SERIES
things i learned…
While teaching everyone else
Pastoral and personal
When I was younger, I actually never
dreamed I’d be a congregational rabbi. I
wasn’t planning on being a fireman, but I
did consider doing journalism. The pulpit
seemed quite intimidating back then.
Then, as my Yeshiva studies developed
and I became a more serious student of
30 JEWISH LIFE n ISSUE 83
the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s teachings, I decided to devote my life to spreading the
word. Teaching Torah and, specifically,
bringing the beauty of the Jewish way of
life to the uninitiated became my passion.
When Rochel and I got married, we
both decided we would enlist in “The Reb-
be’s Army” and volunteer to be his
shluchim – emissaries to whichever community in the world he would choose to
send us. The Rebbe chose Johannesburg,
and so, in March 1976, we came here with
our two small sons. The initial mission
was to direct and develop the very first
Chabad House in SA. It was back in a
shtetl called Yeoville, on Harley Street, up
near the water tower. For 10 years, I directed all of Chabad’s budding outreach
activities in Johannesburg.
In 1983, I was also invited to establish
the Torah Academy Shul in Orchards. I
served as its founding rabbi until 1986,
when the Sydenham Shul ‘head-hunted’ me.
We followed the Rebbe’s guidance and
advice to accept Sydenham’s invitation,
and in September 1986, I was thrown in
the deep end of synagogue life as spiritual
leader of Johannesburg’s largest congregation. The pulpit became my second home.
But the truth is that my motivation in
the rabbinate was always the outreach
side. Such a huge congregation presented me with a golden opportunity to
reach out directly to thousands of Jews.
This was the exciting challenge that inspired me to accept the call from Sydenham Shul.
I confess it was not just the high-profile
pulpit, or the chance to officiate at many
bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, or sadly, funerals and unveilings – what some professionals cynically refer to as “hatch, match
and dispatch”.
Yes, I’d like to think that when I officiate at the milestones of life, I do a good
job – with expertise, warmth and compassion. I try to find the right words and capture the moment at each rite of passage.
But that was not what initially attracted
me to the rabbinate. My passion was always education, inspiration, and the opportunity to help motivate my fellow
Jews to a deeper understanding of the
Photograph: ilan ossendryver; portrait: ilan ossendryver
by rabbi yossy goldman