Jewish Life Digital Edition October 2013 | Page 22

FEATURE

THE CALL TO AFRICA IS
HEARD IN BROOKLYN

THE CALL TO AFRICA CAME AGAIN DURING
CHANUKAH, NOVEMBER 1962.
On a chill bitten, snowy evening in Wickliffe, Cleveland, Ohio the Rosh Yeshiva of
Telshe, Rav Mordechai (Motel) Katz asked
my husband for a lift home. The lift was

20 JEWISH LIFE

ISSUE 67

an excuse to propose the possibility of Avrohom Chaim heading up a yeshiva in
South Africa. A teaching position at this
Yeshiva had been offered to him in 1959
before we married, but we rejected the
idea of uprooting ourselves, and were ada-

mant about “learning” as long as possible.
The position offered was that of Associate
Rosh Yeshiva, a title not usually given to a
27-year-old bachur, with little experience
and no connection to the particular institution. Being a Rosh Yeshiva is the apex of the

PHOTOGRAPH: ILAN OSSENDRYVER

MARCIA TANZER SHARES HER MEMORIES OF HOW SHE AND RABBI
AVROHOM CHAIM FIRST CAME TO SOUTH AFRICA, IN AN EXTRACT
FROM HER BRAND NEW BOOK