"There was a mutual love affair (with Hawai'i's Jewish community)," said Rabbi Avi Magid of Temple Emanu-El. "He and his wife, Helen, adopted the community — and the community, in turn, adopted him."

Goldfarb didn't start out to be a rabbi. Though as a boy, he'd go to Talmud school in the Bronx after his regular school day ended, he'd say that rabbis "had stained-glass voices" and sounded pompous and arrogant.

Goldfarb skipped grades in high school, graduating before he turned 16. He worked a year right out of high school, then attended a special joint program with Teachers College at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary to become a teacher.

He first taught at Central Jewish Institute in New York City. During that time, Nazi supporters marched every evening a block away from the school. Parents became so frightened that they kept their children away, and the teacher, with a young wife, had to go looking for work elsewhere.

The Goldfarbs landed in Albany, N.Y., where he met rabbis whom he described as being without pretensions in serving their communities.

That struck a chord.

Goldfarb would go on to rabbinical school and after being ordained in 1944, took over as head of a recreational/religious facility in Bethlehem, Pa., where he worked for five years. He started a Hillel, or Jewish organization for students, at nearby Lehigh University.

Through his Hillel connections, he was offered a post as Hillel director at Cornell University, a job he held until he retired.

In Cornell, his influence was felt far and wide.

"Names were so important to him," said his daughter, Deborah Washofsky. "He said you should remember people's names. He'd walk across campus, greeting people by name — and they would remember him.

"People would say that's why they stayed in school."

Goldfarb started coming out to visit Washofsky when she moved to Hawai'i in 1970. During one visit, he created a study group that continues to this day. He'd also use his extended visits at the time of the high holidays to lead traditional services at Congregation Sof Ma'arav and at Temple Emanu-El.

In 1991, he and his wife, Helen, moved here permanently. But retirement didn't keep him away from his love of teaching. Just this year, the resident scholar helped a girl at Temple Emanu-El with her bat mitzvah.

"He loved working with the young people," said his granddaughter, Dana Washofsky, president at the temple.

She recalls asking her youngest son, Jacob, how his bar mitzvah training was going several years ago.

"Are you working on your Torah?" she'd asked.

Jacob said no.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Life," the boy, who had just completed his freshman year at Punahou, told her.

Washofsky realized that was part of the preparation. "It wasn't just about reading Hebrew to Papa (as Goldfarb was called). It was very important to have that concentrated learning time with Papa," she said.

Magid said he also learned from the teacher who, as he put it, had "a perpetual, almost beatific smile and absolutely loved teaching."

He recalled: "On the occasions that my insight was a little different from his, and he really liked it, you could see his eye brighten and a big smile. He'd come over to me afterwards and say, 'Yashar kochecha!' "

It's a Hebrew phrase that translates as "May your strength continue to grow."

But the words meant more to Magid. They meant something every student wants to hear:

"You did a really good job."

Goldfarb was preceded in death by his wife, Helen. He is survived by his two daughters, Deborah Washofsky of Honolulu and Judy Weinberg of Toledo, Ohio; brothers, Harvey and Harry; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Temple Emanu-El with private interment to follow. The family requests that flowers be omitted; contributions may be made to the Rabbi Morris & Helen Goldfarb Education Fund at Temple Emanu-El.