I had the zechus to work for Rav Nota Schiller zt”l and Ohr Somayach for six years. It was a most rewarding experience that was deeply cherished and that I truly miss. Watching an unaffiliated Jew become a Torah Jew, and in many instances become a true ben Torah, is one of the most exhilarating things one can be part of.
The man who stood behind this incredible organization for more than 50 years was Rav Nota, along with his partner and co-founder Rav Mendel Weinbach, who was niftar 12 years ago.
One of the original founders of the modern day kiruv movement, Rav Nota would traverse the globe up until his final sickness raising necessary funds to keep the yeshiva afloat. If he got an appointment, he’d be on the next flight out. It wasn’t easy for an elderly man, but nothing could stop him when it came to supporting, building and expanding Ohr Somayach’s vital outreach and education. It was too important a work to not go. Rumor had it that he had asked that when he passes on to the next world, he should be buried with his passports, which testify to his commitment in bringing Hashem’s children back. And what a commitment it was.
Rav Nota would often repeat what his rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, told him during the early years of Ohr Somayach; “If after a number of years, baalei teshuvah enter the Torah world and become an integral part of it, you will have succeeded.”
Rav Nota would say that, to him, the measure of success in an Ohr Somayach student is if the student would be marooned on a desert island with a Shas and would not be bored. That would be a sign that they were successful with a talmid.
Ohr Somayach is unique in the way it caters to the unaffiliated beginner as well as to the most advanced bochurim and kollel yungeleit and each level in between. Rav Nota wanted it this way and was extremely proud of it.
I recall sitting with Rav Nota as he watched a video clip recorded for a dinner. It featured Rav Yeruchom Olshin relating that his father-in-law, Rav Dov Schwartzman, told him that the shiurim he delivered at Ohr Somayach were as advanced as at any other yeshiva. I could see the satisfaction on Rav Nota’s face. High level shiurim at Ohr Somayach were delivered by great talmidei chachomim, including Rav Dov, Rav Aharon Feldman, Rav Moshe Shapiro and many others. Ohr Somayach wasn’t just about being mekarev someone. It was about bringing out their fullest potential.
I vividly recall sitting with Rav Nota in the Ohr Somayach office on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn going through marketing materials for a fundraising dinner. We had come up with the tagline “Mentor. Motivate. Mainstream.” The rosh yeshiva recommended that we change it to “Mentor. Mainstream. Motivate.” He explained, “Our job in being mekarev our talmidim doesn’t end by having them placed into mainstream chareidi society. We must continue to motivate them even once we’ve done so. That is why we should change the tagline to end with the word ‘motivate’ after the word ‘mainstream.’”
I couldn’t believe it. I remember thinking to myself at the time, “How many people would pick up on this subtle nuance, and even if they would, wouldn’t they be happy to portray that their yeshiva takes completely irreligious students and mainstreams them into chareidi society?”
The rosh yeshiva would carefully oversee kiruv programming, not only in terms of the educational content, which he took extremely seriously, but also with regard to every detail. He wanted to ensure that everything was being done with a Torahdike hashkafah. During one particular Shabbaton in the United States for unaffiliated college students, I served as the baal tefillah Friday night. As was the case during these programs, Kabbolas Shabbos was spirited and we broke out into a dance during Bo’i B’shalom. After a few minutes of dancing, I switched the niggun. Rav Nota stopped it. Yes, there was a need to involve the boys in an immersive and uplifting davening, but everything was measured. The tzuras hatefillah had to remain intact.
On a different occasion, I was being motzie the tzibbur with a brocha achronah during a Shabbaton Kiddush. Afterwards, Rav Nota came over to me and said that I should look up the halacha regarding the order I used during part of Al Hamichya. Yes, it was a kiruv event, but attention to halachic minutiae was the Ohr Somayach way.
