Rabbi Chaim Druckman, the eldest of the Religious Zionist rabbis, and for all intents and purposes, its elder statesman, passed away on the final night of Chanukah at the age of 90. Rav Druckman was a man of many titles and accomplishments: rosh yeshiva, initiator of Yeshivot Hesder, member of Knesset, founder of Gush Emunim, chairman of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, chairman of a large network of religious Zionist schools throughout Israel, Israel Prize winner. However, reciting a list of his credentials and honorifics does not give a full picture of who he was and does not account for his vast influence on the religious Zionist community and broader Israeli society. While I will not give a full analysis of his legacy, I would like to share a personal reflection that can help shed light on who this man was.
In June, 1990 I traveled to Israel for the first time to celebrate my bar mitzvah. We had virtually no relatives in Israel, and in the days before social media and unlimited international long distance, we had limited contact with people overseas; at most an occasional letter was exchanged. And so, other than my immediate family, my grandparents and one unmarried uncle, most of the guests at my bar mitzvah were old family friends to whom I had very little connection.
One honored guest stood out. Since my grandfather George Bomzer, a”h, was involved in raising money for a yeshiva in Israel named Ohr Etzion, we invited the rosh yeshiva, Rav Druckman. The rabbi attended the davening at the Kotel and joined us for breakfast afterward at a local hotel. While to us this did not seem particularly unusual, as we knew him primarily as a friend of my grandfather, the photographer – the one “real” Israeli in attendance – was astounded that this significant figure showed up at the simcha of some random American family. Later that week, we visited Rav Druckman in his home and yeshiva where he gave us a very warm welcome, picked an etrog off of the tree in his garden for my brother, and showed us some of the antique sefarim in his legendary library. As a young person on his first trip to Israel, everything was astounding to me, but the reception and attention that we received from this great rabbi made a particular impact on me. More than that, growing up in Brooklyn we knew that there were many great rabbis and roshei yeshiva in our home town, some of whom, like Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, zt”l, or Rav Avraham Yaakov Pam, zt”l, we had occasion to encounter. But this rosh yeshiva was different. He was one of “us.” He wore a kippah serugah, spoke of his students who combined Torah learning with service in the IDF, and this, along with the warmth that he showed us inspired me, and made him a revered role model.
Over the years, as I learned and matured, I came to understand that there were different streams of religious Zionist thought, and as I began to identify with the approach found in the teachings of Rav Soloveitchik and Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, I moved away from the approach most closely associated with Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem. My political and theological views diverged sharply with those taught by Rav Druckman, and my reverence for him became the stuff of childhood memories. In addition, it must be noted, that over the years Rav Druckman made the grave mistake of mishandling two cases of abuse by high profile educators, including the case of Moti Elon who Rav Druckman steadfastly supported, despite evidence showing his abuse. While these cases mar his legacy, they do not characterize or eclipse it.
Approximately six years ago, my family made aliyah, and after moving to Israel, I came into contact with Rav Druckman repeatedly, and began to admire him again, as I came to understand what truly lay at the root of my childhood admiration of this great man. Even into his late 80s he traveled around the country, speaking and teaching; he opened his home to everyone who sought him out, whether they were a prominent member of the government, a rabbi, a student or a small child.
When I served as a rav beit sefer (rabbi of a school), Rav Druckman was the keynote speaker at our conferences. Later I worked in the national headquarters of the network of Bnei Akiva yeshivot, and the same man who presided over gatherings of hundreds of rabbis would come periodically and meet with the relatively small staff, some of whom were leading educators, and well known public figures, but also the secretaries, bookkeepers and cafeteria workers. These encounters, and others, gave me renewed perspective on my encounters with Rav Druckman as a 13-year-old boy. Why did he attend my bar mitzvah and give us so much of his time?
There are leaders who are primarily people of ideas, and there are leaders who are primarily people of action. Rav Druckman was a great educator, who taught Torah passionately throughout his life, but his leadership was characterized by action on behalf of Klal Yisrael, and what motivated him to that action was his sincere feeling that he was of the people. This led him to revolutionize religious Zionist education and youth activities, it led him to advise generations of leaders, and it led him to engage sincerely with people from all walks of life, including a 13-year-old American kid, and his younger siblings.
I have not re-joined Rav Druckman’s ideological camp, but I have learned to appreciate and admire the leadership that he showed and the love that he had for Klal Yisrael. His passing deprives us of someone who, by identifying as one of the people, helped the Jewish people in Israel aspire towards and accomplish great things.
