Rabbi Walter and Irene Jacob’s ‘butterfly effect’ of positive change
"It was substantial, and we'll be good stewards with that, those dollars, to try and make sure that it impacts as many people's lives as possible.”
The legacy of the late Rabbi Walter Jacob and his wife, the late Irene Jacob, continues to reverberate around the world.
Serving as leaders of Rodef Shalom Congregation for more than 40 years, the Jacobs also were instrumental in the creation of the synagogue’s Biblical Botanical Gardens.
After retiring as senior rabbi of Rodef Shalom in 1997, Walter Jacob worked with Rabbi Walter Homolka to found the Abraham Geiger College in 1999. Located in Potsdam, Germany, the rabbinic seminary was the first established in continental Europe since the Holocaust. More than 57 rabbis and cantors have graduated from the school.
The Jacobs were celebrated earlier this month for another accomplishment: helping to create and continuing to support Mainstay Life Services, a nonprofit that delivers person-centered care to individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism.
Mainstay’s story began in 1969 when the Jacobs, and a small group of other parents, established Horizon Homes after the birth of their daughter Claire, who was born with a disability and needed permanent living accommodations.
In 1999, Horizon merged with Idlewood Center, which provided similar services, becoming Mainstay Life Services, located in Pittsburgh’s South Hills.
Nearly six decades after its founding, Walter Jacobs, who died in 2024, continues to support the organization.
Shortly after his death, the organization was approached by Mahnaz Harrison, a longtime friend of the rabbi and the executor of his will.
Harrison told Mainstay CEO Kim Sonafelt that Jacob had left money to support “three things that were close to his heart.” Mainstay was one of those things.
While not disclosing the amount, Sonafelt called the gift “substantial.”
“It’s not an endowment or anything like that,” she said. “However, it was substantial, and we’ll be good stewards with that, those dollars, to try and make sure that it impacts as many people’s lives as possible.”
Mainstay paid homage to the Jacobs’ legacy and the monetary gift during an Oct. 6 celebration that included a ribbon cutting on a new portion of the organization’s headquarters that includes permanent photos of the couple and a chair, originally brought from Rodef Shalom, that was used by Claire.
Harrison, Walter Jacob’s executor, spoke at the celebration, noting that “volumes could be written about these two amazing people.”
Rather than focus on the well-documented good work the Jacobs accomplished, Harrison instead highlighted what she said was “the pain they endured during their lives,” and how they met that pain with “courage and conviction,” which became “a foundation for meaningful change.”
Harrison recounted the journey the Jacobs traveled with their daughter.
“Within a year, they realized that there wasn’t much they could do beyond what they were doing,” she said. “They couldn’t help her developmentally and psychically grow further.”
Walter Jacob, Harrison said, would drop her off at the Watson Institute for the week and pick her up Friday evenings so she could spend weekends with the family.
“They made an example of, it’s OK not to be what was considered normal,” Harrison said. “They cherished the life of this child and embraced her with full force to let her live a full life.”
It was the pain of knowing Claire would never be able to move beyond her physical limitations that led to the creation of Horizon Homes, she said.
“They started with $200 in a bank account but needed $30,000,” she said. “They did it. They were determined.”
Mainstay has grown to support over 400 people, ranging in age from 20 to 90, in more than 42 residential settings.
“That’s everything from homes where people live by themselves or with roommates,” Sonafelt said. “We have community-based services, supported employment, behavioral supports. We do a lot of what we call remote support — we have both in-person and remote support staffing professionals helping people be as independent as possible.”
And, over the last two years, Mainstay has started to assist children with medical complexities, she said.
“Two years ago, children were spending a lot of their time living in institutions and hospitals. Kids never lived with their families. Over the last two years, we now have 16 families with kiddos from very young to teenagers that are now living with their families, and we support them by paying them a stipend and helping with their case management needs,” she said.
The Jacobs’ legacy has created a “butterfly effect” felt all over the world, Sonafelt said.
“What was started in the East End in 1969 is now reaching so many people. These parents had a need for their daughter and started doing something against what was then a lot of opposition. And now we have over 42 homes where people live. I am also super impressed with the work of the seminary in Germany. It just really impacts people’s lives.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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