I was born in 1951 in Israel, an only child to Holocaust survivors from Romania. My grandfather brought the young iluy who became the Klausenberger Rebbe to Klausenberg and helped create the Rebbe's Kehilla.
Most of my first cousins are sweet and holy Klausenbergers. My father as the youngest of 12 was immersed in that world but emerged from the horrors of the Shoa not as a believing Jew, but as a lover of Israel. My parents married on the day the Hiroshima bomb was dropped and came to Israel by way of Cyprus after the war. When I was eight they left Israel and I had my formative adolescent and teen years in Toronto.
After my bar mitzva I wanted to enter the larger world and left Jewish belief. I received my BA in Sociology from York University in 1973 though most of my attention was devoted to a creative communal theatre project on campus. During the summers I lived on first nations communities volunteering on social action projects. Ironically, at the sundances and pow-wow ceremonies, my innate spirituality was reawakened and I made the decision to return to Israel rather than continue in law school.
I soon entered Yeshiva and, as an early student of Reb Noach Weinberg (later of Aish HaTorah fame), I began a lifelong commitment to the study and practice of Torah.
Returning to Canada I received my Master's of Social Work from University of Toronto in 1976 and moved to Israel (my second Aliya) in 1978 and worked in a number of social work settings. My wife's family situation brought us back to Winnipeg, Canada in 1980. There I taught a variety of Jewish studies at the Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate. In 1984 my wife and I and (then) two kids(now four) returned to Israel (my third Aliya). I taught Chumash and Tanach at Aish HaTorah for one year. For three years I was a senior educator specializing in Judaism and Jewish Identity at the Institute For Student Leaders—Machon LeMadricheiChutz leAretz in Jerusalem. My mentor at the time directed me to complete Rabbinic ordination and I undertook a program of study in Jerusalem that led to semicha in 1989 from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, a rosh yeshiva and dayan in Yerushalyim.
I then accepted the position of rabbi at Or Shalom in Vancouver and did that for five years. During this time I was involved in an ‘apprentice‘ relationship with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Z“L. He traveled to Vancouver periodically to serve as av bet din for conversion students I had prepared.
In 1992 I received semicha from him. In 1995 I founded Mercaz HaRaya—The Centre For Vision. The centre is named after Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the contemporary mystic sage whose teachings are my major inspiration. Through the centre I facilitate a variety of spiritual activities , workshops, retreats and the like.
My primary learning focus is the teachings of Rav Kook, Zohar and Sefer Yetzira. I am working on a book on the spiritual journey of the Aleph Bet based on Rav Kook's sefer “Rosh Millin“. The manuscript served as part of my submission to Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi when I received semicha from him in 1996.
My core interest and work is in discovering and expressing the contemporary voice of Torah informed and guided by our precious and holy sources. Rav Kook teaches that the work of this generation includes opening the gates kabbala and serving the transformation from Torat HaDin-Torah of Judgment to Torat HaChesed-Torah of Love.
I enjoy a daily practice of Ophanim which is a recently emerged “Kabbalistic yoga“. My main hobby is learning music. I can be reached at 604-733- 7888 and mercaz@canadawired.com.
BeShalom
Bracha: With peace and blessings,
Itzchak
