RabbiBentzion Kugleris first and foremost a master educator. He shares six lasting lessons from the gedolim that inform his approach to chinuch— and to life
“Everything I know, I learned from the masters,” Rabbi Kugler says emphatically. “There’s a Midrash that one who takes advice from the sages does not falter. This isn’t just a helpful tip; it’s a guarantee.”
Along with his primary role as menahel of Chavas Daas, Rabbi Kugler wears several other hats. He serves on the board of major organizations in the chareidi world, among them the Kemach Fund that supports fathers of Torah families on the road to acquiring a vocation. For five years, Rabbi Kugler served as a councilmember of the Jerusalem municipality, but then he left the political arena. “I realized I couldn’t devote myself wholeheartedly to my talmidim when I had another official position competing for my attention and loyalties,” he says.
Rabbi Kugler also serves as chairman of the Keren Hashvi’is, an organization that encourages and funds the observance of shemittah among Israel’s farmers. It’s an intensive job that rolls around once every seven years, but he says the effort brings its own reward and recharges his spiritual and emotional batteries for the next seven-year period.
The Keren Hashvi’is is a natural fit for Rabbi Kugler — he was actually born in the Torah-observant agricultural settlement of Komemiyus, which was renowned for its collective observance of shemittah k’hilchasah, and from an early age, he formed a close relationship with its rav, Rav Binyamin Mendelsohn, who traveled the length and breadth of the country to encourage Israeli farmers unaware of, or struggling to observe, the laws of shemittah.
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