By COLlive reporter
Israel’s Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi Dovid Lau was invited by the Sydney Beth Din to enhance and encourage Australian Jewry to stay strong and to flourish in Torah and Mitzvos.
Rabbi Lau visited the Chabad school Kesser Torah, Moriah College, and Mount Sinai College and spoke to students about their studies.
He told them that as a child of 10, his teacher called him to the front of the classroom for misbehaving. The teacher asked him, “Your father is a great man. Correct?”
“Yes,” the young boy replied, referring to his father, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the Holocaust survivor who served as Israel’s Chief Rabbi.
“You come from an unbroken chain of 37 generations of rabbis,” the teacher then said. “Take this piece of chalk and draw a zero on the blackboard for each generation, back to the Maharal and Rashi.”
The teacher then asked the young Lau to draw a line to connect all the zeros on the board and then said, “you have the choice to either continue this legacy or break the chain…”
Rabbi Lau told the Australian school children that “this story carries me throughout my life,” proudly noting how he stands today in the position his father once held, the first father and son in the Israeli Rabbinate.
During his visit, Rabbi Lau participated in the commencement of a new Sefer Torah to be brought to Chabad of Bondi, led by Dayan Rabbi Yehoram Ulman and inspected the local Eruv and shechita accompanied by Rabbi Moshe Gutnick.
Rabbi Lau continued on to Melbourne for a few days and will tour various communities, synagogues and schools.
Looks like a full schedule between the rabbis and community.
Yasher koach downunder!
go rabbi/sofer eli gutnick