During a Friday night seudah in Yerushalayim as part of Ohr Somayach’s Mentors Mission program, there was an unexpected attendee who was causing a potential breach in tznius outside the hall. Rav Nota came over to me and said that he doesn’t know how this happened, but he’s ready to shut down the entire Mentors Mission program if this happens again. Scores of unaffiliated Jews have become baalei teshuvah through the Mentors Mission, but if there would be something not pure in the process, he was willing to end the program.
Rav Nota carefully screened Shabbatons, Mentors Missions, and other kiruv programs to ensure that the scheduled trips would not contain anything that had the slightest possibility of confusing the students with an experience that, although halachically sound, might confuse the students with an approach or shitah that isn’t part of the accepted norm in the Torah world. He asked me to remove certain trips on more than one occasion. Other times, he allowed particular trips, but only after we discussed it at length and he was certain that the messaging wouldn’t be confusing to the students.
Rav Nota was an exceptionally gifted person. His combination of wisdom and wit had a way of resonating with college-aged students. He had a way of challenging the unaffiliated sharply, but in a non-threatening way. A champion of linguistics, he dazzled through the spoken and written word.
At the finale of beginner kiruv programs, he would challenge the attendees, telling them that we all live life making decisions based on probabilities, not certainties. He would say that after experiencing a taste of Torah and seeing the happiness, character traits and relationships of those affiliated with Ohr Somayach and the Torah world, it requires the students to at the very least take a serious look at that world. There are just too many probabilities to ignore. Brainwashing was the furthest thing at Ohr Somayach. It was all about understanding, reading the texts and seeing the truth firsthand.
Rav Nota would seamlessly weave together lessons learned from Torah, philosophy and the gematria of the distance down the right field line in Ebbets Field. He was a deep thinker who had a unique way of reaching the hearts and minds of Jews on all levels by peppering his talks with wisdom, wit and humor. I recall one instance driving Rav Nota from Lakewood to New York. Aside from a few minutes discussing Ohr Somayach-related items and listening to a little classical music, he spent the trip relating his deep philosophical emunah-related thoughts.
I once had the opportunity to speak to Rav Nota about the early years of the baal teshuvah movement. He had gone to Eretz Yisroel in 1961 to learn. One evening, he went into a restaurant on Rechov Yaffo and met a young man who was in Israel on a Young Judea trip. Rav Nota got into conversation with this man and ended up inviting him and his brother, who he later met, to come learn with him. They showed up and learned with Rav Nota and Rav Noach Weinberg. After learning for a few weeks, the brothers decided to abandon the Young Judea program that was moving to a kibbutz and stay on to learn. Rav Nota and Rav Noach had to collect money for their lodgings and also went around to different yeshivos shnorring hours from English speakers to learn with these two brothers. These boys ended up in Be’er Yaakov. Seeing this hatzlocha planted the seeds in their minds to open a yeshiva for baalei teshuvah.
After returning to New York for a few years, Rav Nota came back to Eretz Yisroel as a yungerman, and in 1966, he and Rav Noach, along with Rav Mendel Weinbach, decided to try opening a baal teshuvah yeshiva. They would travel to Tel Aviv every morning to try to fundraise. They met with some of society’s highest level executives, but didn’t walk out with checks. After procuring some seed money, they opened Mevaseret Yerushalayim, where Rav Aharon Feldman and Rav Shimshon Pincus joined the faculty. A few years later, they opened Shema Yisroel, which eventually became Ohr Somayach.
The sheer poverty that he and a few others lived under during these years is a testament to their dedication to Klal Yisroel. Fundraising and building necessitated being away from family for months at times.
What was once an unproven idea blossomed into a beacon of light, boasting more than 20,000 alumni, branches worldwide, and tens of thousands who have been inspired through various Ohr Somayach programming.
With the passing of Rav Nota, Klal Yisroel has lost a legendary visionary and a fearless fighter for Yiddishkeit whose passion and talents created a historic revolution.
Yehi zichro boruch.
