A STAR BURNS BRIGHT IN THE DESERT

Tzachi was an outstanding drama student at Tel Aviv University when he first met R’ Fishel Jacobs at the students’ club. Today, R’ Yitzchok Francis is a busy shliach, a sought after speaker who reaches hundreds, even thousands, a month, and a talented actor known to thousands of bar mitzva boys and their families through the Chabad House of Yam HaMelach’s bar mitzva program. * In a conversation with Beis Moshiach, the two of them tell of their first encounter, their deep talks, Shabbos meals, struggles and the dramatic decision that changed the life of the student. * About the Igeres HaT’shuva, which was read with tears on the university lawn, the secret to success in kiruv, and shlichus at the lowest point on the globe.

By Zalman Tzorfati

R’ Yitzchok Francis at a bar mitzvah ceremony on MasadaThe captivating desert landscape which can be seen from the peak of Masada spreads forth as far as the eye can see. Within a not very large area, surrounded by a low stone wall, the remnant of a shul that served those who fled for this mountain during the second Temple era, sits a well to do family on white plastic chairs. They politely listen to the explanations of R ’ Shimon Elharar, director of the Yam HaMelach–Masada Chabad house, about the bar mitzva ceremony which is about to begin. The rabbi promises an interesting program and a special surprise.

The sun begins to heat up, the father reaches out and emotionally grasps the hand of his son, the bar mitzva boy. The mother wipes away tears. The grandmother in a wheelchair takes out a flowered fan from her bag and tries to cool herself off, and two cousins in the last row start to lose interest. Suddenly, in runs a figure from ancient times, wearing a white robe and leaving behind a trail of white dust. The man breathes heavily and tells the family that he has escaped Jerusalem and the terrors of the Roman government and he seeks their help in finding his family who have been lost.

It takes the crowd a few minutes to figure out that this is the promised surprise. The escapee from the second Temple era takes the family on a fascinating journey from the Beis HaMikdash to the bar mitzva of the boy, in a performance full of humor and Jewish messages that turns the bar mitzva into an unforgettable experience.

The actor is R’ Yitzchok Francis, lecturer, actor, and shliach at the Chabad House of Yam HaMelach. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, R’ Francis is busy from morning till afternoon with bar mitzva ceremonies on the mountain. The rest of the time he is a shliach who lectures on positive thinking, relationships, and many other subjects.

R’ Francis may have been born an actor, but not a rabbi. His first foray into Judaism was made with the help of R’ Fishel Jacobs who was a shliach at Tel Aviv University. R’ Francis was a drama student at the time and the spark that R’ Jacobs ignited turned into a “flame that went up of its own accord,” which in turn, ignites many others.

CULINARY TRADITION

R’ Francis, who was called Tzachi back then, grew up in Haifa. His parents made aliya from the Balkans. He was the youngest child of a small, traditional family. They made kiddush now and then, marked holidays with special foods and sometimes religiously too, but not much more than that.

Tzachi was drawn to the stage every since he can remember.

“From a young age, I dreamed of being an actor in the theater. In high school, I chose theater courses, and since then the stage has been a part of me.”

After high school, Tzachi was drafted as a medic in a special naval unit. When he finished his service, he tried getting accepted into an exclusive acting school, the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio. He was unsuccessful and he decided to compensate himself with a long tour in the US.

“In America, I began a sort of spiritual journey. I started asking myself questions about the future and the meaning of life. I suddenly began to feel strange stirrings when I did inappropriate things, as though G-d was watching me and was not pleased. Later on, when I returned home, my mother told me that at precisely that time she had decided to light Shabbos candles as a merit for me. With her motherly intuition, she sensed my confusion and every Erev Shabbos she prayed for me as she lit the candles and asked Hashem to illuminate my eyes and show me the right way in life.”

A MOTHER’S PRAYER

Mrs. Francis’ prayers were effective. Tzachi returned home and began a process of strengthening himself religiously. He took out his bar mitzva t’fillin and started putting them on every day and on Shabbos he went to shul with his father.

Despite his failed attempt with the Nissan Nativ School, he did not give up on his dream. Immediately upon his return from New York, he registered for drama at Tel Aviv University. It was a four-year, very demanding program.

“I will be the first religious actor,” he told his mother, partly in jest and partly seriously. But he soon found himself torn between worlds.

“At home I was connected to t’fillin, shul, and Judaism, but all that disappeared when I went to university. I was drawn into the studying and the pressure and there was also the life on campus and the atmosphere of Tel Aviv which all had their effect. It seemed impossible to me to grow stronger in a Jewish sense at university.”

For two years, Tzachi seesawed between Haifa and Tel Aviv. At university he studiously practiced his chosen craft and at home he clung to his t’fillin and the old books.

