Max Volterra’s passing a huge loss for Attleboro
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| Max Volterra (Photo courtesy of The Sun Chronicle) |
Max Volterra is shown in 2009.
(Photo courtesy of
The Sun Chronicle)
The man was a mensch, as the story by Staff Writer George Rhodes, on Volterra’s death, published in The Sun Chronicle on Wednesday, Oct. 5, noted.
(Read the full story at this link to the newspaper’s website: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/max-volterra-pillar-of-the-attleboro-community-dies-at-86/article_e4293cc9-e636-5cb8-b789-52cc5341b737.html)
Volterra, as Rhodes wrote, served the city as a Ward 2 city councilor, city solicitor, state representative, board member for the office of community development, and a member of the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority and the election commission.
He also served his synagogue, Congregation Agudas Achim for a very long time, and established the Max and Marion Volterra Charitable Foundation. And he was involved in a number of community organizations, including the Attleboro Arts Museum, where he was a consistent presence and volunteer at the museum’s many events, including the flower show and the annual auction.
But the synagogue was especially close to Volterra and his family.
In Rhodes’ story, the congregation’s current spiritual leader, Rabbi Talya Weisbard Shalem, praised Volterra, who was a past president of the congregation’s board of trustees, for his longtime dedication to the house of worship.
“He devoted his time and energy to numerous synagogue committees. … He was intensely dedicated to working for the broader good of the community, both in the synagogue and beyond,” she said. “He was generous with his time, his money and his knowledge and insight, which he shared with younger synagogue leaders whenever asked, without pushing his own ideas. I’ve heard from multiple members of the congregation since his death was announced — all extolling his kindness and intelligence. He was a mensch, and we will miss him dearly.”
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Historical perspective
Volterra, in an interview I did with him in September of 2008 for a story I wrote on the 100th anniversary of the synagogue’s cemetery --- which was held two years before the congregation started to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2010 --- explained his family’s deep roots in the synagogue and its cemetery.
(The Agudas Achim Cemetery, which is also known as the Dodgeville Hebrew Cemetery, is tucked neatly away on Orchard Street off South Main Street in the city’s historic Dodgeville district, not too far from the Dodgeville mill.)
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Here's what I wrote in that story, which was published in the fall of 2008:
“Volterra, asked about the cemetery being established three years before the synagogue itself, said (of the cemetery being established before the synagogue) said:
“It makes sense in a way. You have a death; you have to be able” to deal with it according to Jewish law.
Volterra finds the cemetery “a place of quiet and peacefulness,” when he visits his parents, father Renzo and mother Germana Volterra. In addition, his paternal grandfather, Guido Volterra, and his maternal grandmother, Bianca Levi – all of whom came to this country from Italy – are buried there.
“It’s perfect for us. We don’t need a huge piece of land,” he said.
The cemetery will not stagnate in the next 100 years, either, as an expansion for up to several hundred, according to the rabbi, is planned for the cemetery, including a new interfaith section so that families will be able to be buried together.
(Traditional Jewish law forbids non-Jewish persons, even spouses, from being buried next to observant Jews, but many cemeteries have been adding special interfaith areas connected by a walkway to accommodate the needs of interfaith families.) In addition, Agudas Achim will accommodate people by building a sitting area with benches to the right of the entrance.
Volterra applauds the efforts to expand and improve the cemetery, and he singled out a generous gift from Steve Rubin, who lives out of the area, for helping to make the improvements and expansion possible.
Volterra also lauded the year-round cooperation of the cemetery’s neighbors, the St. Stephen’s Catholic and the Hillside cemeteries. “It’s a good relationship. It’s worked wonderfully,” he said, noting those caretakers also keep a watchful eye on the Jewish cemetery.”
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Rest in peace
That kind of ecumenical outreach was typical of Volterra, who was indeed a mensch of all mensches. It's fitting that he will be buried there following his funeral on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. at Agudas Achim, 901 North Main St., Attleboro.
He will be missed by his many friends, colleagues and onetime constituents --- and I will miss greeting and chatting with him at the Attleboro Arts Museum’s annual flower show.
Rest in peace, my friend.
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