In difficult times throughout Jewish history, we have consoled ourselves with the imagery of birth.  The rabbis taught that, just as before a child is born its mother has to endure the pains of childbirth, before the Messiah comes into the world and perfects our existence here, the world in which we live also endures great times of pain.  At times like this, when our suffering is so profound, we think about this teaching and we wonder how, if it is true, how this can be anything other than the final pang before the arrival of the Messiah him or her self.

 

A Hassidic rabbi teaches in response that God is a merciful God and that every time our suffering grows to the proportions that we are all experiencing today, God hears our cries and sends comfort and relief for our suffering and postpones our redemption a little longer.

 

Today, we gather together in our pain and we pray for God’s mercy and comfort as we honor David and David’s soul, as we remember his life, and as we offer comfort to those whom he left behind.

 

I did not have the privilege of knowing David during his lifetime, but I was able to sit with Sylvia and Jay and Michelle yesterday afternoon and to see a picture of David, looking happy and distinguished, in Jay’s living room.  The stories that Jay and Michelle and Sylvia told also made me think about how Judaism envisions the coming of the messiah.  Deep in Jewish folklore, there is the idea that the coming of the Messiah will be presaged by the presence of the Prophet Elijah.

 

I believe it was Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who taught that a prophet is a person who comforts those who are not comfortable and disquiets those who are.  David, also was such a person. 

 

Sylvia told me how David’s whole being was permeated with the desire to comfort others.  She told me that she couldn’t mention something without David getting up to get it for her or to buy it for her.  She told me about his generosity to others, loaning them money even if he knew he would never get it back.  She told me about how generous, supportive and encouraging he had been when she had taken up painting at the age of 65.  She told me about how the women who worked at the radio station, “uptown,” would light up when he entered the room as did everyone else whom he knew.

 

David’s presence exuded compassion and concern for others and for truth and what is right. 

 

But, like Elijah, David also sought to disquiet those who were comfortable.  Like Bob Dylan, whom Michelle told me was David’s favorite musician, David was a steadfast advocate for justice.  While I was in Jay’s home yesterday, Bill Scott, the Borough President of West Chester, came to express his condolences and he explained to me that David was always a welcome presence in the Borough Council, both because David was an advocate for his ideals, but also, equally importantly, because David and his radio show facilitated debate and discussion by welcoming the speech of others.

 

Bill told me that David was always happy to talk to people.  That, as an extraordinary conversationalist, he was ever likely to engage the people around him in discussion, to speak to listen and to bring both parties closer to the truth.  Everyone has described how David seemed happy to see others, and how that, in turn, made others feel better about themselves and, in this way, made them happy to see and speak with David.

 

From my discussions over the past two days, I have learned that David was a welcome and expected presence at events all over town.  That he was active in the governance of the borough, in the arts and in every other aspect of West Chester’s civic life and that he used this prominence to speak up for those who would have otherwise been unspoken for.

 

David came by his investment in this community honestly.  He was a long time resident of West Chester, spending most of his childhood here, returning after finishing his studies at Penn State and, after resisting the call of the legal profession, entering into the real estate business.  After a while and a few more business pursuits, like the video store that Sylvia recalled with a smile, David found his calling at WCHE which he purchased and operated with his brother, Jay.

 

Over the airwaves, David projected the same concern for others and for justice that he exhibited in person. He provided what Bill called, an “open mike” for others to express themselves and he helped to elevate this community in the process. 

 

 

WEST CHESTER – David S. Shur, 63, local personality and WCHE radio station co-owner, died Monday.

Shur, a lifelong borough resident, was well-known for his daily radio program, “The Dave Shur Show”, where local issues were aired Monday through Friday from 7 to 9 a.m. He was a broadcaster at the radio station since August 1997.

Tony Polito, who was a regular on the show, said he sometimes found himself “on the opposite side of the fence” from Shur when it came to certain issues.

“Sometimes it got a little rambunctious, a little hot and heavy, but that is the name of the game”, said Polito.

But Shur, on air, was able to draw out both sides of the argument and bring out a lot of local issues, he said.

“It has been an important part of West Chester”, said Polito.

William J. Scott Jr., borough council president, who appeared numerous times on the show, called Shur a “conversationalist” who liked to talk and hear what people had to say.”

“The show was not polished to say the least and David could be said to be a bad interviewer, but people listened to his show because it was interesting.  It was different from the routine”, said Scott.

Shur could be critical of people but “he never really had an unkind word to say about anybody”, said Scott.

Scott said that h e was continually surprised to be approached by people who had heard him on Shur’s show – many of whom he didn’t even think were listeners.

“If you were on the show and talked about something there would be a buzz around town”, said Scott.

Fellow council member H. Paul Fitzpatrick said Shur stopped appearing on air earlier in the year and struggled with depression.

He stopped coming to the radio station, which Fitzpatrick described as Shur’s “real passion”.

“He kept pouring is effort, his time and money into it”, said Fitzpatrick.

Shur was known to have stopped people on the street, whether he was on foot or in his car, to ask people to go on his show.

Wherever Shur went and whoever he met, Shur always asked the question, “would you like to be on my radio show?” said Fitzpatrick.

“He will be missed. We will talk about Dave and what he did around the community for years to come”, said Fitzpatrick.

A.Roy Smith, borough resident, was a periodic listener of the show and an occasional guest.  On Tuesday, he called news of Shur’s death “a bolt out of the blue” and discussed Shur’s interests.

“He was particularly interested in books on the history of West Chester; I know that he would scour the area to try to find books that he didn’t have in his library”, Smith said. “He was the repository of obscure historical facts about the borough.  And it wasn’t just limited to the borough.”

Jim Jones, a West Chester University history professor and radio host at WCHE, said Shur had a “real generous spirit”.

“He have a lot of people an opportunity to make it on the radio”, said Jones.

Born in Philadelphia, Shur was the son of Sylvia Krauss Shur and the late Albert Shur.

He lived in West Chester all his life.  He was a member of the Kesher Israel Congregation, West Chester.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania and National Association of Broadcasters and the Chester County Realtors Association.

In addition to his mother, he is survived by his brother, Jay Shur.