Even after twenty-seven years on shlichus at Hebrew University in Yerushalayim, R’ Yossi and Dvora Ebert do not rest for a moment, recently adding their son and daughter-in-law, R’ Mendy and Chaya Mushka Ebert, to the ever-growing outreach work with tens of thousands of students. * As a student himself, he encountered the Rebbe’s shluchim, which transformed him from a student in search of meaning to a beloved rabbi drawing in students in droves. * Zalman Tzorfati spent a Shabbos with the Eberts on Mount Scopus and came home with profound lessons on shlichus, dedication, and hiskashrus to the Rebbe
By Zalman Tzorfati
Photos by Kobi Har TzviFriday night. The howling wind serves to intensify the Jerusalem winter frost, which succeeds at penetrating all the layers of protection and really gets into the bones. However, it seems that nothing stops them. One after another, they climb the steps of the building made of Jerusalem stone, where the door is open wide, and inside there are students from all over the world: America; France; Uruguay; Russia; and obviously from all across the Holy Land.
Standing in the doorway is R’ Yossi Ebert, shliach of the Rebbe and director of the Chabad House at Hebrew University. He greets the guests who continue to flow through the door. He also “flows,” hugging, palling around, greeting each one with a huge smile that seems close to an actual laugh. He blesses each of the guests, here and there inquiring, asking, and getting them settled in. The meal begins right away.
R’ Ebert and his wife are charismatic. The warm and personal connection with each student is their strong suit. A new female student points to one of the veteran female students, who is walking around with a tray weighed down with salads and helping to set the table, and asks Mrs. Ebert, “Is she your daughter.” The student herself answers, “Just about,” and the two exchange a meaningful look.
NO LONGER EMBARRASSED
“We have a core WhatsApp group dedicated just to Shabbos meals,” explains R’ Mendy Ebert, a second generation shliach, who recently joined the shlichus with his wife. “In the group there are close to two hundred students who rotate as guests for the Shabbos meals, and bring their friends along with them.”
R’ Ebert holds forth at the meal with great excitement and his heavy American accent. The foreign students feel at home and the Israelis seem to enjoy the attraction. He told me afterward, “I used to be embarrassed of my accent, until one day I heard that the Rebbe instructed the late R’ Aryeh Leib Kaplan to preserve his American accent for the purpose of having a greater influence on Israelis. I started to pay attention to this and saw how the Rebbe’s directive proved itself. I am no longer embarrassed,” he concluded laughingly.
The long table somehow divides itself, without any signs or explicit direction, into a men’s section and a women’s section. At one end sits R’ Ebert surrounded by the male students who congregate around him, and at the opposite end, the one closer to the kitchen, sits the Rebbetzin surrounded by the female students. Now and then they stand up to go into the kitchen and emerge with trays, pots and plates. Overseeing it all like a scene director is Mrs. Dvora Ebert, issuing instructions, making sure that nothing is missing, all the while making time to have a private consultation with one student and offer her advice, speaking to another, smiling a whole lot and running things at the women’s section of the meal.
EVERYTHING HOMEMADE
From a culinary perspective, the Ebert Shabbos meal is truly impressive. Homemade challa and twelve types of salad were served. I know, because I counted. This was followed by a fish course, followed by the side dishes, a choice of chicken or meat as a main dish, and it closed out with dessert. “Where do you order the food from?” I ask Mendy out of genuine curiosity. He whispers back to me, “It’s not catered; everything is prepared by my mother, herself.”
Rabbanit Ebert is well known in the field of chinuch in Yerushalayim. She is a veteran and devoted educator at Beis Chana, who is spoken about glowingly by her students, even years after they leave her class. When they went on shlichus, the Rebbe instructed her to also be involved in chinuch, and since then she has integrated the two roles, and invests herself completely into both.
