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"Word spread of how enjoyable his hour-long service was," said Rose Mark, a friend of Feinberg. "The recruits liked it so much, half of them were not even Jewish."
When Feinberg didn't show up as usual this Sunday, a depot official called to check on him and was devastated to hear he had given his last service, Mark said.
Feinberg, 88, of Port Royal, died early Saturday, after falling ill a few days earlier, Mark said. He is survived by his wife, Selma, and son, Jeremy.
Born and raised just outside New York City, Feinberg worked in public relations for a toy manufacturer before he moved to the Beaufort area about 10 or 11 years ago to take a job as cantor at the Beth Israel Synagogue.
He brought with him a "brilliant voice," colorful personality and a tireless passion for the Jewish faith, said Mark, former president of the synagogue who interviewed Feinberg for the cantor position, who leads the congregation in songs, chants and responses.
Beaufort's setting inspired him so much, he wrote a song called "Ode to Beaufort" and petitioned city council members to adopt it as the community's official song last year.
Though they declined, the song remains a testament to Feinberg's love of the Lowcountry and community that instantly felt like home to the New York native, Mark said.
Throughout his time in Beaufort, Feinberg was a frequent contributor to The Beaufort Gazette's letters to the editor and op-ed page. His final letter, verified a day before his death, can be read on page 6A of today's newspaper.
Feinberg retired from his cantor duties about 2005 but continued singing and serving at congregations throughout the region's small Jewish community, said Charles Kresch, president of Beth Israel Synagogue.
"He was a dreamer," Kresch said. "He always had something he was wanting to do or trying to get people to help him with."
One of those projects included the Port Royal Learning Center, which he founded in 2006. The center included a red caboose donated by developer John Keith that sits off Paris Avenue in downtown Port Royal.
Inside was a Jewish-life exhibit and collection of books from his family and the family of his wife. Feinberg wanted to create a Holocaust memorial in honor of those killed in concentration camps but instead taught Judaism classes inside the old caboose.
"That was his outlet in retirement," Mark said. "He went there every day, opened it up and would teach anyone who came by about the religion."
Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling, a member of the Beth Israel Synagogue, called Feinberg a "wonderful, kind, generous and funny person" who always was committed to the congregation and those he served.
He found an outlet for his humor every year during the Jewish holiday, Purim, when he would entertain congregation members by acting like a clown, Kresch said.
Feinberg embodied faith and passion, and those traits that made him a leader were coupled with a strong-willed personality, Mark said.
"He'd sit across from me at the table and I'd say, 'Sheldon listen to me,' " she said. "Most of the time he just had his own way of doing things. But he was always trying to do good, always with a nice smile on his face."
