“You understand why we’re leaving now,” she said as she picked up her handbag
The Ashkenazi family were talented, gifted people.
Rabbi Ashkenazi was a brilliant man, having received his semichah from Chacham Meir Mazuz’s Kissei Rachamim yeshivah in Bnei Brak at the young age of 20. His kollel in Ashdod attracted only the most dedicated young masters of halachah. And his rabbanit was known for her work organizing public inspirational events that attracted an entire spectrum, from the frummest women in their snoods to the most secular, with nose rings and tattoos. They were a credit to their illustrious ancestor, Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi, rebbi of the Arizal and author of the Shitah Mekubetzet.
I was familiar with a few of their older sons from an organization they had started to teach Torah to Israeli soldiers who had left the frum world. The Ashkenazi brothers, talented like their parents, attracted many formerly shomer Shabbos soldiers to their shiurim.
And apparently, the youngest brother of eight, Moshe Chaviv, was a star in his own right. He has excelled in a prestigious Sephardi yeshivah ketanah run by Chaham Shitreet in Bnei Brak. But then he began to follow a different path.
“His neshamah is electrified,” Rav Ashkenazi explained to me, after Rav Shitreet, who I’d had contact with in the past, suggested he come in for a consult. “The way that he can wrap his mind around a sugya was legendary in the beit medrash.”
Create a free account to keep reading.