Between the singing and the words of Torah, one of the guests suddenly stood up. His appearance was somewhat divergent from that of the young students. He appeared to be middle-aged, tall, wearing glasses and a cap. With a pronounced American accent he asked for the floor. The table quieted down, and the students turned their attention respectfully to him.
He introduced himself as Professor Gershon Greenberg, a philosophy professor at the University of Washington, and a guest scholar at Hebrew University on religion. It turns out that quite a few staff members also partake of the Shabbos meals. Prof. Greenberg wished to express his heartfelt thanks for the amazing hosting. “Every year, I come for a few weeks to deliver a course that extends over a few weeks. Both my wife and I will not forgo the exciting Shabbos meals at Beit Chabad,” he says to the sound of applause from the students.
SHLICHUS NON-STOP
R’ Ebert and his wife are the shluchim to Hebrew University since autumn 1991. Since that time, there have been meals at the Chabad House with almost no breaks, week after week, in summer and winter, sabbatical years, right after giving birth, and even, sadly, right after getting up from “sitting Shiva.” Twenty-seven uninterrupted years of shlichus.
“When we arrived, the first thing we did was Shabbos meals in our home. A short while later, the meals moved into a hall at the university, but in recent years we went back to doing them at home. We noticed that despite the crowding, the personal impact on the students is incomparably greater. And they are actually voting with their feet. Students are willing to come and even stand the whole meal, just to be a part of it.”
There is a point to what he says, as the place is really starting to get quite crowded, but the atmosphere only gets warmer. R’ Ebert tells a Chassidic story and concludes with a lesson from the weekly portion. One of the students challenges him with a question, which in another context might seem belligerent. The rabbi begins to answer, and two female students jump in on the side of the questioner, and it starts to look like the beginning of a discussion on a pretty sensitive issue, but R’ Ebert does not lose his cool. He smiles his broad smile, and sets himself for a long listening session, simply nodding his head at each point. Other students join the discussion, and considering where they are coming from, seem to step away from their accepted worldview, in order to defend the position of tradition. R’ Ebert follows both sides with great interest, turning his head to each speaker almost as if watching a ping-pong match, smiling and remaining silent.
At some point the debate tapers off, and R’ Ebert offers a brief but exacting summation, leaving all involved with food for thought. They are all nodding their heads appreciatively, when Mendy starts singing a rousing “Adon Olam,” which sort of allows for the ideas to wend their way inward into heart and mind.
At this point, two students stood up and signaled something to Mendy, and he nodded to them. They went into the kitchen and came out holding two bottles of grape juice, pushed a few strip cakes into a large bag, and started squeezing their way to the door. I whispered to Mendy, “What’s this?” “They are going out to do mivtza kiddush,” he replied. “Do you see that guy,” he asked, pointing discreetly at one of them, a thin fellow with a mane of curly hair.
“That is Tom. A sweet student who not only comes to the meals, but comes every Motzaei Shabbos for Maariv, following which he comes home with us and helps with putting the house back together. One Motzaei Shabbos we were surprised to answer the telephone and discover that it was Tom’s mother on the other end of the line. It turns out that Tom had begun fully keeping Shabbos. When his mother had asked him when she could speak with him after Shabbos, he told her that after Shabbos ends she could reach him at our house.”
Cutting short his story about Tom, I asked him, “Where did you say they were going.” “Mivtza kiddush,” he repeated. Realizing that he probably needed to append some explanation to this caption, he added, “This is a campaign that was launched by the guys, and we fund and encourage it. The idea is that every Friday night, one or two students go out with a bottle of grape juice and some cakes, visit the many security booths around the university campus, and make kiddush for the security guards.”
SOWING WITH TEARS
“Almost three decades with students around the table; doesn’t it get exhausting?”
I asked this question of the rabbi when it was already 1:30 in the morning. Tom had already returned in the interim and had helped clean up and get the house back into some semblance of order, and now he had just left. R’ Ebert sat down on the couch with his D’var Malchus booklet, in order to complete the daily study regimen. I could see that he was struggling with himself in order to fulfill the Rebbe’s instructions and keep his eyes open.
