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The Legacy of MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz by Pinchos Freidlander
With Rav Avraham Pam With his father, Rav Aryeh Leib Ravitz, Av Beis Din Tel Aviv
With Rav Steinman
With Rav Elyashiv With Rav Simcha Zissel Brevda, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron With Rav Yechiel Michel Feinstein at a family chasuna With Rav Dovid Soloveitchik
The Legacy of MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz
TJH Speaks with Rabbi Ravitz’s children, founders of Moreshet Avraham, who refl ect on his life, his message, and his ongoing mission
BY PINCHOS FRIEDLANDER
Who was the legendary Rabbi Avraham Ravitz? What lay behind the colorful image of this storied character? From a young boy playing “kadur regel” in the streets of Tel Aviv, to a student in the Chevron Yeshiva.
From enlistment in the “Lechi,” to a fighter in the fledgling Tzahal. From a kiruv activist, to a rosh yeshiva,
to a member of the Israeli government, R’ Ravitz’s life certainly covered a wide gamut. But how does this all
Early Days
Avraham Ravitz was born in 1934, during the period of the British Mandate, in the city of Tel Aviv. His father, Reb Arye Leib, was originally from Slabodka in Poland. Avraham came to study in the Chevron Yeshiva, which, at the time, was still located in the ancient city itself. During the infamous riots of 1929, he was saved by an Arab family who hid him. After the horrific episode, he settled in the Montefiore neighborhood of Tel Aviv, where he became the rav.
When Avraham was but of three years of age, his parents divorced, a rare occurrence in those days. Much of Avraham’s early childhood was spent in an orphanage. He often lacked basic food and clothing. Though he still had a loving father, his childhood was not an easy one. Despite all this, Avraham never became bitter. He learned from his father to love, even if you lacked love; to give, even if you have received little; and to feel for others, even if life seemed unfeeling to you.
In those days, Tel Aviv was a mixed city, with religious, traditional, and non-religious families living side-by-side, and the children often played together. Young Avraham was no different, joining the soccer games and rooting for the local professional team. He once was chosen to carry their flags for them, which earned him a slap from his father.
One day, while at the Sinai Talmud Torah he attended, gunshots rang out nearby. The boys, including young Avraham, or Avreimel, as he was known, raced outside to see what had happened. They found a cluster of people on the street, milling around numbly in shock. The British police had just murdered Avraham Yair Stern, founder of the Lechi, or “Stern Gang,” as they called it.
“The British killed a Jewish gangster,” the boys were told.
When Avreimel reported the news to his class, his rebbi (who would later become the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv) burst into tears.
“Avreimel,” he said, “this man they killed was no gangster. He was a hero, a man who sacrificed his life for the Jewish people.”
As Rabbi Ravitz recounted many years later, the class was stunned into silence. Young Avreimel’s mind churned furiously, as the concepts “murderer,” “hero,” “gangster,” and “martyr” swam around his brain in confusion.
“At that point I realized,” he later recalled, “that not everything the adults say is true, and not everything the public assumes is correct.”
A few years later, Avraham enlisted in Lechi, inspired by the events of that fateful day. His motivation was his deep pain about the British limitations on immigration. He, and the other chareidi enlisters, ached for the desperate Holocaust survivors who were stranded in dismal DP camps in Europe.
Later, during Israel’s War of Independence, he joined the IDF in fighting for Israel’s survival.
During this same time period, he was also a student in the Chevron Yeshiva under R’ Chatzkal Sarna, who influenced him deeply. He also learned for some time in the Slabodka Yeshiva under R’ Issac Sher, who created a profound and life-long impression on him as well.
Already at this young ago, Avraham’s position as a mediator between the religious and non-religious camps was established. People noticed his ability to relate to the secular mindset and connect with the “chilonim,” while holding strong to his Torah values. As the chilonim themselves expressed: “He knew how to speak ‘Tel Avivian’ not just ‘Yerushalmi.’” For this reason, rabbanim trusted him to serve in a mediating role, a role which he continued to play his entire life.
As the newly forming State was absorbing refugees from all over the world, the secularist Zionists sadly exploited vulnerable religious refugees and immigrants, many of them children. They stole their yarmulkas and tzitzis, shaved off their payos, and pressured them into abandoning the faith of their ancestors. The sagas of “Yaldei Teheran” and the Yemeni and Moroccan children, among others, is well-known.
Here too, Avraham got involved, on behest of his teachers. He and his friends accomplished much, at great personal risk.
