We mourn the loss of Ted Comet, a visionary leader in the Jewish community and, in the last 10 years of his life, a cherished DOROT volunteer.
“Ted left an indelible mark on Jewish life—as he had so many accomplishments,” said Mark L. Meridy, DOROT’s Executive Director. “And for the last 10 years, we were incredibly fortunate that even as he turned 100, this remarkable man devoted himself to serving as a DOROT volunteer.”
In his collaboration with DOROT, Ted welcomed more than 1,300 people into his home on the Upper West Side—and many more on Zoom—for an experience of art, healing, and resilience. During these visits, he shared the story of his late wife Shoshana through a tour of five monumental tapestries that she created in her 40s as a way of coming to terms with the trauma she suffered as a Holocaust survivor.
Ted’s “tapestry tours” became one of DOROT’s unique intergenerational experiences, inspiring participants of all ages, including hundreds of teens. In sharing Shoshana’s story, Ted was driven by a desire to share her belief, developed through weaving the tapestries and in her time as a psychotherapist, that “trauma can be transmuted into creative energy.”
“I find that young people don’t get enough exposure to inspirational role models,” Ted once told us. “And this does that.” He also shared that the tours were a means for him to deal with the trauma of his wife’s death.
In 2023, Ted was among a group of exceptional volunteers honored by DOROT at its annual benefit. His story is featured in this video.
Ted Comet began his involvement with Jewish communal work as a student volunteer in Europe following the Second World War, where he helped rehabilitate Jewish war orphans through a program funded by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). It was there he met and became close friends with a teenage Elie Wiesel. On returning to the States, Ted pursued a master’s degree in social work and then began his work as a Jewish communal professional.
He was director of the American Zionist Youth Council for several years, at which time he co-founded New York’s Israel Day Parade. Later he was a leader at the Council of Jewish Federations and in 1990, was appointed associate executive vice president of JDC. As volunteer coordinator at the Conference on Soviet Jewry, Ted organized the first major public demonstration of solidarity with Soviet Jews.
“It was a real honor to know Ted Comet and we are incredibly fortunate to have had him dedicate so much of his time in the later years of his life to DOROT and offering the Tapestry Tours,” said Meridy.
May his memory be a blessing.