Thomas Buchler

Thomas Gustav Buchler (Azriel Yaakov), above everything else was a man committed to Torah. He spent his life struggling with it. He spent his life learning it. He spent his life learning from it, even as he faced challenges throughout his life that made questioning Torah a daily activity.

A dedicated son and ultimately a dedicated spouse and partner, unfortunately passing too soon to be a dedicated father to his only daughter, he helped thousands of other children throughout the years study for their B’Nai Mitvah. Through his love of technology he created one of the world’s most innovative Torah learning programs.

He loved music. And as one time jazz producer, he was an avid opera fan and had an ear and love for musical theater that began as a young man, through high school and university and long after when he would often try his had at singing Broadway songs with friends at a local pub.

He loved learning, and his genius showed in just about everything he did. From Torah to Technology, his mind was expansive and he showed how deeply he thought through quiet and reflective questions which often led to brilliant ideas and answers to some of life’s most difficult problems.

He loved his family, and cared for his first partner who passed after 23 years together, and then his mom, even through the days when cancer riddled his body and eventually took him away from us. He hoped to be a father and after falling in love again, had a child together with his new spouse through surrogacy. Though he never met his daughter face to face, he left an unquestionable legacy for her, his only child, who will grow up to know that her father died with visions of her as the love of his life.

A devout Jew, Tom loved Israel and spent his last year‘s there, at last learning in his homeland and living amongst the Jewish People, fulfilling a dream of “settling the land.”

Tom was not a man of deep contradiction. His simplicity is what made him beautiful and lovable. And yet underneath there was this strong sense of complex curiosity that allowed him to mine whatever he found in life for the richest opportunity and experience.

He will be missed for so many things, including his wry sense of humor, commitment to feeding the poor, his openness and his willingness to grow even to go’s last day.

Tom is survived by a loving spouse snd partner, Zakai and their daughter Elyan Orah. He also leaves behind a strong family, both of choice and origin as well as friends that span the globe. For those of us who knew and loved him, his passing has left a void that nothing can fill, but also a love and host of memories that both smooth the edges of our suffering and inspire us to be better women men each and every day.

We will miss you Tommy. Your life and your memory are blessings.