“For two years I was up and down spiritually, until one day, a good friend told me about a special Chabad rabbi by the name of Fishel Jacobs, who made Shabbos meals for students on campus. I went to see it and was hooked.”

INEVITABLE CONFLAGRATION

It was for precisely situations such as these that the Rebbe sent R’ Fishel Jacobs of Kfar Chabad to Tel Aviv University, and sent hundreds of other shluchim to universities and campuses around the world. People say that success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Tzachi’s neshama was a spiritual powder keg and R’ Jacobs lit the match. When the two met, the resulting spiritual conflagration was inevitable.

Said R’ Jacobs, “We started our work at the university in 5748. The university did not welcome us with a red carpet and nothing came easy. One day, we were told that the dean was from a Chabad family. We spoke to him and he allowed us to work out of a bomb shelter at the student dorms. The truth is, to say that he approved or allowed it is somewhat of an exaggeration. It was more like he looked away from our work. The shelter turned into a shul which was the Chabad House on campus. We started regularly providing Shabbos meals for students there.”

In 5748, the Jacobs family was young. He was a prison chaplain and his wife taught in Beis Rivka. They funded their work at the university out of their salaries. Every Erev Shabbos was a military operation for them.

“We would cook the food at home for dozens of people and then load it all up and take the kids and drive to Tel Aviv.”

SHABBOS TABLE ON CAMPUS

“Friday night, we would go with the children and stop at all the dorms, knock at the door and invite the students to a Shabbos meal at the shelter. The meals were outstanding experiences. We could get 100 students on a good week. It was all very alive, with lots of mashke, a warm atmosphere, simcha, and very embracing. We would sing, dance, say divrei Torah and afterward, we would sit and talk into the night. We also spent the night at the shelter. After all the students left, we would put away the tables and spread out mattresses and go to sleep. That is how our children grew up. These are the memories of Shabbos from their childhoods.”

This was the atmosphere that Tzachi found when he went with two friends, fellow drama students. The three of them today are Lubavitcher Chassidim.

“I was already in my third year. Due to the load of tests and studying, I stayed most Shabbasos at the university. I went to the Shabbos meal and immediately felt that I found what I had been looking for,” said Tzachi.

“R’ Jacobs is a special guy. The energy, the warmth, and the caring that radiated from him were something I had never before experienced. I sat there captivated by the joy and the singing, and the excellent food definitely played a role. After the meal we would sit for long talks. Always, at some point, R’ Jacobs would take out a small Tanya and start reading and explaining. It was like his secret weapon, or more correctly, like the cherry on the frosting. I did not always understand everything, but I felt that this was something spiritual that spoke to me. It was like a relaxant pill for my neshama.”

PILL FOR THE SOUL

“I remember how one time, we left at two in the morning after one of these farbrengens. I went to my room at the dorms. I was wound-up and couldn’t sleep. I went back down to the shelter and it was empty. I took a Tanya and began reading it, like a T’hillim. I felt it was healing me.”

“This was the year of the drama department,” recalls R’ Jacobs. “A lot of students came from there. Three of them, Dori Yitzchok, Yigal Admon and Tzachi, became baalei t’shuva. During those years I was deeply immersed in Tanya; it was part of the hashpaa I got at the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. At every free moment I would learn Tanya, in the text and by heart. The Tanya would come out at every encounter I had with students. It was very much emphasized in our conversations. Always, at some point, we would open the s’farim and the students would sit and listen and absorb a lot.”

Week after week, encounter after encounter, the small black letters of the Tanya began to be engraved in the minds and hearts of the students. R’ Jacobs would read and explain. The insights they had to draw for themselves and the ramifications on their lives they were left to understand on their own.

“I myself was niskarev as a student,” says R’ Jacobs. “The one who was mekarev me was the shliach at the University of Vermont, R’ Shmuel Hecht a”h. He did not tell us what to do. He would just teach and explain and answer whatever we asked and let us come to our own conclusions. He died at the age of 31 after making a number of baalei t’shuva, and he left us this method. Since then, I follow him with all my mekuravim. In prison, at the university, and at our home in Kfar Chabad, there is lots of Tanya, Chassidus, and simcha, and ultimately, it all clicks.”

When asked whether he thought Tzachi would turn out as he did, R’ Jacobs said, “It’s funny, but yes. Tzachi has a refined neshama and I felt it immediately. I remember sitting with him in a long conversation and thinking, with such a sensitive, refined neshama he could be a mashpia. I did not think of what type of mashpia, whether of Chassidus or on shlichus, but I thought he would surely be involved in having an influence on others.”

“NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU KNOW, UNTIL THEY KNOW THAT YOU CARE”

When asked what is the secret in the kiruv of Jews of all backgrounds, to inspiring people to become baalei t’shuva, R’ Jacobs said, “I will tell you something I never told anyone. Always, whenever I am in a kiruv situation, I am very particular about reviewing as much Tanya by heart as possible that same day and if possible during the encounter itself. This is true whether it’s a lecture, shiur, or personal conversation. I review the words by heart until I feel that they are glowing within me.

“When I was young, I heard a very wise statement and I try to implement it all the time. ‘Nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care.’ You can be a genius in Chassidus, and have a talent in explaining things or convincing people, but if you don’t really care about the message you are conveying or about the people you are dealing with, they might say wow at the end of the lecture but you won’t really change anyone or anything.

“When I talk to someone, I first try, with all my heart, to internalize and identify with the message, and then to speak from the heart and to think about the person in front of me, to love him. I tell him what I really believe. Chazal say that words from the heart enter the heart. Afterward, when people become Chassidim, they usually want to influence others as they were influenced.”

IGERES HAT’SHUVA WITH TEARS

Tzachi became more involved. On those Shabbasos that R’ Jacobs did not come, he made sure to get a replacement. The community in Ramat Aviv supplied a convenient solution and complicated arrangements were no longer necessary as they were in the early years. R’ Jacobs was replaced by R’ Meir Tzvi Turkov, R’ Shneur Chaviv, and other young men.

“I slowly got to know other people and I learned something from each of them. There were all my rabbis,” he says with a smile.

Tzachi heard about the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv which wasn’t far away. The concept of a yeshiva frightened him a bit and it took some months until one day he got up the courage to go.

“The official excuse was to check the mezuza I had in my dorm room, but the moment I entered the yeshiva, I became a part of it. The chevra would even sing about me, ‘He came to check a mezuza and became a talmid of the yeshiva.’”

Tzachi became friends with R’ Mendy Lerner, shliach to Binyamina who was one of the bachurim-shluchim.

“I would go to yeshiva whenever I had a break from the university and I really connected with the guys. R’ Yossi Ginsburg, R’ Bentzion Schwartz and the shluchim in the yeshiva accompanied me on my journey and gave me a feeling of confidence. I had some really difficult internal struggles. I was about to finish my third year of studies with excellent grades and had one year left before earning my degree. It was a shame to abandon it. Yet, I was more and more attracted to the yeshiva and knew my place was there.

“One night, I couldn’t sleep, I was so torn. I remembered R’ Jacobs and took a Tanya. I went downstairs and began walking on the campus of Tel Aviv University. It was late and the place was deserted. I sat on the huge lawn and began reading Igeres HaT’shuva and burst into tears. I sat like that on the lawn for hours, reading Tanya in tears like T’hillim, and pleading with Hashem to help me decide.

“A short while later I wrote to the Rebbe and opened to an answer in the Igros Kodesh written to a person who was unsure of what to do next. The Rebbe wrote he should do what would increase Torah and aggrandize it. I understood from this that I should go to yeshiva. I finished my third year at the university and went to the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv.”

MY LIFE’S SHLICHUS

After two years of learning in Tomchei T’mimim in Ramat Aviv, Tzachi got married. The young couple wanted a life of shlichus.

After kollel and smicha in Arad, R’ Francis was offered the position to be a Shliach Torah at the Chabad House at Yam HaMelach. Since then, he has used his talents to spread Judaism. Aside from the Dead Sea, the hotels in the area do not have a large selection of attractions in the area. They try to create entertainment for their guests in the form of performances and lectures by experts on an array of subjects. R’ Elharar’s Chabad House began to supply Jewish content for the guests at hotels through R’ Francis.

“My wife and I hadn’t thought of anything like this. We were going to go on shlichus somewhere else, to one of the yishuvim in the Sharon. We had even bought a home there, and then we got this offer from R’ Elharar. We wrote to the Rebbe and realized what we were supposed to do.

“Today, I feel that this shlichus includes all aspects of “increasing Torah and aggrandizing it” as the Rebbe had written. Today, I reach audiences that nobody else reaches, intellectual people, most of whom never attended a Torah shiur in their lives. I give 12-15 lectures a week which reaches on average hundreds and sometimes thousands of people a month.

“At the end of the lecture, each of the participants is given a page with homework exercises to work on the topic of the lecture, and a list of books to buy so they can delve further. People give their email addresses and we keep in touch with them. After every lecture people buy books. It’s incredible work.

“We are always looking forward and want to continuously develop our outreach. There is enormous potential in this area. G-dliness is infinite and the same is true for the potential to disseminate it. I have an excellent teacher in this regard, R’ Shimon Elharar, who is constantly supporting me and pushing me to achieve more. R’ Elharar is a role model for me of constant striving to progress and expand.

“Sometimes I am reminded of R’ Jacobs, of our conversations, and of the Shabbasos at the university and I think that this is my way of paying back, by continuing to pass the torch forward and igniting others.”