Funeral Details

My brother Moses Harris used to be friends with Martin.I remember him as a wonderful quiet person.So sorry for your loss.

Abbie Harris-Gottlieb

Abbie Gottlieb

I remember Martin as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Chicago when I taught there, as a faculty colleague at Northwestern University with an office next to mine, and as a friend. His professional contributions were well-known, and his exemplary conduct as a visibly observant Jewish faculty member honored all religious Jews. Although I was well aware of his medical history, I was still shocked when my son told me that Martin had passed away.

.המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים.

Shelby Haberman

Martin was interested in both mathematics and the Holy temple. (This was a character that Sir Isaac Newton also had.) About 12 years ago, Martin showed me a diagram from the Artscroll Talmud Bavli Yoma 52a: “Did you notice the Daf Yomi the day before yesterday? There was a golden ratio in the dimension of the Temple!” “Well, we all know that that the length of the Temple was 100 cubits, if you add up the number of cubits from the entrance to the partition in front of the Holy of Holies, it is this plus this plus this plus this, you get 62, and the ratio 62/100 is really close to 0.618… the golden ratio!” The golden ratio is regarded as beautiful, and I never heard about this beautiful finding elsewhere! If this is indeed a novel finding, I think this should be useful for Torah scholars and it should be credited to Martin. Motivated by Martin, I noticed that the inner space of the Holy and the Holy of Holies and the partition between them, add up to 61 cubits in length, or 61/100 of the total length. The golden ratio 0.618… is bracketed between these two ratios, and is closer to the ratio found by Martin.

From Michael Jiang, a friend of Martin for more than 28 years.

Michael Jiang

Dear, Tanner family

Please accept my condolences on your loss. My thoughts are with you during this very difficult time.

Kenechukwu Anadu (works with Noam Tanner)

Kenechukwu Anadu