Answering with complete candor, he said, “First of all, yes, but the Rebbe gives us strength. There is no other explanation within the natural order of things. The expenses are tremendous, and the physical energy that is required is practically endless, but Hashem gives strength and we try to keep working.
“The early years were harder, because you plow and plow and don’t always readily see the fruits. As the years pass, the ‘reaping with song’ becomes that much more tangible. The work may be the same work, but along with that Hashem gives us the occasional ‘treat,’ when he allows us to see and understand the significance of what we are doing. And the stories are literally impossible to count. Starting with [students who have become] actual Chassidim, who serve as shluchim around the world and began their journey with us, to business people with a warm feeling for Judaism and mitzva observance, who even play a tremendous role in supporting our work.
“Just one week ago, one of the female students stood up at the end of the meal and announced that she is interested in beginning to observe kashrus. We are not speaking of someone who participated in deep classes or heard captivating explanations. Our entire connection with her amounted only to the Shabbos meals and warm caring, but the results have shown themselves very quickly.
“There are many like her. As a result of the meals, many students strengthen their mitzva observance and we try to help them as much as we can. For one it might be help with purchasing quality tefillin, and by the way there have been a lot more than one, and with a second it could be learning the laws of Shabbos, and with yet another having a regular Torah study partnership. Recently, one of the students came and told us that he decided to write his thesis on the introduction of the author to Tanya.”
FROM THE SUBURBS OF D.C.
R’ Ebert, he of the graying beard, currently serves as a spiritual guide to hundreds of students. In the past, he has touched thousands more graduates of the Chabad House in whom he planted seeds in their hearts, which are waiting for the right time to sprout and grow. Despite the age difference, he connects well with the students, speaks their language like an equal. He is very familiar with their feelings and internal struggles. After all, he himself did not grow up with a volume of Chassidus tucked under his arm. He was also once a confused student, searching for deeper meaning than what was being offered to him in the form of the American middle class good life.
The next day, as we walked home from the main shul in French Hill led by R’ Avrohom Michoel Halperin, I felt that the time was ripe to ask him to share his personal story.
“I was born and grew up in a warm Jewish home in Fairfax (Virginia), one of the nicer suburbs of Washington D.C.,” he began. “My parents were, and still are, active and well known in the Jewish community. My father was an officer in the U.S. Navy, and later he founded and managed a successful technology company. My mother is a member to this day of the Honorary Council of Hadassah Women, one of the largest Jewish philanthropic organizations in the United States.
“Like many typical Jewish-American parents, my parents guided my childhood and young adult years with the expectation that I would successfully realize the American dream – enrolling in a prestigious college, getting a respectable job, and make lots of money.
“As an American good-boy, I tried to live up to their expectations, but the high school years were a turning point for me. Various books on philosophy that I read caused me to begin to doubt Americanism and its recipe for happiness. Something about the lifestyle of money-money-money turned me off and caused me to think about other possible solutions.
“The Judaism that I was familiar with did not serve as a real answer for me. The Conservative synagogue in which my parents were members was more of a social club than a spiritual alternative, and even the unequivocal demand that was often repeated at home, ‘we only marry other Jews,’ was something that I rejected as racist and provincial.
“The teen years passed for me with no real news. When the time came, and I was supposed to continue my studies in college, I didn’t really want to, but I knew of no other option. I was interviewed and accepted at the University of Pennsylvania, a famous ‘Ivy League’ college that is consistently ranked among the top five colleges in the United States, alongside universities like Harvard and Yale.”
THE FATEFUL ENCOUNTER
“I began law school with a marked lack of interest, while my revulsion for American culture continued its hold on me. The Wharton business school is considered the flagship of the University of Pennsylvania, so that many of the students who I hung out with were students at Wharton. Needless to say, the one thing that interested them was how to make the most money in the least amount of time.
