Rabbi David Fine

“At the Straus Seminary, we learned practical halachot and focused on issues that aren’t taught in most yeshivas,” adds Italian-born Rabbi Eliezer Shai Dimartino, who is now serving as the community rabbi in Porto, Portugal, home to many descendants of Marrano families who hid their Judaism for centuries. “Some have known they are Jewish for many years and some are just discovering their heritage,” he says. “I must be able to respond to all of them. I am their rabbi, teacher, chazzan, shochet – everything except the mohel.”

The Challenges of a Changing World

Rabbi Yosef Etz-Hasadeh, who has been serving the Knesset Israel Torah Center in Sacramento, California, for the past five years, and Rabbi Yoav Melchior, who became rabbi of the 900-member Jewish community of Oslo, Norway, just a few months ago, were well prepared by their studies at the Straus Seminary to cope with the menace of anti-Semitism. The synagogue in Sacramento was firebombed and completely destroyed by white supremacists just before Rabbi Etz-Hasadeh’s arrival. “I was required to help a suddenly struggling, traumatized congregation consolidate and rebuild itself,” he says.

In Oslo, shots were fired at the synagogue shortly after Rabbi Melchior began his work. While the damage was minimal, Rabbi Melchior drew on his training in practical rabbinics as he spoke to the press and represented his congregation in the media. “I had to convey support for the State of Israel. At the same time, I had to stress that when people want to criticize Israel, it should not be done by attacking the Jewish community,” he explains. “In my practical rabbinics courses, I learned the importance of understanding local culture and speaking to the people in their language – both literally and figuratively.”

Engaging Jews of All Ages

Even in larger, more central Jewish communities, Straus rabbis are revitalizing Jewish life with Ohr Torah Stone’s singular approach of promoting Judaism that is grounded in halacha, yet tolerant, accessible and relevant.

“The infusion of a number of energetic and idealistic young rabbis from the Straus Seminary into synagogues and communities across the United Kingdom has helped change the face of British Jewry,” says Rabbi Saul Zneimer, who received semicha from the Straus Seminary’s David Falk Kollel and now serves Anglo Jewry as chief executive of the United Synagogue of the United Kingdom. “Straus rabbis have been involved in important and innovative Torah initiatives, engaging Jews of all ages and backgrounds with an approach to Judaism that is open and inviting, while remaining true to Torah ideals. The training these rabbis received at OTS has provided them with the ability to teach Torah that people can apply to their own lives in a very practical yet inspiring way."

In the large Jewish community of South Africa, people have been searching for a more modern, integrated and Zionistic approach to Torah Judaism, says Rabbi Doron Perez, a Straus-Amiel graduate who serves as the rabbi and executive director of the Mizrachi Organization in South Africa and senior rabbi of the Mizrachi Yeshiva shul. “My main mission has been to revitalize and re-establish religious Zionism and modern Orthodoxy, which have been dormant here to a certain extent in recent years.” Beit midrash Torah learning centers for men and women and creative programming to draw people to encourage regular synagogue attendance are central to his activities.

Ongoing Support

A key to the success of Straus rabbis in all locations is their ongoing connection with the seminary, through conferences that take place several times a year as well as personal contact with Straus faculty. That support is critical, stresses Rabbi Avichai Appel, who completed the Straus-Amiel program in 2000 and spent the following four years as a regional representative of the Berlin-based Association of German Congregations. Now in his second year of reaching out to the largely Russian-born, 4000-member Jewish population of Dortmond, Germany, Rabbi Appel says that the education he received under Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, director of the Straus-Amiel program, proved its worth as he opened the area’s first school, introduced a daily minyan and initiated extensive youth activities. “But even more important,” he insists, “ is my ongoing connection with the program.”

“Rabbi Birnbaum, Rabbi Riskin, and my other Straus teachers are always available to answer questions and give me advice,” agrees Rabbi Rami Avigdor in Guadelajara. “The support I receive from them is like oxygen for me.”

Musical Tribute: A concert by well-known entertainer Dudu Fisher in Frankfurt, Germany, celebrated Ohr Torah Stone’s contributions to the German Jewish community. Eight alumni of the Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Rabbinical Seminary are currently serving communities throughout the country. Pictured, left to right: President of Ohr Torah Stone Germany, Chaim Szeinwald; Dudu Fisher; event sponsor Daniel Jammer; Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and OTS Germany Board Member Nathan Kalmanowicz.