Back when I lived in St. Louis, I attended Bais Abe, an eclectic synagogue in The Loop. (I can’t really emphasize the word eclectic enough.) One of the people who perhaps best embodied the diversity that was Bais Abe was Dan Kliman. As an openly gay man who attended an Orthodox synagogue he was someone who could not be categorized simply. He was active in starting the Central West End Minyan, a non denominational minyan near his home. He was also a pro-bike/anti-car activist. He frequently rode his bike to shul, putting a pair of bike shorts over his nice suit so it wouldn’t get dirty from the bike seat. (I know, I know, get over it). I always found him to have a wry sense of humor, and was someone who wasn’t afraid to tell you how he felt. I always admired him for his willingness to stand up for what he believed in. In 2002 he moved to the bay area (I teased him that he just wanted a more liberal and bike friendly atmosphere than what the Midwest afforded him), and to be honest I haven’t spoken to him since.

I got an email today from another friend that he was found at the bottom of an elevator shaft last week. When I thought up this post, I didn’t mean for it to turn into a full blown eulogy, but rather a discussion of elevator shafts. How the heck does anyone fall into an elevator shaft?!? Don’t most elevator shafts have doors on them? I always assumed that “fell down an elevator shaft” was code for “murdered, possibly by the mob”. I can see how Dan could arouse anger in some people. He was very vocal in the gay rights movement, the pro-Israel movement, and the anti-car movement. When biking, he took a certain pleasure in making cars slow down to make way to the bicyclists. While people have been pressing the police for an investigation, the police have maintained that the fall was an accident. Frankly it doesn’t seem like it’s very hard to secure an elevator shaft, so I’m surprised it’s even possible for someone to get hurt in one. The elevator car is essentially the size of the shaft, so I don’t see how anyone stepping out of the car could fall down the shaft. The doors should always be locked unless the elevator car is at the floor. (This last part seems like the most obvious and the most deadly. Take for example this story where two people fell down the same elevator shaft. Lock the freakin doors!) I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and if the police say they have proof it was an accident then I tend to believe them, even if it makes little sense. However, I would like to think that this is an easily preventable type of death, and would like to see simple engineering changes made to try and minimize the number of casualties).

Baruch dayan haemet. Wherever you are Dan, I just hope they made sure to build enough bike lanes for you.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm by Ari and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.