Once, he snuck into camp “Ein-Shemer,” in which child refugees were being held, by crawling under the gate. He secretly brought the religious children yarmulkas and tzitzis, which he somehow managed to obtain with a bit of money he had. However, he was caught in the act. Instead of running away or cowing, Avreimel marched directly to the head of the camp, looked him in the eye, and told him, “Nothing will help you. We are here. We want a room to teach these children Torah.”
Unbelievably, the anti-religious camp leader acquiesced, moved by Avreimel’s determination and confidence.
This story, ironically, was publicized by Benjamin Netanyahu. Though he is, unfortunately, not religious, Bibi could not help but respect R’ Ravitz’s deep dedication and conviction.
R’ Ravitz’s son-in-law, Rabbi Avidan Buksenbaum, relates an additional aspect of this story: When Avreimel was tasked with the mission of obtaining the religious articles for the children, he had literally no money with which to buy anything. At a loss, he approached the venerable Chazon Ish, who apparently didn’t have much money either. He gave Avreimel a lira, which was not really enough to buy anything. He encouraged him to try, though. Wandering through the streets a bit aimlessly, Avreimel chanced across an acquaintance, who asked him what he was up to. When Avreimel related his mission, the man told him, “You have a lira from the Chazon Ish? Please give me the lira, and I will get you everything you need.”
The Making of a Leader
Eventually, R’ Ravitz and his friends’ activities morphed into the founding of an official organization, named Yad L’Achim. He ran the organization together with the legendary Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz.
R’ Ravitz went on to teach in Ohr Sameach, along with Reb Moshe Shapiro, where he influenced the early pioneers of the teshuva movement, including the famous comedian Uri Zohar, artist Ika Yisraeli, and countless others.
Later, R’ Ravitz led Kiryat Noar, a yeshiva for religious but “modern” boys. One of his students was Manny Mazuz, who would go on to become Attorney General and then Justice on the “Bagatz” (Israeli Supreme Court).
Manny had immigrated from Djerba, Tunisia, where his father, Reb Shlomo, had been a rabbi. Once he moved to Israel, Reb Shlomo lost his position as rabbi and opened a store. Sadly, the allure of the new secularist culture they were exposed to was too much for his son Manny, and he left the path of Torah. When the administration of Kiryat Noar became aware of this, they were left with no choice but to expel Manny.
Although Manny was tragically beyond the point of return, he did realize the terrible heartache it would cause his father, if he became aware of his situation. He begged R’ Ravitz not to let his father know the true reason for his expulsion.
When R’ Ravitz heard that, he changed his mind about expelling Manny. He felt that someone who cared for his father’s feelings like that could remain in the yeshiva.
In addition to his involvement in these yeshivos and organizations, R’ Ravitz was a businessman as well, earning a living as a contractor.
Bridging Worlds
In the late 1980s, the leader of Lithuanian Jewry, Rav Elazar Man Shach, zt”l, asked R’ Ravitz to join the newly formed Degel Hatorah party.
R’ Ravitz was elected to the Knesset in 1988 and went on to serve as Deputy Minister of Housing, Minister of Education, and Deputy Minister of Welfare, throughout his years in the Knesset. During the course of his long career, he represented both the Degel Hatorah and United Torah Judaism parties.
Here in the Knesset, his unique ability to connect with adversaries, while standing up to them
With Ehud Olmert
With Shraya Schlussberg, IDF Colonel, in the reserves
Reaching across the aisle A photo from his youth
In Yeshivas Chevron during his youth R’ Ravitz, his wife Avigayil, and their son, Moshe, at the time that Moshe donated his kidney to his father
R’ Ravitz at a youth camp, bringing the children tzitzis and yarmulkas Avidan and Malka Buksenbaum, carrying on R’ Ravitz’s legacy
Malky and Avidan’s “daughters,” the girls of Moreshet Avraham
fearlessly, really came to the fore. This, along with his keen perception of human nature, and brilliant yet practical mind, helped him find common ground with others on many thorny issues, finding creative solutions to seemingly impassible obstacles. One veteran Knesset member told R’ Ravitz’s daughter Malka that, to this day, R’ Ravitz has not been replaced. There is no longer someone in the government who can accomplish what he could. His desire and ability to understand everybody – even those on the opposite side of a debate – is very hard to replicate.
Malka remembers the time she and her brother visited their father’s workplace, the Knesset. To her horror, she saw her father engaged in an intense shouting match with another MK, and it scared her. Later, though, she saw the two of them walk out together, friends again, as her father invited the man to their home for Shabbos. It was then that she realized that, for her father, it was never personal. He defended Torah Judaism vigorously but could still respect and connect to his opponents on a personal level. And for this reason, they too, treated him with respect – and even love. Many of his biggest political adversaries would secretly come to his house, asking him for guidance and advice. They recognized his shrewd genius and knew he wouldn’t hold their differences against them.