“Then I met Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, shliach of the Rebbe to the University of Pennsylvania. In retrospect, it turned out that he began his shlichus and opened a Chabad House just as I had started attending the university, as though the Rebbe sent him just for me.
“One of R’ Schmidt’s first activities was arranging Shabbos meals for Jewish students. At home, we made kiddush every Friday night and I looked for a similar experience. I first visited the meals arranged at the Hillel House (under the auspices of the Conservative movement) but the atmosphere there did not appeal to me, so I went to Chabad and loved it.
“The realization that the Torah has a deep, spiritual dimension was new and intriguing to me. At one of the Shabbos meals, R’ Schmidt suggested that I read chapter 36 of Tanya with the English translation.
“I took a Tanya and sat down in a corner and avidly read about creation and its purpose, about the concept of G-d’s unity, how from the perspective of created beings, reality seems to be comprised of levels and worlds, but from G-d’s perspective, all of creation is one simple reality. I felt as though a five-ton hammer had whacked me full force.
“I spent entire weeks walking around the university with this idea reverberating in my mind, challenging me with everything I saw and heard. I was confused. On the one hand, I loved learning Chassidus; I was drawn as if by magic to its ideas. On the other hand, as a child raised in a liberal home, there were still certain internal roadblocks. When I returned, for example, to the Tanya and started from chapter one, I wasn’t able to understand and agree with the idea that a gentile is essentially different from a Jew. I thought it was an antiquated outlook that evolved over the long years of exile.
“I remember a farbrengen at the Chabad House where the mashke flowed like water and I, who was all of 18, with no experience in this, took some mashke and began to cry. I sat opposite the shliach and tearfully told him that I would be so happy to adopt Chassidus fully, but I simply could not agree with certain core ideas. I could not understand how Torah, with such deep ideas, could be so superficial and racist when it came to other nations.
“I was drawn to the Chabad House and the study of Chassidus, and even traveled to the Rebbe and felt, deep in my heart, that the truth is here, but apparently, the evil inclination had to take a few more ‘hits’ for me to become a Chassid.
“I thought about whether I should travel east to ‘clear my head,’ and decide what I wanted to do next, but my parents, who did not like the idea, suggested that I join a student exchange program in my sophomore year and go study at an Israeli university.
“I agreed to that but made my consent conditional on dividing my stay in Israel into two parts. The first semester I would attend university, and the second half I would do something else. My parents wondered what I would do for the second semester, and I said, either volunteering on a kibbutz or going to yeshiva.”
WEEKLY REPORT TO THE REBBE
“I arrived in Eretz Yisroel and began attending Hebrew University, at first in Givat Ram and later at Mount Scopus. One day, I went to the Kosel and encountered the tefillin stand run by the Yerushalmi mashpia, the unforgettable Rabbi Moshe Weber a”h. I connected with him and visited him regularly and he referred me to Yeshivas Ohr T’mimim. I waited till the end of the semester and then went to the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. After spending a year there, a place that was my first home in Eretz Yisroel, where I was warmly welcomed and where I got the fundamentals of learning Nigleh and Chassidus, I looked for something deeper. I heard about the yeshiva in Tzfas. I knew hardly any Hebrew but decided I would take the plunge.
“At the yeshiva in Tzfas I received significant spiritual and Chassidic cargo. What I got there is with me till today. Hiskashrus to the Rebbe, and the love and desire to give everything for the Rebbe, the shiurim of Rabbi Orenstein, the approach to learning Gemara, Rashi and Tosafos with Rabbi Isaac Landau, and especially the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Wilschansky, who was my personal mashpia and guided me like a concerned father.
“At that time, they spoke in yeshiva about keeping the s’darim and about how a bachur needs to report to the Rebbe about this. I took this very seriously and every week I filled out a detailed report, put it into an envelope, and sent it to the Rebbe. Later, when I went to learn in 770, I would submit my report to the secretaries every Sunday.
