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Har Zion Rabbi “Tells It Like It Is”

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Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher blends the classical style of Torah study he absorbed in Yeshiva Torah Vodaath with his trademark humor to inspire his students at Jerusalem’s Diaspora Yeshiva.  Photo Credit: Norma OropezaJust like with any authentic talmid chacham, Torah easily rolls off the lips of Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, Dean of Students and Senior Lecturer at Israel’s Diaspora Yeshiva on Har Zion. Ask him a question, watch his mind click, and then he races to find the Rashi or Tosfos, etc. — the page, the perek, the answer.

Born in Vienna, a son of Holocaust survivors, Ephraim Sprecher grew up living across the street from the famed Yeshiva Torah Vodaath when it was still in Williamsburg. “Brooklyn, not Virginia,” he quickly points out.

The Torah rolls off his tongue, and his students roll with laughter – when they hear his take on current events. Enjoying wordplay based on current events, “Abu Mamzer” and “Obamination” frequently come up in Rabbi Sprecher’s conversations. “Did you know that the Gematria for ‘Gog and Magog’ are the same as for the ‘United Nations’?” he asks his students at Diaspora Yeshiva.

Always religious, Rabbi Sprecher was nonetheless a “little wild” as a youngster, by his own admission. (Not uncommon for children of survivors.) He listened to the radio late at night and today can, and still does, sing popular melodies from the 1950’s and 60’s. “Tell It Like It Is”

is one of his favorites. But this didn’t interfere with his education at Torah Vodaath. “Things were different then. Many students went to college,” he reminisces. College attendance was something one did to get a job.

While at night he studied sociology and education, by day he learned with the venerable Rav Avrohom Pam – the future Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodaath – whom he met in 1968. Rav Pam was an American Jew who combined the scholarly lamdan with the embodiment of Torah — the tzadik.

Rabbi Sprecher’s rebbeim in Torah Vodaath – Rav Pam, Rav Gedaliah Schorr and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l – were all part of the Gedolei Hador, the Torah giants of the generation. They inspired Rabbi Sprecher to want to become a teacher too. “I idolized my rebbeim,” the rabbi admits, a note of nostalgia in his voice. “Not just because of their learning, but because of their modesty and humility, and the way they treated each student with love and respect. They were our heroes and role models. We wanted to be like them, to influence future generations.”

Rav Pam often told the dramatic story that once occurred with his own Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Shlomo Heiman zt”l. One winter day, there was a blizzard and only two students showed up to the rebbe’s shiur. Rav Heiman delivered the Torah class as if all 200 students were there. When the two students asked him afterwards why he exerted so much effort just for them, the distinguished Rosh Yeshiva replied, “I’m not talking only to you, but to your future students, to your children and grandchildren.” He felt that he was teaching untold generations that would come through them and because of them. Thinking about how you influence others and can ensure that such influence continues to affect future generations, this is the work of a true Torah teacher.

With his juxtaposition of contemporary culture with classical Judaism, Rabbi Sprecher is certainly an original. But the Talmud itself, in Masechet Shabbos, says that a teacher should start his class with some humor. “A joke, a little laughter, that’s what captured our attention,” he reminisces. Nothing like a laugh to rally the distracted listeners and focus the daydreamers. He certainly learned that lesson well!

In 1970, Rabbi Sprecher made his first trip to Israel. While visiting the Tomb of King David on Har Zion, he started talking to a student from the Diaspora Yeshiva, who subsequently introduced him to Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Goldstein, the Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbi Sprecher studied Torah with Rabbi Goldstein for two months, and the two established a real connection.

Rabbi Goldstein must have understood that the then long-haired rabbi from America would fit in with the Rosh Yeshiva’s concept for his newly formed yeshiva, so he told the visitor to first go back home and obtain his college degree.

Making aliyah was foremost in Rabbi Sprecher’s mind, especially after reading Rabbi Yissachar Teichtel’s book, Aim HaBanim Smeicha (‘The Mother of Children is Happy.’) “When I read that book in 1988, it was clear that I couldn’t remain in chutz la’aretz,” he states passionately. “The mother is Eretz Yisrael, and she’s happy when her children come home.” Finally, in 1994, after teaching Jewish Studies at Touro College, Rabbi Sprecher made aliyah.

Ephraim Sprecher’s rebbeim had succeeded — he had absorbed their knowledge of the Torah, mixed with his own quirkiness. He was to become the one who could communicate to the disparate types who, in Israel, discovered they were in spiritual exile. And now Rabbi Sprecher spreads his unique Torah insights beyond the confines of the yeshiva via his website, rabbisprecher.com, which features his essays on the parsha and other realms of Torah.

What Rabbi Sprecher most tries to convey to his students is the understanding that Hashem doesn’t need all our prayers and mitzvot. When we daven, we’re not doing Him any favors, but we are really doing ourselves the greatest favor. As Rabbi Sprecher explains, it is the only way to get close to Him, to bask in His glory and prepare ourselves for Olam Habah (the next world). As Hashem tell us in Devarim Chapter 8, we are the ones to benefit in our service to Him. It is a privilege to be able to connect with Him, as is alluded to in the word for mitzvah, which comes from the root to ‘bond.’ Praising Him results in our bonding to – and for – eternity.

The gutsy rabbi brings it back to the old Peggy Lee song, wherein she recounts a childhood experience. After her father takes her to the circus and she has enjoyed all the rides and the goodies, she sings, “Is That All There is? Is That All There Is?” After the thrills and the excitement wear off, there is only Hashem and His promise of eternity that has it all.

Essentially, Rabbi Sprecher is telling us, “It’s all based on our perspective.” As it says in the Mishnah, Chapter 4, “Enjoy the pleasures of this world, but recognize they’re just the corridor to the real palace, the real life with our Almighty Maker in Olam Habah.”

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