In a famous incident, after the Yom Kippur War, the editor of far-left Ha’aretz, Gideon Levy, desired to come to R’ Ravitz’s house for Shabbos and do a write-up on his experience. He was afraid, however. Many prominent Israeli figures before him had spent Shabbos at the Ravitz home and were so taken by the experience that they were chozer b’teshuva. Levy was afraid it would happen to him, too, and so he hesitated. But then he heard about famed singer Paul Simon, who had spent Shabbos there as well and didn’t “come under the spell.” Levy felt “safer” then and invited himself for Shabbos. He was greatly moved by that Shabbos and wrote a beautiful article about it in Ha’aretz. In it, Levy described it as “perhaps the most beautiful Shabbos meal I have ever experienced.” Though, indeed, he unfortunately was not chozer b’teshuva, the article did give the secular public a warmer attitude and appreciation for Torah Judaism. Who knows what the indirect consequences of that were?
For The Community…
For R’ Ravitz, these government positions were not personal opportunities to shine and gain power and influence. It was about giving, giving, and giving only. He undertook and executed countless projects, to better the lives of the public, in so many ways. He arranged funding and approval for countless vital projects, including housing, schools, and hospitals. He arranged the establishment of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in Jerusalem, to help ease the ongoing housing crunch for religious families in Israel. Usually, contactors would sell the units to the highest bidder, resulting in higher cost to financially struggling families. As such, R’ Ravitz arranged that the units be sold by one fair estimate, easing the burden on the buyers. He also worked to grant Shuvu schools the same status as the Chinuch Atzmai school network, which enabled them to receive government funding. Until today, the lion’s share of their budget is covered through this arrangement. He helped Chinuch Atzmai much as well.
His motto, as he expressed it in a famous speech he gave at the founding of Degel Hatorah, was “b’zechut, lo b’chessed.” He wanted the religious community’s needs to be met in a respectable fashion. A religious family is entitled to the same rights a secular one, he asserted, and should not be made to feel like beggars asking for handouts.
…and For the Individual
At the same time, he made himself available to any individual as well, simple or distinguished. He didn’t consider himself “above” anyone and could be reached directly, with no secretary acting as an intermediary. He would actually go to sleep with a phone near his bed, in case someone needed his help urgently.
His daughter Malka remembers him sitting with someone at their house, conversing with him in an intense manner. It seemed to her that the man must have been some public figure, discussing major community affairs with MK Ravitz. It turned out, though, that the man was, in fact, a collector, who came to request a handout. R’ Ravitz treated him with the same respect and importance as he would the prime minister. Indeed, he would spend time with a collector, inquire in detail about his situation, and see whether he could find him a job or set up some other arrangement for him.
Some of the people he spoke with were not “all there,” yet even them he treated with respect, saying, “This is my job in this world, to help every person I can.”
Getting Children into Schools
Another issue that weighed on his heart was the difficulty many children had getting accepted into schools. Their pain was his pain, and he worked tirelessly to help them.
He once was involved in a case of a girl who could not get accepted into high school. “We just don’t have any room,” she was told. R’ Ravitz called up those in charge of admissions and asked if they would accept his granddaughter into their school. “Of course,” he was told, “we would love to have your granddaughter in our academy.” “Well, then,” he said, “if you do indeed have room, why don’t you accept this girl who is waiting to get into a school?” The administration had no choice but to comply.
R’ Ravitz’s daughter, Malka, and her husband, Avidan, recall how, on the day of their own wedding, they were waiting to go the hall when there was a holdup.
A child was not accepted into aschool, and R’ Ravitz could not continue with his life. He told the principal, “I am not going to the chuppah of my own child until this child has a school.”
He even tried creating a system that could potentially fix the problem at its core. As of now, his system has not been adopted, though.
“Maybe one day,” says Malka, with a wistful smile.
Family First
R’ Ravitz’s relationship with his family was incredibly warm and loving. He loved them intensely, and they loved him back. When Malka talks about her father, her love and admiration for him is felt in her voice and is apparent on her face.
She relates how the children loved to help their father however they could. The minute he came home, the children would fight over who gets to bring him his slippers. When sitting around the table, he would merely look at something, and one of his children would eagerly pass it to him. In a famous incident, a few years ago, R’ Ravitz was in need of a kidney transplant. When the family became aware that the children were a good match for donating a kidney to their father, an argument broke out. The oldest son felt he should be the one to donate his kidney, given his seniority. However, the son who had coordinated the medical matter felt that entitled him to the privilege.
