Rabbi Sobol and Rabbi Micha Halevi grant Barkai Prize to Chatzerot Ganim
Rabbi Sobol and Rabbi Micha Halevi grant Barkai Prize to Chatzerot GanimBarkai

Last Monday, Barkai awarded the prestigious ‘Barkai Prize’ to exceptional communities, rabbis and gabbaim. This year, the prize focused on initiatives and projects conducted on behalf of the community during the Coronavirus crisis. In light of the Ministry of Health’s guidelines and limitations, the ceremony was aired by special broadcast on Barkai’s homepage, as well as on Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew and English news websites. This special program also marked the graduation ceremony of the fourth cohort of the Barkai Training Program for Community Rabbis.

The prize for ‘Exceptional Communal Rabbi’ was awarded to Rabbi Aharon Katz, rabbi of the Dovev Oz community in southern Ramat Gan. Rabbi Katz has served in this capacity for more than forty years and leads his community compassionately and attentively and exhibits true Torah leadership that serves as a model for all of Israel’s rabbis. The prize for ‘Exceptional Community’ was awarded to the Chatzerot Ganim community in Petach Tikva – a community located in a complex environment that has long been involved in Torah study, building social connections, and engaging in chesed activities that benefit a wide range of populations. The prize for ‘Exceptional Gabbai’ was awarded to Raphael Skuri of the Tze’irim community in Tirat Hacarmel, who has devoted himself to managing the congregation for many years and plays an important role in its ongoing operation.

During the ceremony, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, president of Barkai remarked: “This is not the first time that I have been fortunate to bless the rabbis who have participated in this high-level course of study and completed their supplementary rabbinic education that has prepared them to assume the position of rabbi. Barkai has extensive experience in guiding and mentoring young rabbis at the beginning of their rabbinic careers and helping them with the different issues and situations that they will encounter on their professional paths. I am proud and lucky to play a small role in this crucial and holy undertaking”.

Rabbi Shlomo Sobol, one of Barkai’s deans, noted: “For the fourth year in a row, we are privileged to award the ‘Barkai prize’ to an exceptional rabbi, an exceptional community and an exceptional gabbai, while at the same time, we are fortunate to graduate another cohort of rabbis from the Barkai Training Program. Given the challenges posed by the Coronavirus crisis, we were not able to conduct this year’s ceremony before a large audience, yet we decided not to give up on the ceremony entirely, and instead conducted it via this special venue”.

Rabbi David Fine, another one of Barkai’s deans, addressed the graduates of the fourth cohort of the Barkai Training Program: “We are thrilled that these rabbis came here and invested a lot in order to be better rabbinic leaders who are strongly connected to their communities. There is a great need for rabbis, gabbaim and other individuals who will make our synagogues and communities better. This is our goal at Barkai – to make communities more compassionate, more supportive and better”. Later in his remarks, Rabbi Fine invited additional rabbis from other congregations and communities to join the fifth cohort of the Barkai Training Program which will begin in September.

Barkai was established more than eight years ago in order to train rabbis in a variety of different disciplines. Rabbis undergo more than 600 hours of professional training over a two-year course of study, that incorporates different halakhic issues, as well as social and communal issues. The goal of the program is to endow participants with the tools that will enable them to support and mentor their communities and be an address for both the religious and social issues that confront their congregants. Additionally, the organization is involved in developing communal projects that seek to make communities into bastions of support and resilience all year long.