Last night, I got the very sad, shocking news that Arielle Sokol, a former colleague in the Near East Division, Area Programs in the Graduate Library at the University of Michigan and AJL member, recently passed away, a most untimely passing.
For about five years, Arielle assisted me in developing and cataloging materials in the Judaica collections of the Judaica unit and Jewish Heritage Collection (in the Special Collections Library). Arielle was a very hard worker who was self-directed and loved the work, especially in the JHC, which is both a print and object collection. She wanted nothing more than to get a permanent position working with Judaica in special collections and/or archives as a librarian or archivist after she had completed her Masters in Information Science at U-M. After graduation and finishing up her job in the Library, Arielle moved to Colorado and worked primarily in the field of music for which she had a special talent. I received the news from a fellow participant in Itsik Mager's *"Purim shpil"* in which Arielle and I and several others performed a few years ago in the Ann Arbor Jewish Community Center. She had a beautiful singing voice and was a gifted musician. I was planning to call her just a couple of days ago. We had spoken and did a Google Meet a few months ago. How sad to not be able to share that experience with her ever again. As fellow New Yorkers, we also both shared a passion for the New York Yankees. She once told me how she attended a game at Fenway Park, home of the archrival Boston Red Sox, and got her brother and his girlfriend to wear Yankee regalia in that very hostile anti-Yankee environment! Even when I attended games there many years ago, I was very subtle about my Yankee fandom, so I admire her bold, somewhat "crazy" actions in the enemy den! But one thing anyone who knew her can attest to, Arielle was never reticent about her views! More information from her friends and colleagues at the InterHarmony International Music Festival where she was an Assistant the past two years: InterHarmony International Music Festival | Facebook <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/groups/283344796483981/__;!!KGKeukY!2BxzawOPfuLONejf9P7Wz0ADPuaxGbx_Yy8FJgt3zcPv6-xcN1WLJ6lhXLl0kvdfnx5Pag98Vkn_MSk_n0iSRA$ > Such a vibrant and unique personality taken from us much too soon. May her memory be for a blessing. In sorrow, Elliot *Elliot H. Gertel* *עלע־הערש גערטל / אליהו־צבי גרטל* *Irving M. Hermelin Curator Emeritus of Judaica* *Member, ALA EMIERT Jewish Information Committee (2020-2022)* *AJL-ALA Liaison, 2008-2020* *The University of Michigan* *Ann Arbor, Michigan* *eger...@umich.edu* <eger...@umich.edu>
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