Gadol
We just found out one of my professors from APU died today. According to some phone calls, Gerald Wilson died of a heart attack.
My second semester at APU I took a class with Wilson called “Hebrew Poetic and Wisdom Literature.” He was such an amazing Old Testament guru, truly enamored by the word of God, that I determined that I’d take the Hebrew Language from him starting the next semester. For the next four semesters Izzy and I learned the ins and outs of that ridiculous language in which every rule “applies, except when it doesn’t.” We loved learning from this man, and this man loved to teach. It was all over him.
One year, while some devastating fires went through the area Wilson lived with his wife, some of my friends drove out there to “rescue him.” They never found his house, but they told him in class the next day. He laughed. I don’t think he knew how much we loved him.
One afternoon we were honored to have Wilson and his wife join us in our apartment for our traditional lunch of carne asada, mushrooms, and mashed potatoes. They supplied the dessert. A humble man of righteousness sat with us in our living room, possibly unaware of the impact he was presently making on us.
It was he who asked us:
Why does it always have to be quiet time? Why not loud time? Why not dance around time?
He quietly challenged our ways of thinking about evil, about good, and about life. And he made fun of us all the time. It was incredible.
He showed us the deep innerworkings of the Hebrew scriptures. Through simple readings and a practiced Hebrew accent, Gerald Wilson illustrated God’s love. I think that’s why we would visit his office between classes. It was a chance for more. Not to drain all the academics out of the man, but to just be with him because we knew that he valued us.
Tonight I told Lyndsay that I’ve really never thought much about what heaven is like. But now I have something I can wrap my brain around. G-Dub is there. That sounds good.
Shalom Gadol.