A Tribute to Rabbi Ezra Schochet: In honor of the 40th year celebration of Ohr Elchanon Chabad
By Shmully Hecht, Senior Chabad Rabbi at Yale University
We were assumed renegades. Perhaps not literally, though definitely different from our peers. No, we didn’t lack intelligence or basic learning skills. To the contrary, we were in the upper percentile of academic achievement. But that put us at even more risk. We were of the collective opinion that we had outgrown the local Yeshiva system and were considering places to learn for the year.
We sought refuge from the turbulence of New York and challenges of the times. Each of us was experiencing our own personal spiritual metamorphosis. We were in pursuit of the vital change of atmosphere that often accompanies the banality of the status quo. The local mosdos no longer resonated with us and the routine had run its course. We were not the run of the mill and we knew it. Our mechanchim didn’t disagree. Having been rejected from many of the Yeshivas we applied to didn’t surprise us. Speaking for myself, it was a compliment.
In 1993, I joined Schneur Zalman Kaplan, Meir Zarchi and Chaim Neubort for a year of study in Los Angeles. We embarked from New York in pursuit of the tutelage of Rabbi Ezra Schochet, world-renowned as simply The Rosh.
Today Schneur Zalman is a leading rabbi in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Chaim is a Law partner at Weil Gotshal and Meir is a successful business and community leader. Both Chaim and Mayer are known philanthropists and supporters of multiple Chabad Institutions. The year we spent with the Rosh was the most formative in our development as Chassidim, and perhaps the seminal year that shaped our adult lives.
My parents could not afford full tuition. The Rosh, despite his own financial challenges, allowed them to pay what they could afford. Years later I pointed out to Rabbi Schochet that the historian Heinrich Graetz was meant to have studied in Posen under Rabbi Akiva Eiger, but for the poverty of his parents. History need not repeat itself… Thank G-d in our case it didn’t.
Los Angeles isn’t particularly known for its Yeshivas. It is infamously known for decadence and materialism, falsehood and fantasy. It harbors all that is antithetical to the morals and values of a Yeshiva experience. The notion of spending a year immersed in learning and davening one block from Melrose Avenue was equivalent to traveling to Antarctica for a suntan.
Yet we were confident that Rabbi Schochet would steer our boat on course. We relied on him to prevent any intrusion of the high tides and troubling waves of Hollywood depravity. We were confident that the Rosh’s ark was sealed. It was water and wind-proof. We envisioned a self-sustaining spiritual oasis in which we would grow intellectually and spiritually.
Ohr Elchonon Chabad, we were told, operated beyond the norms of the established Yeshivas of New York. The Rosh Yeshiva was kind enough to create a special class for us and we were glad that he assumed the perceived risk of accepting us.
I distinctly remember the first farbrengen on the night of our arrival. The Rosh explained that Ohr Elchanon Chabad was endowed by the Rebbe in his directive to be Neiros Lihair, namely illuminators. As talmidim, we were not only responsible for ourselves but for the entire city.
He Ezra ascended from Bavel and he was the expert Scholar in the Torah of Moshe –Ezra 7:6
It was Ezra Hasofer who in the final years of the Babylonian exile brought the Jews back to Jerusalem to restore Jewish civilization and the glory of Torah in our ancient capital.
Upon arriving at Ohr Elchanon we noticed that alongside the mitzuyanim and Shluchim, there were students that had clearly been rejected by other institutions. Rabbi Schochet was courageous enough to admit them all. To this day I’m not sure of which category he placed the four of us. There were times he hollered and times he hugged. Times he taught and times he cried. Times he visited us past midnight in the Beit Medrash and times he showed up before dawn. His lectures to the public were no less impressionable than the one-on-one meetings he would host in his office. He would often invite us to discuss and resolve our greatest challenges. His commitment to and belief in every student was paramount. He gave our small group a private shiur, spent endless hours with us in the Beis Medrash , and often visited the dormitory and dining facilities to ensure our basic physical needs. He knew each and every one of us by first name and had detailed insight to our particular characters. He shed light on our strengths whilst teaching us how to overcome our weaknesses.
For Ezra prepared his heart to explain the Torah of Hashem and to perform and teach in Israel law and Justice –Ezra 7:10
Rabbi Schochet instilled within us a respect and love for Shulchan Aruch. On one evening he invited Schneur Zalman to his office and with tears in his eyes begged him to learn Halacha, assuring him that this would enhance his fear of heaven. Schenur Zalman often reminds me that those tears changed his life. The Rosh taught by example. The all too familiar Rabbi-Schochet-stare across the Beis Medrash , with his penetrating eyes and deep smile, was a reminder that you were up to no good. He seldom needed to do more than simply gaze at you. Often for longer than your liking. When the stare didn’t quite do it, you were often fortunate enough to hear your surname echo off the wooden panels lining the Beis Medrash. The shriek indicated that you were so far over the line, he could not contain himself. Twenty five years later I often see the Rosh in my dreams, hearing “Heeeecccccchhhht” reverberating across time and space. I often call out my Yale students by their last name, reminiscent of that initial call to action. He internalized our particular challenges and was cognizant of the subtle nuances that bochurim were dealing with. He loved each and every one of us like his own child and we all knew it. Hearing your name was like a love call. The Rosh was letting you know to shape up fast. He was calling our Yechida, the essence of our souls.
And you Ezra according to the wisdom of your G-d in your hand appoint adjudicators and judges … and those that don’t know , you shall teach –Ezra 7:25
Rabbi Schochet was training us to be Chabad Shluchim, each in our own way. Ohr Elchonon was far from a holding pen. It was ground Zero of Lubavitch in the heart of Hollywood. It was the Yeshiva that would ultimately train hundreds if not thousands of Rabbis, educators, mentors, administrators, philanthropists and community lay leaders that span the globe today. The standard of Ohr Elchanon was tantamount to those seminaries reserved for educating the educators. The Rosh was not only teaching us how to study in the most intricate ways, but how to inspire others.
