SECRETS TO HIS SUCCESS
Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, zt”l
30 Days Since His Passing
By Susan Schwamm
The Jewish Home | April 12, 2018 | pp. 70–75

Speaking with TJH two years ago, Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, zt”l, noted at the end of the long interview that he knew thousands of people. “How do you manage to remember everyone?” the interviewer asked him. “Well, if I like you, I remember you,” the rav, who was 95 years old at the time, said. “You must like a lot of people,” the interviewer rejoined. “Yes, I definitely do,” Rabbi Pelcovitz responded.

An encounter with Rabbi Pelcovitz meant not just a few moments of chitchat. With his distinctive smile and wit, he instantly related to all, regardless of age, affiliation or attitude. People were not just congregants or passersby. They were humans, tzelem Elokim, each with their challenges and triumphs, accomplishments and losses, humor and pain.

Although Rabbi Pelcovitz was the consummate people’s person and that was his primary focus, his vision was broader in scope as he spent over six decades molding the Far Rockaway community into a bastion of Torah and derech eretz.

What was Rabbi Pelcovitz’s secret? How was he able to see a desert with just a few tents of Torah and then help to build the flourishing paradigm of Torah and tefilla that we have today in our community? How was he able to unite a kehilla that consists of black hats, baseball hats, and bare heads? How was he able to insist on halacha without alienating those who perhaps were not as stringent? Why did every person he encountered feel that instant connection with the rav?

It was over six decades ago when Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, zt”l, moved to Far Rockaway. The then-fledgling community that sat on the border of Queens and the South Shore of the Five Towns was a new frontier for pioneering Orthodox Jews who were inching away from the tenements on the Lower East Side and the crowded streets of the Bronx. A large portion of what is now prime real estate in Far Rockaway was, back then, uninhabited marsh land. There were a total of two shuls in the area – Shaaray Tefila and Kneseth Israel, which was located on Nameoke Street and Dinsmore in Far Rockaway and was, indeed, white. The Far Rockaway-Five Towns community was home to just a few Orthodox families, and there was a smattering of schools and groceries that were dotted throughout the landscape.

But the young rabbi was hopeful. He envisioned a bustling, Torahdik community where all types of Jews could raise their families in a safe, warm and loving environment. Yes, seen through the lens of 2018 it’s quite feasible. But, at the time, Rabbi Pelcovitz was stepping into the unknown, armed with only his passion for spreading Torah and Yiddishkeit and the hope that others would join him on his journey.

“The community when I came here had a limited number of people who were shomrei mitzvos, shomrei Shabbos, who were people who knew how to learn or wanted to learn,” he told TJH in 2016. “And one of the major challenges that I found when I came here was to create in the people a desire to want to learn, to want to know more, to want to grow.”

Despite it being a challenge, Rabbi Pelcovitz rose to the occasion – and he brought the community up with him. Slowly, he introduced adult learning classes to both men and women in the community. His lectures filled the shul on Shabbos and during the week. He helped to expand the chevra kaddisha within the community and taught halachos to both the men and the women, establishing the 7th of Adar as Chevra Kaddisha Day to give honor to those who toil in this most worthy chessed shel emes.

Indeed, the community was receptive to Rabbi Pelcovitz’s ideals, and its spiritual growth came at a rapid pace.

In a feature on Rabbi Pelcovitz in the book, The World That Was: America, Rabbi Pelcovitz recalls his early days as a rav in the Far Rockaway community.

“People were moving to this [Far Rockaway] community who were shomer Shabbos, yeshiva educated, and committed Jews. It was a breath of fresh air [as compared to his other positions as a rav],” Rabbi Pelcovitz said. “A definite advantage of this was that you were dealing with those who were receptive to what you wanted to present and accomplish.”

The Far Rockaway community wanted to grow.

“The climate of the community – and it was amazing to see – was that as time passed there were social pressures to be more Observant. For example, having a sukkah was an act of courage. In Far Rockaway, even in the ‘50s, it had reached a point in certain neighborhoods that if you did not have a sukkah you were ashamed. People built sukkahs who were not even that frum.

“The benefit was that, eventually, some of these people became Observant for the proper reason and not just to keep up with the Joneses.”

Seeing that his kehilla was ripe for Torah learning, Rabbi Pelcovitz urged his community forward.

He was instrumental in helping to establish the Vaad Hakashrus in town and in building a mikveh in Far Rockaway for the community.

Every decision of his made along the road in elevating the frum community in Far Rockaway was made with an adherence to halacha. In fact, when working on the eiruv at the time, Rabbi Pelcovitz invited Rabbi Shimon Eider, who was the known baki at the time on eiruvim, to help establish the eiruv.

