A new rabbinical college opened its doors this month, generating a positive vibe in the trendy area of East Boca Raton, an affluent neighborhood boasting a large, but not particularly religious, Jewish population.
“The launching of the first Boca Raton Rabbinical College is a historic milestone for the entire Palm Beach County Jewish community as it now joins the ranks of the great centers of Jewish scholarship,” declared Rabbi Ruvi New, spiritual leader of Chabad-Lubavitch of East Boca and administrator and founder of the new post-secondary yeshiva named Machon Menachem. “For the first time ever, rabbinic leaders of tomorrow will be trained and ordained right here in Boca Raton.”
Currently 14 students are attending Machon Menachem for their final year of study towards rabbinical ordination under the guidance of dean Rabbi Berel Gurary. Like other Chabad-Lubavitch run rabbinical programs around the world, the curriculum includes not only intense Torah study, but also communal work as well.
At least 25 boys had applied to Machon Menachem, but capacity was limited, said New. The average age of the students is between 21 and 22, and they hail from Florida, California, Chicago, New York, Massachusetts, Montreal and Australia.
Plans to build the institution were “in the works for two years,” explained New. “The idea was to bolster our own community through the study of Torah and the students’ energy, as well as our own capacity for outreach.”
The greater Boca Raton area is home to a flourishing Jewish community of about 60,000 people, but according to New, while Palm Beach County includes “numerous day schools, high schools, kosher restaurants and other Jewish institutions, one thing it didn’t have was a post-high school yeshiva.”
Chabad of East Boca, one of five Chabad Houses serving Boca Raton, was established in 1999. On average, its weekly Sabbath services attract more than 50 people.
“The objective was to create momentum in the neighbourhood and a level of enthusiasm around the school and community,” said Ari Kugler, a primary donor who provided a house to serve as the yeshiva’s dormitory. “Candidly speaking, we thought what was really needed was a large contingent of youth: enthusiastic people that would have a real impact with their learning and outreach. Fourteen boys are like a small private army.”
The goal, he added, is “to turn East Boca, an attractive neighborhood near the beach, into a Jewish center [by instituting] a five-star ordination program to attract young people and families.”
Kugler’s wife Gracia, a pediatrician, took the summer off to supervise the dorm’s renovation.
Philanthropist Mendy Schurder, another major donor, has been living in Boca for eight years.
“I see how many Jewish people live in this city – it’s close to 50 percent Jewish,” he observed. “So it’s a question of being able to reach out to them. One way of helping to educate people is to have a yeshiva, creating an opportunity for boys to interact and to learn one-on-one. It’s also the impression a yeshiva leaves on a town or community. It becomes a city of Torah.”
In addition, sad Schurder, “these boys seem to be enjoying the [community] responsibility and are leaving a good impression. There’s a buzz and excitement I haven’t seen before. I hope it continues.”
Student Levi Weingarten, 21, grew up in Flint, Mich., where his father, Rabbi Yisroel Weingarten, runs the Chabad House of Eastern Michigan.
Weingarten appears to be following in his father’s footsteps, acknowledging that outreach is what he “absolutely” hopes to pursue after graduating. Aside from being thrilled to study under the tutelage of the esteemed Gurary, he was looking for a small institution where students would likely get more individual attention.
“So far, so good – even better than expected,” he commented. “The program definitely took off on the right foot.”
At 19, Chicago native Mordechai Kurtz is the youngest of the Machon Menachem students. He, too, cited Gurary as one of the yeshiva’s draws.
“I was looking for a program where I could study to be a rabbi while simultaneously learning to become a ‘rabbi on the street,’ ” explained Kurtz. “I always enjoyed volunteering, [doing] community work, helping people. Here we go out and speak to people about Judaism and hold one-on-one discussions. It broadens your perspective. Florida is a beautiful place. East Boca needed something like this.
“Not necessarily will I become a pulpit rabbi,” he mused. “But no matter what I do, I plan to stay active in the community, whether professionally or not. I want to learn and [be ordained].Even if I go into business or teaching, it’s something you always carry with you.”
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