>i>And for those that don’t follow the law…death, uprooted, punished, fined and tortured –Ezra 7:26
There was an unspoken fear of the Rosh. It was subtle. A fear inspired by awe rather than one of consequence. All men of great esteem invoke our greatest insecurities and yet stimulate our greatest talents. There was and is no monkey business with the Rosh. No small talk. No nonsense. He let us elect our own paths while constantly reminding us of our consequential choices. In heart-to-heart discussions he would quote Koheles and the vanity of the material life. He constantly drove us to aspire to a higher calling. He always taught by example.
Blessed is G-d for giving the King (Darius) the insight to allow us to glorify the House of G-d in Jerusalem. And I found kindness in the King and his staff, ….and I gathered leaders from among the Jews to go up with me –Ezra 7:27
The Rosh has an amazing sense of humor. One could almost mistake it for a dark humor. It is rather one of unbearable light. It communicated a sincere appreciation of his disciples and thereby uplifted us. The Rosh always elevated the most forsaken among us in our troubling times. He infused us with an intellectual ecstasy of learning that only great leaders imbue in their constituents. His ideas were contagious. One simply wanted to engage with him. Not to merely argue in the Gemarah or Sicha but to breathe his wisdom as a subliminal form of oxygen. The only currency of any relevance that permeated Ohr Elchanan was that of Torah and Midos Tovos. If you were intellectually divorced, you were on life support. To resuscitate those that were, he shared his genuine love.
And when I heard this thing (the sins of the Jewish People ) I rent my garment and my robe and tore my hair and my beard and sat bewildered… Lord of the Jews you are righteous for we have remained but a remnant of sin , we remain in our guilt and can no longer stand before you –Ezra 9:3 – 9:15
And then Ezra cries and the nation of Israel gathers around him –Ezra 10
In the final chapter of the book of Ezra, the Jewish People are confronted with a population that has already intermarried. Ezra is confronted with more than the challenge of pending assimilation. He was dealing with its aftermath. Ezra Hasofer had arrived in Jerusalem to resuscitate Am Yisroel, set the tone for the second dynasty and rebuild the Temple. In a rather strange fashion, the final Chapter of the Book of Ezra enumerates the names of all those men that had committed the cardinal sin of cutting ties with the Nation of Israel by intermarrying. As each of them repents and abandons their error, the Torah announces them by name. As they abandon their mistakes, Ezra liberates them one by one.
We the alumni of Ohr Elchonon have indelible memories of the late-night learning in the Beit Medrash. We have witnessed the Rosh embracing his Gemarah on top of heaps of seforim, ruminating in deep thought and soft hymn. We were inspired by his farbrengens and soul- penetrating melodies. We observed the Rosh’s sincere love for the simpleton that would randomly show up in the Beit Medrash. They were often the homeless men roaming the streets of Los Angeles. We were touched by the way the Rosh davened. We know how much the Rosh loved each and every one of us. We never allowed that affection to form envy as we fought for his time and attention.
We were privileged to have been in the presence of our personal Ezra who taught us Law and Justice, both in our books and by example. Like Ezra of old, he announced us by name for our iniquities, followed by the path to atone. How blessed are we to have basked in the light of a man who could have been teaching in Jerusalem but chose the spiritually decadent shadows of the vacuous hills of Hollywood. It was indeed under his wing that we were trained and shown that Chabad can only flourish if we are to care not only for ourselves but the strangers among us. So many of us have committed our lives to precisely that principal. Each of us in our own personal way. Indeed, as instructed by the Rebbe, Neiros Lihoir.
Thank you Rabbi Schochet and the entire staff of Ohr Elchonon Chabad. Ashreinu Mah Tov Chelkeinu Uma Naim Gorlaleinu.
The 40th anniversary dinner of Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad (YOEC) in Los Angeles will be held on Tuesday, February 20, 2018, at the Universal Hilton Hotel. To join, visit yoec.edu/banquet-2018
He learned in the Litvish Yeshivos and he came to Lubavitch it was their loss and our gain.
Looking forward to a great evening celebrating the foundation of YOEC, Rabbi Schochet
Is it possible please if col could have pics & a video of the dinner tonight posted on the website please, this is a very very very special occasion, ty
Rabbi Shochet has been like a father figure to me any many others since we were 17 yrs old (for almost 20 years)
Well written and we’ll articulated! Mazal Tov on the Rosh’s milestone!
Kaplan’s cool small lenses, A radio interview the boys did, you were all so proud of that.
Many, many more from an LA boy..
The Rosh the best Mechanech I ever had in my life! No joke.
it made me wish that I studied in LA.
The Rosh is a man worthy of honor but the comparison to Ezra is too exaggerated for my taste.
It ruins an otherwise good tribute.
One has to know how to give Kavod in a real way, not with crazy titles and guzmaos
Mendy T please anounce yourself.
Brilliant. Fascinating. Interesting. moving and beyond
What a beautiful, well written essay. Nice to see hakaras hatov to our mechcanchim. As a parent who has had children in almost every moisad, boys and girls in the world, I often think of my appreciation for all tbe mechanchim and mechanchos who have shaped and formed my children to be the chassidim they are. B”h.
Very nice article. Totally agree, without any exaggeration! !!
Thank you Rosh for your help and dedication. Weare grateful
so well written. Lucky are you that you were able to see all the qualities
Beautiful article. Maybe if I would of gone there, I would shape up…
I will never forget that year or the four of you guys
Mendy T