By Zach Patberg
His death resulted from a concussion after he fell down stairs inside his Forest Hills home, the synagogue said. What caused him to fall was unclear.The following day several hundred people packed the shul on Yellowstone Boulevard to pay respects at the Orthodox rabbi's funeral. Those who could not fit in the synagogue listened to the service through speakers set up in the downstairs ballroom and outside on the sidewalks.”He had a lot of friends,” said Nick Reiss, Young Israel's executive director.Most remembered Wagner best as a teacher devoted to his students and skilled in breaking down complex lessons from the Torah into digestible parts.”He had a special eye – how he viewed people, how he viewed things. What a wonderful person he was,” said Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt, of the Queens Jewish Center, pausing several times to compose himself as he recalled his colleague whom he had known since Wagner was ordained at the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn.After the yeshiva, Wagner spent eight years as the rabbi at the Young Israel of Greenfield outside Detroit before accepting the position of head rabbi at the Young Israel in Forest Hills, where he stayed for 23 years.As an active community leader and former president of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, a borough-wide group of Orthodox rabbis, Wagner's influence and attention stretched far beyond his shul, friends and family members said.”He cared about people,” said his son Chaim, “and he remembered them.”The son, who attends the Chofetz Chaim yeshiva in Kew Gardens Hills, told of one summer day when his family was in the Denver airport during vacation and a porter helped them with their bags, which were full of kosher food since their destination had none.A month later, they were at the same airport and his father recognized the porter.”Even a porter in an airport in a strange city was an important person to him,” Chaim said.He also recounted when his father was near death at the hospital last week. A nurse asked who the family's rabbi was and his family responded “he is our rabbi.””My father's situation was very hard for us,” he continued. “But in Young Israel he is still alive. His influence is still with us.” Wagner is survived by his wife Bina; his three daughters Bracha, Chana, Sara; his son Chaim; his brother Rabbi Shmuel; his sisters Malkie Weisberg and Sara Baumol; and his mother Esther.Wagner's body was flown to Jerusalem after the service and buried last Thursday.Reach reporter Zach Patberg by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
