Aryeh Krassenstein

Arie - We met the first time while IBM acquired Unicorn. I served then as the IT manager of IBM Research Lab and you were the IT guy of Unicorn. We worked together on this merge, doing Unicorn as part of IBM, provide new IBM laptops to each person, help people to work with Lotus Notes, make all laptops compliance per IBM requirements and make blue all Unicorn servers  per IBM security guidelines .The re were wonderful days working with you. I always remember you with your smile, helped solve problems to every user, treat everyone with full respect, you were calm and gentle, the first to understand you now are working in a big company, and need to comply with its requirements like non stop compliant issues. I enjoyed managing you few years. Your good wishes to help the business, help each person,  being so responsible  for the work, while always find the time needed to be with your children.
Later you, Avi Hochman,  the Haifa network group and myself worked hard to have a new and bigger site in Malcha and relocated Iphrase and Unicorn into one big and nice site in Malcha. We considered how to spilt the IT work in Malcha and while Avi wished to manage the servers and the computer room, you prefered giving IT support personally to each person. You loved this work, you gave the best support to every one, and all users were so happy getting the help from you, always wit h the big smile. They always know they can trust you to find the problem and fix it on the best side
I  will  always remember you, your smile, your good wishes to help everyone.
Deepest condolences to the family

It's been over three weeks and I'm still in denial. I don't even know what to say.
How can it be that Aryeh who is so full of life is not here anymore?

Aryeh, I met you when iPhrase and Unicorn were bought by IBM and combined into one office in Malcha. Because of a problem with the way my cubicle had been built, I was moved to the IT room. You weren't there that day because it was the day of your son's brit. When I met you the next day, I joked that you had planned things well - avoiding moving day as an IT guy. We were friends from that day on.

But I quickly learned how far that little joke was from the truth. You never avoided work or an opportunity to help people. I was always amazed at how you knew where everything was in those piles of Thinkpads and drawers of cables - you always had what people needed and knew where it was. And if you didn't, you made sure to get it. Even if something wasn't really critical or important to me you'd come over a couple weeks later and tell me that you just got the adapter (or whatever) that I had mentioned that I could use. How did you remember what everyone needed?
The answer to that is simple. You cared. About everybody. You just wanted to help because you're a great guy. The definition of a mentsch.

I saw how people would come in just to say hi and schmooze with you. And when I moved out of the IT room, I became one of them. Whether we were talking sports or you were raving about your kids and their accomplishments and how proud you were of them - you were always positive and fun to talk to, and you remained that way through ups and downs. You didn't ask for anything and were always happy to give.

And here we are, over three weeks after receiving that phone call. And I'm still in shock and denial. I think about you every time something quirky happens to my computer, every time I want to talk sports with someone at work, and often in between.

The last thing that I wrote to you on Slack just a couple weeks before you left us is still ringing in my head and will for a long time: "It was great to catch up. We should get together. I miss our little chats."

I miss you, my friend. You left us way too soon. There's a hole that can never be filled. Thanks for being you.
תהיה נשמתך צרורה בצרור החיים

My deepest condolences to the entire family.

Aryeh,

The words are just not coming out. I don't want to say goodbye. You where such a good friend, I wish we could have spent more time together in the past few years, please forgive me I ask for your Machilah.

You made coming to work fun, you where my partner in crime, and I always enjoyed the time we spent working and exploring together. Being your friend at work had its privileges, and it was truly my privilege to be your friend. We spent endless hours schmoozing about life, your adventures in Uman, your jobs in Atlantic City. I was honored to be invited to your wedding and share in your Simcha, you were so proud and so happy. You would talk about your boys and the gymnastic program, you were so proud of them and they where the center of your life. You where incredibly modest, always fun, and sometimes carried a little too much sadness.

There was a spiritual side to you, a light that radiated through your face and beamed outward, how I loved being in your presence.
I remember you once explaining to me the secret of our trade. That when we come to fix a computer/networ k that has been acting up, and it suddenly starts to work on its own, it was never us fixing the problem, but the Malachim (Angels) that accompany us wherever we go, they are the ones doing the real work, all we need to do is to be present and to show that we care.
It takes a truly special soul to see the spiritual in the mundane, and in that regard I was very proud to be your student.
I have shared your Torah with countless people, always crediting you with the wisdom you had taught me. I will be thinking of you the next time an issue suddenly vanishes before my eyes and wonder if this time you were the angel walking by my side.

May your Neshama be elevated ever higher and higher.

Shalom my dearest friend,
Simeon

Oh, Aryeh...
We go back 19 years, from the early Unicorn days in Jerusalem.

Always a mensch.

Always projecting a positive calm and being infectious at that. And yes, that's especially remarkable and kind in the often hectic work environment.

Whether in the office, at company fundays, or chanced upon on the way to the Carlebach Shabbat minyan in Nachlaot... Aryeh radiated the ability to live in the moment... in the positive, thoughtful sense. He exemplified mindfulness even before the word was invented.

He was "our guy" in the IT department. Always frank and straight about company policies, and yet I felt he's "on my side"... Ready with invaluable and reliable advice, such as when to delay a laptop upgrade till a better model comes out... or which graphic card would help my son enjoy a more fluent Fortnite experience.

For everyone in the office, Aryeh was an IT problem-solving superhero with a smile.

Only 6 weeks ago, as I was returning IBM equipment, we were talking outside your apartment, masks and all, reminiscing about IBM-Malcha, Unicorn, and the good old yeshiva days...

What a loss.

זכיתי להכיר את אריה מיד עם תחילת העבודה שלי ביבמ. זכיתי לעבוד עם אריה, מאז שהכין את הציוד הרלוונטי עבורי ועד סיום עבודתי שם. הוא סייע לי מעל ומעבר בכל בעיה שנתקלתי בה.
מעבר לעבודה המשותפת, החברות עמו היתה נעימה כל כך - אדם מקסים, חייכן וסבלני, עם נתינה אינסופית: אם זה טיפים טכנולוגיים או ייעוץ בקניית מוצרים ואם זה תמיכה בעניינים אישיים אחרים, תמיד נכון לעזור. 
תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים