There is a reason why the passing of Yaakov “Jim” Watkins has left his many friends and admirers in a state of shock. What a good man! What a doer!
Back in the days of TRI, led by Rabbi Mordecai Twerski from 1981 to 2000, Yaakov Watkins was given the “Yesod HaBayis Award” at an annual dinner. We had never heard of such an award. Its connotation was, roughly, “he is the one who keeps the operation moving.” It had to be invented for Yaakov Watkins. His combination of perception, ability, commitment and selflessness spotted, repaired and enhanced just about everything. It was all volunteer.
Watkins brought these talents to other organizations, among them: the Mikveh of East Denver, which he supervised for years, and the eruv on the East Side of Denver and then the Southeast. He set the gold standard for supervising and repairing an eruv, which requires both mechanical and halachic expertise, week in and week out. Neither snow storms nor heat could keep him down.
When a person leaves behind a significant record of accomplishment, a question may be asked: Was the person bigger than his accomplishments, or were his accomplishments bigger than he? What was the nature of the person?
In Yaakov Watkins’ case, he was bigger than his accomplishments, which says a lot, given the outsized dimensions of his accomplishments. He was bigger than they in two senses:
First, integrity. Whatever the difficulty, whatever the popular opinion, Watkins always asked: What is the right thing to do? Nothing else mattered to him. It was never about him. It was about what was right. Integrity. This shone through and above all his accomplishments.
Second, Yaakov Watkins was a y’rei Shamayim, one who feared the L-rd. It is an exalted status. It is the goal of the Torah. It does not necessarily correlate with knowledge, wealth, power, influence or charisma. It is its own independent religious quality, and it is the pinnacle. In all that Yaakov Watkins did — it shone through — he feared the L-rd.
Who now embraces him.
© IJN 2024