They ultimately brought the matter to Harav Eliyashiv, zt”l, who sent them to Rav Dov Landau. Rav Landau ruled that it should be decided by lots. In the end, the elder son “won” the privilege of donating his kidney to his father.
This story was publicized in the Israeli media at the time, making a tremendous kiddush Hashem. It also brought awareness of the possibility for a child to donate a kidney for a parent, helping many.
Despite his intense love, R’ Ravitz never spoiled his children. Although he was comfortable financially, he would not buy them unnecessary items or luxuries, and the family lived simply.
Additionally, even though his position gave him status, he never used that to favor his children.
“My children can stand up for themselves,” he would say.
And indeed, they could. They were happy, confident, and strong children.
The Legacy of Avraham
The Ravitz children inherited from their father a strong sense of responsibility to the klal, the community. It is part of their DNA. Many of R’ Ravitz’s children and children-in-law are involved in helping the public in one form or another.
Specifically, the Buksenbaums founded an organization aptly named Moreshet Avraham, the legacy of R’ Avraham Ravitz, Malka Buksenbaum’s unforgettable father. It embodies R’ Ravitz’s legacy, to the world, and specifically to his family. A legacy of unconditional and wholehearted giving. The organization was founded by Avidan and Malka Buksenbaum, who also run it. But it is close to the hearts and minds of the entire Ravitz family, and they contribute to the cause.
Malka had been a principal in Girl’s Town, an orphanage for girls in Jerusalem. She realized, though, that the dormitory experience could not properly prepare girls for becoming healthy, functioning wives and mothers. A dormitory, for all its merits, is an institutionalized experience, not a home. The girls needed a home. They needed a mother. And that is exactly what Malka set out to do. She started soon after her father’s passing in the month of Shevat in 2009. Malka took the bonus salary she had received that summer (the Buksenbaums are not rich) and used it to rent an apartment. But they needed furniture. Malka and Avidan scoured Jerusalem for discarded pieces of furniture. They rented a vehicle and drove it around town. They found a bedroom set here, a fridge there, and schlepped it all by themselves to the apartment. Malka describes the satisfaction they had in doing it “with their bare hands.” And so, an organization was born.
With time, they slowly expanded to four apartments, and a total of around 28 girls in the program at a time. The girls hail from around Israel, and beyond.
To Malka and Avidan, the girls are their children. They eat Shabbos and yom tov meals at their home. After lighting Chanukah candles at their own home, the Buskenbaums quickly run over to the apartments and give their girls the Chanukah experience of home. And the connection never stops. Fifty of their girls have since gotten married, and now have children of their own, which the Buksenbaums consider their “grandchildren.” There are 100 of them so far, kein yirbu.
Over time, Malka showed her work to the Israeli government, who was so impressed, they went all on board, approving her organization for funding as two organizations. Truthfully, the Buksenbaums are so devoted to “their” girls that they do the work of two organizations at once. The government now covers sixty percent of their budget. However, the remaining forty percent they must raise themselves.
The Buksenbaums recently arrived in the U.S. to raise money for this amazing program. And, Malka confides, she also hoped to collect Chanukah presents for “her” girls. She remembers how her cousin would send her own daughter presents from home in the U.S., while the daughter was in seminary in Israel. “I want my daughter to get a taste of home,” her cousin explained to her at the time. Malka feels the same way. She wants her girls, too, to enjoy a “taste of home.” A taste of being a daughter, cared for by loving parents.
Malka inspires her girls with the story of her father, showing them that they, too, can succeed. Just as R’ Ravitz didn’t let his trying childhood break him, and instead grew up to become a true leader, they, too, can overcome their troubles and achieve greatness. And, she is blown away at the results. She has seen girls from truly tragic backgrounds rise above and beyond their difficult history and become not only successful but a shining light to others.
In life, there are three approaches to dealing with challenges, be they physical or spiritual. You can succumb. Or you can fight and overcome the challenge. But the best way is to use the challenge itself as a tool for unparalleled growth. Growth you could never had achieved had life been nice and easy, smooth sailing.
The life of R’ Avraham Ravitz is a tale of the latter. All of his varied life experiences combined inside one giant heart. A heart that understood everyone regardless of background, felt for everyone regardless of social status. A heart that could at once stand strong for truth, yet also empathize with his adversaries and ultimately gain their true respect.
And that is his legacy to his family, his legacy to the girls of Moreshet Avraham, and his legacy to us all.
If you would like to hear more about R’ Ravitz’s legacy or about Moreshet Avraham, you can contact Malka directly at bxmalka@gmail.com.
