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OTS Newsletter - Summer 2007OTS "Down Under"
Growing numbers of Ohr Torah Stone graduates are making an impact in the Australian Jewish community in the areas of community leadership, education and youth work. “The community has been incredibly receptive to us,” says Rabbi Gad Krebs, who was recently appointed spiritual leader of the 450-family Kehilat Masada synagogue in Sydney. Krebs, who received semicha from OTS’s Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Rabbinical Seminary in Kiryat Shoshana, adjacent to Efrat, returned to his hometown in 2005 to serve as the congregation’s assistant rabbi. He provides educational programming for ages ranging from children to senior citizens, including shiurim on current topics such as medical ethics and business dilemmas. “People here are becoming excited about their exposure to learning Torah,” he reports. “Many of those who wouldn’t have come to classes before are now attending regularly.” Krebs has also set up a volunteer-run chesed organization, which provides financial support for community needs, as well as food packages, furniture and other services as needed for people experiencing temporary setbacks. Fifty Guests for Shabbat The rabbi and his Israeli-born wife, Tamar, focus strongly on outreach; on Pesach, they hosted a seder for 100 guests. “Each Shabbat, we have an open house for high school students in the community,” Krebs says, adding that 40 to 50 teenagers drop in each Shabbat, often staying for lunch.
In Melbourne, Rabbi Yoni Rosenzweig has been carrying out similar activities since arriving from Israel 10 months ago with his wife, Ilana and three children. As head of a kollel of six hesder yeshiva graduates, he organizes and teaches classes for men and women in the community and works closely with local youth leaders. One of the kollel’s most outstanding activities this year has been a Purim seudah for teenagers, held in conjunction with Bnei Akiva. “Working with the community’s Jewish youth is very exciting, but an even greater challenge is reaching out to young professional men and women,” discloses the rabbi. “After a long day of work, it’s hard for them to find time for Torah study. But I’m happy to report that there is now a core group of adults who regularly come to classes exploring Jewish texts that are relevant to contemporary Jewish life.” Rosenzweig credits his studies in the OTS Straus-Amiel Practical Rabbinics Program with helping him work toward the goal of imbuing Melbourne’s Jewish community with a love of Torah and learning. “Straus-Amiel acquainted me with the different cultural mindsets of the Diaspora and taught me practical skills for my work here.” Like Rosenzweig, Rabbi Gad Krebs remains in touch with his former teachers from the Straus Seminary. “The rabbis there were personal examples and role models,” he says. “They continue to illustrate to me how to approach leadership, relate to people and handle problems.” OTS Teamwork Three new OTS graduates are currently preparing to take up leadership positions in Australia in August. Ori Meir, a graduate of the Beren-Amiel Program for Educators, will become the main emissary of the Bnei Akiva youth movement in Australia and New Zealand. Based in Melbourne, he will work with schools to carry out programming and organize camps and activities. Elad Assoulin will work as the Bnei Akiva shaliach in Sydney, and Eitan Cohen will head a new Kollel Mitzion that is opening in Perth. “We will all work together as a team, dedicated to building religious Zionism through the unique OTS approach combining openness, tolerance and pluralism,” Meir says. “The warmth of the Australian Jewish community, together with the support we will continue to receive from OTS, provide the optimum conditions for assuring our success.”
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In Melbourne, Rabbi Riskin spoke about the pressing subject of
“Israel’s Present Leadership – Dealing with the Challenges” in a
lecture sponsored by the Mizrachi Organisation together with the Woman of
Valor Jewish Education Foundation.
On his recent visit to Australia as the guest of Kesser Torah College,
Rabbi Riskin was treated to a tour of the school and given the opportunity
to meet students and faculty.
Rabbi Riskin discussed religious Zionism at a Boardroom Lunch and Learn,
held in the offices of Ash Morgan Winthrop in Sydney and sponsored by Meir
Moss.
Rabbi Levi Wolff of Sydney’s Central Synagogue hosted Rabbi Riskin for
a communal lecture on the subject “Why Be Jewish?”