“He also knew,” said Dr. Nachum Pelcovitz, Rabbi Pelcovitz’s youngest child, “that he would need the haskama of the gadol ha’dor as there were very few eiruvim in America at the time.” He involved Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, to ensure that there would not be any conflicts within the community when it came to the eiruv.

“He set forth to establish a Torah community,” Dr. Pelcovitz said, “and that’s what he did.”

Daas Torah was also asked when it came to the mechitza in the new building of the White Shul. (The shul moved to its current location in 1964.) Rabbi Pelcovitz consulted with Rav Moshe and there were certain changes that were made to the original plans of the mechitza to ensure that it was k’halacha. “He made sure to get Rav Moshe’s haskama so that everyone would be onboard and that nobody should question it.”

Elevating the Small Towns

Rabbi Pelcovitz was born in Canton, Ohio, in 1921. His father, Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovitz, was the rav of the shul in Canton. In 1928 the family moved to Bridgeport, CT. There, young Raphael attended public school and a Talmud Torah in the afternoons.

When Raphael was just 12-years-old, Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovitz sent his son to learn in Eretz Yisroel, something that was not done in those days. Raphael traveled with his mother and sisters by boat for two weeks before finally reaching the Holy Land. His mother had traveled with his sisters to find a shidduch for one of the Pelcovitz daughters and, indeed, once they came to Eretz Yisroel, a suitable shidduch was found. The wedding was held in Eretz Yisroel after Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovitz journeyed from the United States to attend the simcha.

Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovitz, with his long white beard, was part of a group of rabbanim who joined in the Zionist conferences in Europe. Perhaps that it why he sent his son to learn in Eretz Yisroel at such a tender age.

After the nuptials, Raphael stayed in Israel with his sister and new brother-in-law and learned in the mechina of Chevron Yeshiva, celebrating his bar mitzvah without the rest of his family. He stayed there, learning diligently, for four years until unrest and riots forced him back home.

When Rabbi Pelcovitz came back from Eretz Yisroel, he went to Torah Vodaath, where he learned under Rabbi Shlomo Heiman. Rabbi Pelcovitz was known for being an ilui, earning a certificate of semicha from Rabbi Heiman at the young age of 20. When he was given the approbation Rabbi Heiman told him to hide the certificate in a drawer until he would come of age, as he was really much too young to have used it.

Learning in Torah Vodaath opened worlds for Rabbi Pelcovitz. He spoke of his love for his rebbe who taught him how to learn a blatt Gemara and how to give over a blatt, an essential component for rabbanim when learning with their kehilla.

Another person who had a seminal influence over Rabbi Pelcovitz while he was learning in Torah Vodaath was the menahel, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz. Rabbi Mendelowitz imparted hashkafa to the boys, giving over shiur to select bochurim.

In those days, there was no dormitory in the yeshiva; students would rent rooms. Rabbi Ephraim Pelcovitz would send his son money for room and board, and Raphael taught in the Talmud Torah to earn extra money.

Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz’s first foray into chinuch was as the principal of a day school in Hartford, CT. In the 1940s, a day school was almost unheard of and the concept of not attending a public school was considered by many to be un-American. Despite the uphill battles and the very few supporters that he had, in his two years as principal Rabbi Pelcovitz expanded the school and recruited new students.

A new community came knocking, this time by way of the rabbinate. Rabbi Pelcovitz applied for and was accepted to the position of rabbi of the shul in Saratoga Springs, NY, and principal and teacher in the Talmud Torah in January 1945. During the year, the community in Saratoga Springs was small. There was only one shul in town, and not everyone who attended was frum. Even so, the lectures given by Rabbi Pelcovitz were given in Yiddish. During the summer months, though, the town’s mineral baths drew Jews from the city who basked in the warm weather, balmy temperatures, and calming spas found in Saratoga Springs. In those months, the shul had no trouble finding a minyan.

When Rabbi Pelcovitz came to town, there was only a minyan on Shabbos. Slowly, he urged his congregants to join him during the week, particularly on Monday and Thursday when there was laining.

The children of the town attended Rabbi Pelcovitz’s Talmud Torah, where many children of different ages learned about Yiddishkeit together.

After two years leading the Saratoga Springs community, Rabbi Pelcovitz was offered a position in Akron, Ohio. The community there was bigger and Rabbi Pelcovitz didn’t have to lead the Talmud Torah, as the community itself – and not the shul – had a Talmud Torah for the community’s children.

