Miriam “Mickey” Sokobin, who embraced Toledo as home, becoming a language teacher in the Jewish community and a hospital volunteer, died Aug. 15 in ProMedica Ebeid Hospice Residence, Sylvania. She was 83.
She learned she had pancreatic cancer on July 6, said her daughter, Sharon Speyer.
Mrs. Sokobin, a native of Tel Aviv, was married to Rabbi Alan Sokobin, rabbi emeritus of The Temple-Congregation Shomer Emunim in Sylvania Township. The family moved to Toledo in 1972 when her husband became rabbi of what was then known as the Collingwood Temple.
She saw herself foremost as a member of the community — and to her, community was something to participate in, her husband said.
Mrs. Sokobin recognized the responsibilities of being the rabbi’s wife, her husband said, “but to her they were not formal responsibilities.
“We went to services together, we went to meetings,” her husband said. “She never saw herself as an unpaid adjunct.”
And to her, family and community were connected, her son, Jonathan, said.
“This is a woman who spent her adult life away from her immediate family. They were an ocean away,” her son said. “She put down roots where she was.
“If you were in her sphere, she welcomed you. She fed you. She cared about you,” he said.
Many knew of her culinary artistry. The dishes she prepared for Jewish holidays often were featured in The Blade, as she described their significance and her technique.
“I grew up with a mother whose influences were from the Middle East and Russia and Bulgaria and Turkey,” her son said. “I got to see there were other approaches, flavors, smells. She used her love of life and her palate as a way to express joy and wonder in the world.”
To stay current, she read several newspapers daily.
“She was an intensively intelligent, perceptive, caring human being,” her husband said.
Mrs. Sokobin was a longtime volunteer for ProMedica Toledo Hospital and taught Hebrew in the Jewish community.
“She was a magnificent linguist,” according to her husband. “She spoke five languages. She taught Hebrew as a language to be loved, not just as a biblical language.”
She was born June 27, 1934, to Esther and Herzl Levy and in childhood got the nickname, “Mickey,” because she was fond of Mickey Mouse.
She was 18 when she moved to the United States. Mrs. Sokobin lived with an aunt and studied at New York University — and worked in the Manhattan purchasing office of the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Surviving are her husband, Rabbi Alan Sokobin, whom she married May 19, 1957; daughter, Sharon Speyer, who is president of Huntington National Bank’s northwest Ohio region and a Univeristy of Toledo trustee; son, Jonathan Sokobin; brothers, Uzi and Ilana Levy, and five grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at The Temple-Congregation Shomer Emunim, Sylvania. The family will receive guests from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Sokobins’ West Toledo home, with a memorial service at 7 p.m. each night.
Arrangements are by the Robert H. Wick/Wisniewski Funeral Home.
The family suggests tributes to the Toledo Jewish Community Foundation or a charity of the donor’s choice.
Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.