“After three years of learning in 770, I married. I began learning in kollel but we both wanted to go on shlichus. We got an offer to join the shluchim at the University of Pennsylvania, where my journey began. But because of an instruction we got from the Rebbe (‘as per the advice of Tzach in Eretz Yisroel’) we began looking for a shlichus in Eretz Yisroel. R’ Nachum Cohen a”h, then the director of the branch department of Tzach, offered us a shlichus at Hebrew University. We received the Rebbe’s encouragement and blessing and are here ever since.”
SECOND GENERATION ON SHLICHUS
Mendy Ebert is the oldest son. He was born and raised at the university. He spent his childhood among the students and he has been living and breathing the shlichus since infancy. Half a year ago, after more than a year in kollel, he joined the shlichus after a bracha from the Rebbe and guidance from his mashpia. When we spoke, I learned that the Shabbos meals are only the tip of the iceberg of the work being done.
“Over here, holidays aren’t simply comprised of Rosh Hashana or Pesach. We utilize every Chassidic and Jewish date, and one event follows another. Recently, for example, on 19 Kislev we opened large stands in the lobbies of the university, alongside roll-up displays about the meaning of the day with selections from Tanya, and accomplished a tremendous awareness about the day. At night there was a deep and moving farbrengen late into the night with the strong nucleus of the Chabad House.
“On Chanuka, in cooperation with the student council, we added another three menorahs, in addition to the two which have been standing throughout the years. Hundreds of doughnuts, Chanuka kits, and of course, public lightings. Right after Chanuka, on Motzaei 10 Teves, we hosted a meal to break the fast along with a great program which connected the general day of mourning to what the Rebbe said about feeling the simcha as we approach the Geula. We hosted a lecture by someone named Moshe Bart, whose son was on the Rebbe’s medical team, a Holocaust survivor who helps us tremendously. Two weeks later, on 24 Teves, we printed the Tanya at an impressive event (see sidebar).”
I asked, “How do you get students to learn Torah after a long day of study at the university?” He said, “For many students it’s hard, so we focus on learning one-on-one, chavrusa after chavrusa. This model has many advantages. As a result, each student gets real face time on topics that interest him and at a time and place that suits him.
“In addition to numerous chavrusos, there have formed a number of serious groups for in-depth shiurim that are given regularly. The first is for girls and is given by my mother. It’s a fantastic class that attracts many girls every week. Other shiurim are given by my brother-in-law, Rabbi Noam Benhamou.
“R’ Dov Hershkowitz, the shliach in nearby French Hill, is also involved in giving shiurim. Parenthetically, throughout the year we have a very productive and mutually cooperative relationship with R’ Hershkowitz, as well as with his father-in-law, the rav of French Hill and member of the Chabad Beis Din, R’ Avrohom Michoel Halperin, who has helped and supported our work throughout the years.
“Another project is the ‘Kabbala Club,’ an academic club designed also for non-Jewish students, where we do a weekly in-depth study of the Shaar HaYichud V’HaEmuna, based on the directives of the Rebbe.
“We also study the subject of Geula with the students in a thorough fashion, and we are currently about to release a number of high quality print materials, which will make the topics of Moshiach and Geula accessible in the language of the college kids’ world. The identity of the Rebbe as Moshiach is something that always comes up. Many students ask about it on their own, and they receive explanations that are always accepted by them with understanding and respect.
“My father often says that it has been students that have led every famous revolution in the world. The French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and also the recent revolutions in the Arab world. And with the help of Hashem, the same will be true with the revolution of the True and Complete Redemption; the students will lead the way, and this is something that we speak about constantly.”
OUTREACH TO ARAB STUDENTS
We had almost reached their home when a group of Arab students passed by, talking and laughing loudly in Arabic. A shiver of distaste mixed with some mild concern went up my back.