At the time, the Conservative movement began to hold sway over some of the Jews in Akron and there were congregants who left to the movement. Rabbi Pelcovitz described those days as “swimming against the current.” European-born Jews were pushing for their families to become more Americanized, hoping – foolishly – that modernizing their children would keep them from going astray. Despite the pull and nagging of his congregants, Rabbi Pelcovitz upheld the values of Yiddishkeit and compelled his congregation to join him in keeping halacha. He did this by remaining firm and sincere and consistent in his views. One area in which this was particularly evident was his success in keeping the building of his new shul within halacha.

In those days, some congregations – and certainly those who wanted to “modernize” Judaism – wanted to forgo the mechitza and install a microphone to be used on Shabbos in shul. But Rabbi Pelcovitz won on both counts when the new shul was built in Akron: it had a proper mechitza and there was no microphone.

“If you are strong and willing to do what is necessary, putting yourself on the line, 99% of people will accept what you say,” Rabbi Pelcovitz said about his time in Akron.

Rabbi Pelcovitz also observed that there was a lack of interest in his congregants in Yiddishkeit. The older generation was dying out; the younger generation didn’t have knowledge about their past. As such, he arranged classes to educate his members, calling am ha’aratzus the greatest threat to Yiddishkeit. He also reached out to them, connecting with them and forming friendships.

“It was not a conscious type of thing like today’s kiruv work – there was no label associated with it then,” he said of his relationships with his congregants. “You try to have a lasting impact on them, so they will continue to be your talmidim for years to come.”

Aside from the relationships with his members, in those days, being a rabbi in a small town bettered the community and made the congregants hold fast to their past. “Just the rabbi’s presence can have an effect,” Rabbi Pelcovitz noted. “I learned this from a man in Saratoga Springs. He came over to me and said, ‘I’m glad you’re in town because Pesach is coming and when a rabbi is in town I don’t eat chometz. When there is no rabbi I feel differently.’ Similarly, in Akron, people would say to me, ‘Your presence has an impact.’”

After a few years in Akron, Rabbi Pelcovitz made his way to Far Rockaway, NY. The rest, as they say, is history.

Secrets to Success

Just as a rav is multi-faceted, his kehilla is varied, with members spanning a spectrum in hashkafa, ideals and values. And each individual within that kehilla is unique, with distinctive character traits, wants and needs.

A good rav, then, in order to be successful, needs to be limber. He needs to be able to uplift his congregation regardless of where they stand. He needs to draw some closer than others; he needs to reach out further to others.

Rabbi Pelcovitz, in his three decades as rav of the White Shul, helped his kehilla reach new heights. It’s hard to pinpoint his secret to success. Perhaps that is because there was not just one secret behind his towering accomplishments.

Part of Rabbi Pelcovitz’s success in helping to cultivate a vibrant frum community in Far Rockaway was his focus on the youth. Families with children were moving into town and Rabbi Pelcovitz saw the utility of getting the youth involved. To that end, he helped establish a Youth Activities Committee, where young children were able to attend programs on Shabbos and Sunday. Ayouth minyan was formed; Shabbos afternoon groups were offered. Chol hamoed trips and activities for children on Sunday were instituted. The shul was not just a place to daven. It was a vibrant, integral part of the families’ lives.

The young families who were moving into town were welcomed into the shul, joining the board and helping to establish new programs. They felt that they were needed and instrumental in the shul’s success and growth.

Two years ago, when Rabbi Pelcovitz was feted at the White Shul for his 65 years of leadership in the community, he spoke of his sincere, deep love for his congregants and the community. “The secret of our success,” he told the crowd, “has been the fact that we’ve looked upon each other as achim, brothers. When we speak of achim, we are saying and we are looking at our connections – every man, every woman, every individual in shul – we were not just givers and receivers... We needed to be m’shtatef with one another.”

That relationship of giving to one another ensured a deep connection between the rav and his kehilla. “There is so much emes and so many feelings and emotions and so much ahava and kavod that are mutually flowing in two directions – of individual to his tzibbur and from the tzibbur to an individual,” Rabbi Pelcovitz said.

He urged the crowd, “You need to be extremely sensitive to every need of your students, your congregants, of your children, especially as they grow up.”

Perhaps that was also part of Rabbi Pelcovitz’s success. It was the nuances that he noticed within each person, the uniqueness of every individual in his shul that did not go ignored. When speaking with his kehilla, a rav tailors his message to his crowd – and to each person within that crowd, helping them to grow in their individual way.

“A rav learns over time that he must choose the areas which to him are most important and then energize the people to follow him and the example he sets,” Rabbi Pelcovitz told TJH two years ago. “Above all, he must understand that it is far more important to convince people than compel them, to mold rather than manipulate, to motivate rather than manage, and to inspire rather than to impose.”

Rabbi Pelcovitz spoke of Rav Chaim Brisker and how, besides being a teacher and a preacher, Rav Chaim reminded his children that a rav must be concerned with the welfare and the wellbeing of his people.

