In a letter to Miami U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard, former classmate and current school principal Rabbi Eli Samber described Esformes as a devoted student at the Arie Crown Hebrew Day School in Skokie. Later, "when both of us were in our twenties and both newly married, Philip and I had a fixed time during the week that we would study Bible together," Samber's letter said. "This experience enabled me to see the depth of his character."