I point out to R’ Ebert that there are a lot of Arabs here. He is unfazed. “True, there are many Arab students in the University; it is up to us as the shluchim of the Rebbe to bring about the state of ‘they will all return to the true religion.’ Obviously, this idea presents a real challenge. I always carry around with me the amazing Sheva Mitzvos cards in Arabic, produced by R’ Boaz Kali, and hand out hundreds of them. No student has ever refused to accept the card from me, and they do so respectfully. Many of them even show me that they already have the card in their wallets.
“It is obviously not something that is mentioned in the media, but the Arab students who participate in demonstrations and scream hoarsely, ‘Free Palestine,’ are not necessarily particularly ideological. They actually receive grants for this and they close down the demonstrations after the exact amount of time assigned to them. Five minutes later you can find them sitting relaxed on one of the benches, and I have even handed out Sheva Mitzvos cards at that time.
“There are obviously also some very painful occurrences, as there is no lack of hatred for Jews, but we need to also see the part of the cup that is half full. Actually, the work with our ‘cousins’ sometimes produces some unforgettable moments. One of them took place over a year ago on Sukkos. I was on my way to ‘Simchas Beis HaShoeiva,’ when somebody passed by me who I identified as an Arab student, wearing a stocking cap and a trendy coat. ‘Hey, do you read Arabic?’ I called out to him, intending to give him a Sheva Mitzvos card. ‘Yes,’ he answered, immediately adding, ‘as a second language.’
“It turns out that he was a Jewish student, a real genius, who is studying in the law department as a soldier-student of the IDF. We got to know each other, and since then he has become deeply connected to the Chabad House. He plays an active and central role in all of our activities, helping, assisting, and taking care of arranging all necessary permits. Over the past year, he has also begun putting tefillin on regularly, keeping Shabbos and more. And all of that thanks to a little card about the Sheva Mitzvos.”
EDITION NUMBER 7001 OF TANYA PUBLISHED AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY!
Hundreds of students and staff participated throughout the day of 24 Teves in a special printing of the Tanya at the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus. The printing was organized by the shliach of the Rebbe to the university, R’ Yosef Ebert, and was held in one of the main lobbies near the centrally located campus shul, with much pomp and ceremony.
The honor of starting the first operation of the printing was given to the head of the Human Resources department of the University, Dr. Yitzchok Chafuta, at which time it was also revealed that his wife is a descendant of the Alter Rebbe. Another of the dignitaries pointed out the significance of being number 7001, citing the words of the Alter Rebbe about the advantage of the “Oveid Elokim,” who reviews his learning 101 times, and connecting it with the motto of the university, “Difficult, but the best.”
Throughout the hours of the printing, dozens of the teaching staff passed through, as well as many hundreds of students. There was the saying of l’chaim, lavish refreshments, and obviously the study of Tanya and setting up study partners for the study of Tanya during the school year.
During the day, R’ Avrohom Michoel Halperin, rav of French Hill and member of the Chabad Beis Din in the Holy Land, who is also a descendant of the Alter Rebbe, was honored with an additional operation of the machine. He even taught, as is customary, chapter 32 from the freshly printed sheets. The rav concluded his remarks with the citation of the quote of Reb Zushe of Anipoli, “With the Seifer HaTanya, we will go out to greet our righteous Moshiach.”
The printing was donated by the Hecht family from the United States, in honor of their grandfather, Mordechai ben Leibish (Martin) Hecht, who founded and donated the shul on Mount Scopus.
R’ Ebert points out that over the years there were already two editions of the Tanya printed in different dormitory facilities on campus, but this was the first time that it was printed in the actual school building, in the very heart of the university. In conclusion, he wishes to express his gratitude to the many who contributed to the success of the event, starting with the one in charge of religious affairs in the university, Mr. Aryeh Solomon, along with the rest of the administrative staff and students who offered their help and assistance.