“Gap year.”
Or: “Seminary.”
Or: “Work-study program in Israel after high school.”
They all took their inspiration from Rabbi Yehuda Copperman — he of the five lives, any one of which another person would consider more than sufficient justification of his life — who died last January. His multifaceted legacy will continue to unfold for generations to come.
Back in 1956 — 60 years ago — he began to teach students in his living room in Jerusalem. This grew into a few rented classrooms in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem, which he called, seemingly grandiosely, “The Jerusalem College for Women” (Michlala), in 1964.
At the time, virtually no American Jewish students went to Israel after high school. Yes, there were a couple of small programs; some eventually folded, some continued; but none grew in size, vision and dimension like Rabbi Copperman’s college. Only 15 years later, it was ensconced on a major campus; it had raised by leaps and bounds the requirements for becoming a teacher; it had branched out into many fields, from the sciences to the history of the Holocaust; it had achieved academic status.
It had educated thousands of students and inspired hundreds of teachers to go out into the wide and barren land of Jewish education, to make a contribution.
It had set a tone: There is a quality education and an indispensable experience in the Holy Land for American Jewish post-high schools students. Come! You’ll be forever grateful you did.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Rabbi Yehuda Copperman was flattered beyond measure, as school upon school, seminary upon seminary, program upon program, followed in his footsteps.
Thus, his first life: institutional pioneer and able administrator — a person who knew instinctively just when to be unbending, as school principals must sometimes be, and just when to be flexible, as school principals must sometimes be.
Which brings us to his second life: modest role model, the very opposite of someone full of himself. Rabbi Copperman’s eye was never on his achievements, only on the next step up, the next goal, the path to wider service to his students, to the Jewish people, to the society of Israel. His countless students and colleagues remember him not just for what he did, but for what he was: wise, kind, perceptive, congenial, with a gentle and ever present sense of humor. He never wasted words, yet never made one feel rushed.
His third life: teacher. Even as his institution grew, Rabbi Copperman never forgot its origin: those classes in his living room. He attracted the great teachers that made his college a go-to destination for thousands of young women because he himself was a master teacher. He was overflowing with insights into the texts of the Hebrew Bible. Creative. Engaging. Fully focused on the text, yet also able to throw in a point of humor and a poignant story. He succeeded in demanding high standards because he made the Bible come alive.
His fourth life: scholar. It really was like a separate life, as if he were a full-time lecturer in a university or a yeshiva. He hit upon the five volumes of commentary on the Torah by the acknowledged polymath, Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (1843-1926), one of those rabbinic commentaries so full of quotes and references, stated and implied, that it rises to the level of a greatly admired —but closed — book. Rabbi Copperman opened it up. Night after night, verse upon verse, page after page, volume after volume, he dedicated years to writing and publishing what is now a classic. As we say, many a full-time scholar would be envious. Not to mention, Rabbi Copperman went on to pen many more volumes after that.
His fifth life: Family man, progenitor of scholars, teachers and administrators like himself, one-half of a couple who loved to do music together, full of joie de vivre.
Rabbi Copperman has gone to his eternal reward, leaving behind not only the thousands of students and colleagues who learned from him but the countless students of the future who will benefit from his institution, his phenomenal books and his example.
Born in Ireland, educated in England, Chicago and Israel, he became a legend of Jerusalem.
Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News
