SARINA ROFFÉ
SHEHEBAR SEPHARDIC CENTER (SSC) RECENTLY HELD ITS FIRST GRADUATION IN TWO YEARS. TWENTY STUDENTS, SOME OF THEM FROM THE ETHIOPIAN PROGRAM, RECEIVED THEIR CERTIFICATES, AND IT IS HOPED THAT THEY WILL SERVE COMMUNITIES AS SOON AS THE PANDEMIC ALLOWS.
The gala graduation was held in Jerusalem. It was sponsored by its Los Angeles donors, California supporters including the Laureano, Donaty, Nessim, and Avrahamy families, as well as the Jebb Levy Foundation and from Israel, the Mouallem family and from Israel and Singapore, the Abraham family. These supporters had foresight, and understood the urgency of being prepared to send our 20 new rabbis to communities to help their Jewish brothers in need.
Seven graduates are Ethiopians, they are Rabbis Oded Kasu, Hayim Gashu, Amihai Muche, David Zawadi, Daniel Yehoela, Avraham Beikadi and Sassoon Mahari. They will be placed in positions in Israel. They bring pride and dignity to the Ethiopian community. There are 180,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel in desperate need of inspirational leadership. Thirteen other students received their rabbinical ordinations and are ready to be placed as soon as the pandemic allows.
Thirteen more rabbis from our rabbinical program received their semikaa. They are Rabbis Yochanan Kanfield, Aharon Kindi, David Yan Ben Avraham, Akiva Ben Ezra, Shimon Karmago, Gavriel Vittal, Asher Moshe Cohen, Shalom Katanov, Avishai Braun, David Mizrachi, Eliyahu Franco, Avi Sova and David Gedallovich.
Dignitaries who attended the event were the Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger who talked about he miracle of being prepared for the future, that while all of Israel was focused on surviving the pandemic, the SSC continued to train rabbis and spiritual leaders for the world.
The Chief Rabbi of the Ethiopian community, Rabbi Reuben Wabshat praised Rabbi Sammy Kassin for being the first to open up a yeshivah for the Ethiopians, and because of his success, two more Ethiopian yeshivahs opened their doors.
M K Rabbi Moshe Abutbul, who has been advocating for the Ethiopian community for at least five years, said the Ethiopian people owe a debt of gratitude to SSC and Rabbi Sammy Kassin for what he has done for them.
The Head Rabbi of all the Beit Adin of Tel Aviv Area, Rabbi Zvadia Cohen said that in his experience, perseverance always pays off and Rabbi Sammy Kassin and SSC blazed the trail of sending rabbis all over the world and developing an all-inclusive Ethiopian program.
Rabbi Yoseph David Sacks Krupp whose family opened the SSC Ethiopian Program five years ago, presented graduation certificates to the Ethiopian graduates. After the speeches, there was a gala dinner where the proud families of the graduates celebrated. The graduates quoted the SSC’s motto: “Changing the World Through Education.”
HOW DID THE YESHIVAH MANAGE DURING
THE COVID PANDEMIC?
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the Jewish world in ways you cannot imagine. Still, thankfully, the SSC was one of the few rabbinical schools to operate and keep its doors open. And now our graduates are ready to be placed in rabbinical and teaching positions to help Am Yisrael.
Single students were permitted to remain in the yeshivah dorm, but they could not leave except to go into Nakash Family Garden adjacent to our building. Since a majority of our staff had to remain home due to the pandemic, everyone pitched in to clean and cook. Since Rabbi Sammy Kassin was at high risk, he had to remain at home for a year, when he contracted Covid 19, and healed from it.
Our married students were relocated to a site outside the city. Most of the well-known rabbinical schools closed down or drastically diminished their rabbinical placements and student bodies as they had no way of knowing when the pandemic would end. The SSC knew that there would be a need for rabbis overseas and enlarged their rabbinical student body. During the pandemic, the SSC observed all the regulations (social distancing, masks, vaccines) to keep our staff and students safe and healthy.
AROUND THE WORLD
During the past two years, the Jewish world paid a heavy price as COVID-19 basically shut down operations across the globe. We paid a heavy price with many deaths, the elderly and the young, the sick and those who had been healthy—the virus knew no bounds and crossed all socioeconomic levels. Jewish schools, clubs and kosher restaurants were forced to shutter their doors.
With people praying at home, synagogue buildings were closed. Unemployment caused a financial stress on congregations as people couldn’t pay their bills. The inactivity resulted in rabbis being laid off and their salaries reduced. It has been a tragedy in the Jewish World.
The SSC believes that within the next year people will return to their synagogues and schools and reach out to Shehebar Sephardic Center for spiritual leaders. In anticipation, the SSC is working on a post coronavirus program to prepare our rabbis for what is to come. The SSC staff, Rabbi Ralph Tawil (Tel Aviv), Rabbi Ari Azancot (Beth Torah, Brooklyn via WhatsApp), Mr. Edwin Shuker (via Whatsapp), Rabbi Sammy Pinto (Sao Paolo, Brazil via WhatsApp) and Rabbi Eliyahu Azaria (the Philippines via WhatsApp) are developing the new program to tackle the problems arising from time spent at home.
As more people receive their vaccinations, and observe the guidelines our health professionals provide, the world will be a safer place and Am Yisrael can return to synagogues and schools, and enjoy many simchot!
A genealogist and historian, Sarina Roffé is the author of Branching Out from Sepharad (Sephardic Heritage Project, 2017), Sarina holds a BA in Journalism, and MA in Jewish Studies and an MBA.
