What a refreshing breath of fresh air to hear last Shabbat from an up and coming star in the world of Jewish education, Rav Shimshon Jacob. Rav Jacob, with a family history of community building in New Jersey, is the founding director of the Kemach Institute in Israel. He made a fascinating and very out-of-the-box presentation on Parashat Kedoshim that included a choir singing Mary Had a Little Lamb and youngsters acting out the process of Moshe Rabbeinu’s teaching of Torah in the Midbar, replete with dolls as props.
The Kemach Institute describes itself on its website (http://www.kemachinstitute.org/) as a program whose purpose “is to create a goal oriented and experiential educational opportunity in which we provide gap year students with a comfortable, meaningful learning environment, while at the same time training them with the skills to produce real world accomplishments in various trades. We are the first gap-year program to provide hands-on, project-based learning for post high school Anglo students spending a year in Israel. The focus is to provide quantifiable targets both in the Judaic and Professional Skills areas of the program in order to allow every student to perceive their growth and accomplishment.” The video describing the Kemach Institute explains how students are presented with unprecedented opportunities to engage in Torah activities such as making tzitzit and tefillin and writing megillot.
At Shaarei Orah, Rav Jacob’s goal was to communicate in a most powerful manner that every Jew is part of Kedoshim, the directive and goal to be holy. Unlike other portions of the Torah that were taught in a didactic manner designed for elite students to achieve proficiency, Parashat Kedoshim was presented to everyone gathered together for a speech. Rav Jacob explained that every Jew has an equal opportunity and responsibility regarding Kedushah.
Rav Jacob recounted with confidence and great dignity his own journey and the roadblocks to his realizing his potential. Rav Shimshon struggled for many years with dyslexia and explained his struggle in a most interesting manner. He recruited four members of Shaarei Orah to sing Mary Had a Little Lamb and challenged everyone to see how far they could get in their attempts to simultaneously sing HaTikvah to themselves. It was a surprisingly difficult task to accomplish. Rav Shimshon thereby illustrated his struggles of trying to read one way when everyone else was going in the other direction. The saintly staff of Sinai managed to help Rav Shimshon deal with his challenge. Later Rav Jacob decided to return the favor and established a program that will reach those for whom the conventional path of Torah study is not yet effective.
While during the Shabbat morning speech, Rav Jacob proclaimed that everyone can and must become holy, at Seudah Shelishit he explained what it means to be holy. Drawing upon the emergence of Shabbat where the root K’D’SH appears in the Torah for the first time, Rav Jacob taught that Kadosh means to create space for the other. Hashem, by creating the world, made space for us to exist. In response, we are bidden to reciprocate and carve out room for Hashem in our lives. Rav Jacob concretized this point by asking each of us on the right side of the table to extend our hand across the table. Invariably, the people on the other side extended their hand in exchange. Rav Jacob explained that just as we make room for someone who has made room for us in his life by extending his hand, we should reciprocate and be holy since Hashem is holy. Just as Hashem makes room for us in His world, we make room for Him in our world.
We definitely should make room for Rav Shimshon Jacob in the world of great Jewish educators and his creative and innovative Kemach Institute. His is an idea and institution whose time has come. In his address to Shaarei Orah, Rav Jacob spoke about his great desire to bring Nahat to his grandfather of blessed memory. Rav Jacob has exceeded his dream. He brings great Nahat not only to his grandfather and family, he brings great pride and joy to the entire community. Rav Jacob represents what is right in our community—a beautiful story of success. May Hashem help Rav Shimshon Jacob bring his family, the Kemach Institute and his students to ever higher levels of success!
By Rabbi Haim Jachter
Rabbi Haim Jachter is the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck.
