Rabbi Abraham Friedlander was born in the mid-twenties in the town of Koloszvar (Cluj), Transylvania. On his father’s side he stems from the famous rabbinic dynastic family of Liszka (Lisker). He was one of ten siblings and grew up in a home filled with fun and laughter. His parents shared responsibilities for raising their children: the father taking charge of education and the mother teaching manners, etiquette and conduct.

At an early age Rabbi Friedlander exhibited talent in art and music. He was a dreamer who loved to work with his hands and design and create beautiful objects. The current Lisker Synagogue, a small, jewel-like shul at 130 East 69th Street in Manhattan is the result of his efforts. Rabbi Friedlander was blessed with a rich tenor voice, which he used during Sabbath and holidays by chanting services in the Synagogue he had fashioned. Those people who knew and loved him believe that even when they enter the Synagogue today they can still hear his beautiful voice resonating. Though his demeanor was quiet he never failed to understand one’s trouble or pain and was prompt to pay attention to anyone needing his advice, regardless of time of day. He was on call 24/7, as the current expression goes.

He lost his father while he was still very young. Shortly afterwards he became engaged to Judith Friedlander, the daughter of the then Lisker Rabbi, Shlomo Friedlander. (Judith was Rabbi Abraham’s niece.) Rabbi Shlomo was a father figure to Rabbi Abraham and guided him physically and spiritually. Having survived the Holocaust in Hungary, Rabbi Abraham arrived in the United States in 1947. His marriage, which took place in 1959, was a much-publicized event at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City with 1,000 attendees including 200 Rabbis. The couple honeymooned in Europe where the bride was to fulfill her scholarship at the Sorbonne in France and Rabbi Friedlander studied at various yeshivot. Upon their return to the United States they settled in the Bronx near the bride’s parents and his wife Judith gave birth to a daughter a few months later. Chave, their second daughter followed and subsequently, a son Zvi-Hersh, the current Rabbi of the Congregation. In 1977, the family moved from the Bronx to the Upper East Side of Manhattan and established the present Synagogue, which Rabbi Abraham had designed.

Upon the death of his father-in-law, a new chapter began for the Lisker dynasty. Rabbi Abraham Friedlander was next in the dynastic line and continued to lead the Synagogue with the same ideals that his father-in law had imbued in him. He attempted build a mikvah, thereby fulfilling his father-in-law’s dying wishes. In 1987 he became a chaplain in the neighboring hospitals. Rabbi Friedlander spent innumerable hours at the bedside of patients and never failed to respond to a call whether day or night. In 1988, he made a pilgrimage to the grave of his ancestral great-great-grandfather- the Achpretvia- to pray for the ability to finish the mikvah. He could not know that this would be his last journey in this world. In January 1989, while walking home with his son from mincha services he was accosted by two thugs and killed. The life of this gentle soul was snuffed out and lost to us forever. May his memory be blessed.