Rabbi Avi Berman, Executive Director of OU Israel, spoke to Arutz Sheva following the death of Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch, the dean of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim.
“[His] real impact on me, as an individual, in determining who I am today and so much of the path that I’ve taken and chosen in my life, is really from when I was 12, 13, 14, 15 years old, and my family was living at the time in Maale Adumim. First of all we were neighbors with Rav Rabinovitch, and I was told many many times that he’s a giant. But when seeing him in the street, and seeing him in the convenience store, and seeing him walk up to the yeshiva, you never ever saw him say, ‘I’m such a great man.’ Never. It was such simpleness, and the way he spoke to us as kids, the way he spoke to us as neighbors, it was the most beautiful relationship ever.”
“When I realized that I have this great yeshiva right next to my house, Birkat Moshe, and I started going up to the yeshiva every single day after school, I became addicted. It was impossible for me to come home from school and not go up to the yeshiva. It was a whole bunch of stairs away from our house, but that didn’t stop us. We went up there and had chavruta with different guys in the yeshiva, guys who I’m still in touch with today. Great guys who really embraced the Torah and then turned it into real life,” recalled Rabbi Berman.