“Moshe Rabbeinu is the only one that we call ‘Rabbeinu,’” Rabbi Pelcovitz noted. “He was not just the ultimate teacher and classical teacher, but he was also concerned for the welfare of the people. It all comes back to the welfare. And the welfare of the people is not something that should be looked upon as being beneath my dignity.

“There was a time when rabbanim’s primary concern was the welfare of their community – is there a person who is suffering? Is there a person who is sick?

“All the stories that you hear from gedolim, the stories that came down the corridors of time without any compromise, were the stories about concern and chessed. And the reason is because man is created b’tzelem Elokim. Hashem always gives. Therefore, you cannot break the mold of what is in your DNA. That is the DNAof a person, to be a nosain.”

During shiva, Dr. Nachum Pelcovitz noted that he was amazed at the span of his father’s relationships with generations upon generations within the same family. Rabbi Pelcovitz maintained relationships with hundreds of individuals throughout the years, joining them in their simchos and their times of sorrow. “The best way to summarize it,” Dr. Pelcovitz said, “was when a gentleman came over to me with tears in his eyes saying that my father was his m’sader kiddushin at his wedding and that my father spoke at his 50th wedding anniversary. You see the extent of the kesher he had with people and the impression he had on people. He never severed that relationship.”

Dr. Pelcovitz noted that, aside from the constant concern and the connection with each individual, part of Rabbi Pelcovitz’s success was his yashrus and consistency in all matters.

“He felt that emes and being yosher would always get through to everybody at whatever level they are in Yiddishkeit. He was extremely consistent,” Dr. Pelcovitz said. “He always had respect for everybody, no matter what type of hashkafa they had. He connected with others who were consistent and had yashrus in their views. He seemed to understand people and was able to understand where they were hashkafically and in life in general.”

It was this yashrus that Rabbi Pelcovitz brought with him from Torah Vodaath and that served him in every kehilla that he led. He wouldn’t back down when it came to halacha and stood firm in the name of Yiddishkeit despite tremendous pull the other way.

Rabbi Pelcovitz’s adherence to halacha and yashrus was infused with an optimism, a joie de vivre. He would sprinkle his lectures with words of wisdom entwined with witty jokes and lines, drawing in his listeners.

Optimism was integral to Rabbi Pelcovitz’s success. Indeed, half a century ago, the world was very different. Rabbanim were not held in the esteem they are held today. Many times, rabbanim were forced to swim against the tide, and some – sadly – succumbed to the pressures of their kehilla, letting halacha go by the wayside. But Rabbi Pelcovitz, with his optimism, yashrus, and love of another Jew managed to swim upstream, bringing his kehilla along with him.

His optimism was highlighted in the hakaras hatov he had to his Creator. “He gave thanks to Hakadosh Baruch Hu every day,” Dr. Pelcovitz noted. “Prior to his petira, he told us how lucky he was and how thankful he was and how good Hashem was to him, allowing him to see so many generations. He was zoche to be sandek at a great-great-grandson’s bris – that is something you don’t normally hear about! And he was zoche to have his wits and chochma with him until the end.”

Two years ago, at the White Shul event, Rabbi Pelcovitz quoted Irish playwright Samuel Beckett during his speech: “Ever tried, ever failed – no matter. Try again, fail again – fail better.”

“There is so much chochma and wisdom in that. You realize that your journey is never complete,” Rabbi Pelcovitz, 95-years-young at the time, said. “You’re always en route. And when you try, you don’t always succeed; very often you fail. It doesn’t matter. Try again, fail again – but this time fail better.”

Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz’s life journey took him from Canton, Ohio, to Israel to Saratoga Springs to Akron and finally to Far Rockaway and the Five Towns. His voyage was filled with successes and challenges, and yet, throughout the decades, Rabbi Pelcovitz shouldered on. What may have been a journey started off by an intrepid American boy hoping to make a small mark on Judaism in America ended with him being forever remembered as a founding father of what is considered today to be one of the premier Orthodox communities around the globe.

His mission – accomplished. May HaRav Raphael ben HaRav Ephraim be a meilitz yosher for our community.

PUBLICATION NOTE
The White Shul will be publishing a Sefer Zikaron for Rabbi Pelcovitz at their upcoming dinner. To contribute with letters, photos or recollections, please contact SeferZikaron@WhiteShul.com.

TRANSCRIPTION NOTE
Transcribed from the supplied PDF. Newspaper columns are joined in reading order; line-wrap hyphenation and repeated running headers are removed. Original wording, reported dates, ages, and transliterations are retained. Photo captions and repeated pull quotes are omitted from the continuous article. The final publication notice is preserved separately and reflects the issue’s original date.