Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt

We have many common expressions that try to capture the ideal to life. We say, “Life's a journey, travel light" and "Life is a journey, enjoy the ride". These phrases are so well ingrained and expressed in our culture and thought since we see them frequently in newspapers and television. To all I say yes, life is a journey - but in order to enjoy it, you don’t have to travel light, and it’s okay if the ride is a bit bumpy.

As the Rabbi of Beth Sholom Synagogue, it would be my life’s fortune to call this Synagogue mine solely on the members who fill her seats, but it is indeed my deeper fortune to be here in light of the remarkable leadership that has preceded me. One such man, Rabbi Mendel Jacob Kirshenblatt zt”l passed away last year. And the ember of his legacy is still very much felt here, in the chambers of this wonderful building and in the hearts and minds of many Canadians – because few are the number who passed by this special man, and were left untouched.

Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt was born on April 27, 1903 in the Polish town of Driltsh, the son of Golda and Zalman. His childhood had all of the markings of a traditional Polish Jewish life, but at age 16 it took a remarkable turn. He entered the Yeshiva of Lomza and continued his studies with the renowned European rabbinic great the ‘Chofetz Chaim’ (Rabbi Meir Israel Kagan) at his Yeshiva in Radun, Poland.
Wishing to complete his rabbinic studies, a young Mendel Kirshenblatt took off for what was then Palestine and the newly established branch of the Lomza Yeshiva in Petach Tikvah. Armed with little money, inadequate documents and faked identity cards but with complete faith that G-d would bring him to where he wished to go, Rabbi Kirshenblatt did indeed arrive. In 1929, four years after he left his native Poland, Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt became at age 26 Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt, and the world was about to become richer for it.

After contacting a brother in Toronto, he received a position in Welland and the following year he met and married his wife Annie y”h . He then became the Rabbi of Glace Bay and Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia where he served for nine years. During the war he served as a volunteer chaplain and there met Rabbi David Monson, the founding Rabbi of Beth Sholom Synagogue. By the end of the war, and a small stint in Peterborough, Rabbi Kirshenblatt joined Rabbi Monson in building a great Conservative Synagogue. This became Beth Sholom Synagogue. Their partnership was to become extraordinary. It also became uniquely Canadian – each of them had been through the country, and abroad and they understood the remarkable diversity and needs of small and large Canadian communities. Indeed, this is the timeline of his life, but it is not the reality of his life.

Raised and educated in Europe, ordained in Israel and having served his people with distinction in Canada – Rabbi Kirshenblatt’s life story is the story of our people. Having overcome immense obstacles he became a success because he never wandered from the truest values of life. How many were touched by him? How many were taught by him? How many children that were considered to be “unreachable” arrived at his door on Briar Hill only to be reached at and taught? How did he do this? Not with divination –but he did it the old fashioned way, with love.

Rabbi Kirshenblatt was not merely a rabbi of words, but a rabbi of deeds. None of us need to travel far to see what happens to people’s faces when they hear his name. And in spite of the tremendous loss our community and city have suffered at his passing, we have an answer. Through the inspiration and the financial support of his daughter Sheila, we are honoured to announce the establishment of an endowment fund to further adult education in the name of Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt zt”l. We do this knowing that the goodness of his life came to be because Torah was a part of his life. With this fund, we hope to inspire others with the kind of knowledge that inspired Rabbi Kirshenblatt.
We also hope that you will generously participate in supporting this honourable and worthy undertaking – enshrining the value of Jewish knowledge, with the memory of one who was valued because of his scholarship. The Book of Proverbs teaches us, “For this is a good teaching that I have given you, my Torah, and do not let it go…”

Through the life of Rabbi Kirshenblatt we know its goodness, with your help we hope to not let it go.

Rabbi Kirshenblatt was trained in an old world rabbinic way, ironically very similar to mine, but very uncommon in the realm of the “modern” North American rabbinate. He was a Shochet (ritual slaughterer), a Mohel, a Ba’al Koreh (Torah reader), a teacher and a bit of a Chazzan to boot. He was also an ordained rabbi, and a legitimate scholar in his own right, having studied at the feet of some of the giants of European Jewry. In a colloquial way we would have referred to Rabbi Kirshenblatt as a “Kol Bo”; which means literally “All Within”. But in reality it denotes a man of letters and experience, a man who can speak the word and law, and at the same time act on it. "Need a Bris? I can do it.. No one to read the Torah this Shabbat? I’ll do it. We are short of kosher meat? Not to worry, I can look after that" - and it goes on, as his skills and heart were able to match whatever demands were placed on them.

Rabbi Kirshenblatt had a well earned reputation for teaching children their Bar and Bat Mitzvah portions. In fact, he had taught many generations of the same family and he continued to teach children until shortly before he had passed away. But his real excellence came with children who were termed “problems” or “rebels”. Armed with love, humility, scholarship, respect and care Rabbi Kirshenblatt, or “Kirshy” as his many students today still lovingly refer to him as, won them all over. Few, if any, could stand up to an assault by this man’s humanity.

Luckily for us all, that no matter how long Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblattzt ”l lived in this “contemporary” world; the real world of his faith, traditions, and scholarship kept him firmly where he was most needed.