewarding experience “seeing kids with special needs smile and have fun every Sunday.” Similarly, Aaron Gewirtz shared what happens in his house every time his Hatzolah radio crackles to life.
“Before I jump up, he is already jumping saying, ‘There’s a call? Don’t you hear?’” said Aaron Gewirtz. “If I tell him that the call isn’t in my area or that I can’t go he says, ‘What do you mean? How can you not go?’”
Aaron Gewirtz described his son as “someone who likes to know what is going on,” a description that Danzinger also knows to be accurate.
“He comes to volunteer all the time and will report people around shul who seem suspicious,” noted Danzinger.
In one instance, Kasriel Gewirtz approached Danzinger with a concern about a monthly Surfside publication, and was dissatisfied to hear how an apparent misprint was being handled. His frustration evident, Kasriel Gewirtz said to Danzinger, “How old do I have to be to run for mayor?”
This week’s events weren’t the first time that Kasriel Gewirtz has made headlines in Surfside. He was given the Citizen of the Year Award last summer for safeguarding a nest of turtles that he discovered on a town beach, keeping watch over the threatened or endangered creatures until town officers arrived.
