What would motivate a respected pulpit rabbi

in chic North Miami Beach, Florida, to uproot

himself and his family from a lucrative position,

and risk his entire career on a seemingly

impossible spiritual quest, atop a windswept

and all-but-desolate moshav in the Modiin

region of Eretz Yisrael?

When Rav Zev Leff reminisces about his

fateful decision of over twenty years ago, to

leave the Young Israel of North Miami

Beach for �no-man�s-land,� he still shakes

his head and laughs. Without the prodding

of various rabbanim, Rav Leff might still be

enjoying a Shabbos kiddush with his

congregants in the Florida sunshine.

From North Miami to Matityahu:

Rabbi Zev Leff Spearheads a Drive to Attract Frum

Families to His Picturesque Moshav

2.9.05 22 30 Shevat 5765 23

The Turning Point"I had lived in Miami since I was a child.

And even though I'd been a rabbi of a ma-jor Young Israel branch for years, believe itor not, I'd never been to Eretz Yisrael. Noteven once," Rav Leff recalls. "Ironically, theopportunity to come visit happened justwhen the shul was passing through a tur-bulent period, when some of the congre-gants had openly hinted that I should be-come more 'Zionistic.'"

Though his congregants knew that RavLeff wasn't about to exchange his blackhat and coat (kapote) for a crocheted kip-pah, they were only too happy to offer toaccommodate him to finally visit Eretz Yis-rael. They even found someone with anapartment in Jerusalem's Old City whowas willing to trade homes with the rav 'sfamily.

The trip proved to be a turning point inRav Leff 's life.

"When we returned to JFK Airport inNew York, my wife and I looked at eachother and said, 'What are we doing here?We should be in Eretz Yisrael!' Mind you, Ihad a lifetime contract awaiting me at theYoung Israel of North Miami Beach, if Iwanted it."

Rav Leff slowly settled back into hisroutine of tending to the needs of his shul'scommunity. The idea of uprooting his fam-ily and moving to Eretz Yisrael started tofade. Until one day, someone in the shulcalled Rebbetzin Leff and said, "Let's movetogether to Eretz Yisrael. To a place calledMatityahu. Maybe your husband can bethe rabbi there, since at the moment, themoshav doesn't have one."

"My wife was convinced that weshould give it a try. But I wasn't, though Iwas willing to listen. The moshav was un-der the aegis of Poalei Agudas Yisrael. It

by Shlomo Ben-Yissachar

Phot

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halachos of living in Eretz Yisrael, such asshmittah (Matityahu owns two beautifulvineyards that produce a magnificentbounty of grapes for the Carmel MizrachiWinery), which was new to me. In anAmerican kehillah, the rabbi's basic func-tions are dealing with brissos, bar mitz-vahs, weddings, and funerals. Matityahuwas a whole new ballgame for me."

MomentumSlowly but surely, word spread that al-

though Matityahu might be off the beat-en path, it had a rav who loved and nur-tured his frum pioneers. As the moshavbegan to grow, Rav Leff was also able tostart teaching and speaking throughoutthe country. "There's something aboutbuilding things on your own that's excit-ing. The people of the moshav were get-ting what they needed. Almost everyone

had a job. A person can be a fine TorahJew while working, and still make Torahthe ikkar of his life. My children were go-ing to good yeshivos, and not only werethey happy being in Eretz Yisrael, my wifeand I were even happier that they werebeing sheltered from outside influences."

Today, Matityahu is a true anomalywithin the moshav movement. Though asizeable majority of families on themoshav are originally from the UnitedStates and other English-speaking coun-tries, there's not a single TV antenna orsatellite dish. Sixty families, and not oneTV set. And that's the way Rav Leff in-tends to keep things.

"Matityahu doesn't have the same lux-uries and it certainly isn't a satellite of America in Eretz Yisrael. But here peo-ple have the opportunity to come to aplace and adjust to Eretz Israel, along with

people of the same mindset(American/Anglo). It's never easy to accli-mate right away when one makes thejump from America, but if one has to ac-climate, then Matityahu is a truly uniqueplace."

Matityahu is no longer the windswept,desolate no-man's-land that Rav Leff dis-covered, over twenty years ago. Withmassive construction projects aboundingthroughout the region (Kiryat Sefer, Modi-in, Hashmonaim), Matityahu has also be-come an attractive real estate property.But even with construction cranes loom-ing a few hundred yards from the moshav,Matityahu remains an island of tranquility.Young couples push baby strollers alongbeautiful tree-lined paths, and the soundsof passionate Torah learning waft from thewindows of the kollel.

Rav Leff � who is not only Matit-yahu's spiritual leader but also its roshyeshivah (for American post-high schoolyeshivah students) and rosh kollel (formen from Matityahu and Kiryat Sefer) �couldn't be happier. However, he isn'tresting on his laurels. With real-estateprices soaring in the region, Matityahumust grow or be "absorbed" by outside in-terests. Rav Leff and Matityahu's man-agement are looking to take the moshavto the next level by offering property andcreating an independent school systemmodeled after the Agudah-oriented TorahUmesorah system in the United States.

"We now have so much to offer, be-cause our moshav is a beautiful, heimisheplace to live. It's important for us to grow,while at the same time maintaining ouruniqueness and identity."

Rav Leff's dynamism has also helpedhim expand his influence beyond the bor-ders of Matityahu. ArtScroll is soon topublish his two newest sefarim, on theShemoneh Esrei and on the moadim. It'snot unusual for him to give an inspiringshiur to a chareidi audience in Bnei Brakby night, and an insightful drashah at theOU-Israel Center in Jerusalem the nextmorning.

Indeed, Rav Leff has met with successfar beyond anything he could havedreamed of in North Miami Beach. !!

2530 Shevat 5765

consisted of eleven families, living in themiddle of nowhere. And here I was inNorth Miami Beach, tending to a beauti-ful shul with 300 families, with a lifetimecontract in my grasp. But we decided totake a pilot trip to Matityahu, for tendays, to see if there was something inter-esting to look forward to and build on."

The Leffs' return to the Holy Land didnot begin auspiciously. "We were takenfrom the airport in a pickup truck to aplace that was literally a no-man's-land.They put us in this freezing house. It wasso cold that I turned to my wife and said,'First thing in the morning, we're gettingout of here!'

"But our destiny is written Above. Thenext morning, we overslept. By the timewe woke up, the sun was shining and itwas a bit warmer. We left the house, wereenthralled with the surrounding land-scape, and thoroughly enjoyed meetingthe lovely people on the moshav. It wasthen that we started to see somethingspecial here. However, I was still far fromconvinced that this was the right move forus to make."

Leaving the Comforts of Home

"After returning home, I spoke withRav Gifter, who had originally sent me tothe Young Israel of North Miami. I paintedMatityahu as a bleak and dismal place,and Miami as nice and easy. (You have toknow how to ask a sheilah.) But RavGifter told me that if I could make a par-nassah in Eretz Yisrael, then that's wherethe future is� take the opportunity."

Still feeling the need for more spiritualreinforcement, Rav Leff consulted withthe Bostoner Rebbe. "He also told me thatMatityahu presented a unique opportuni-ty for me." Any lingering doubts were putto rest once and for all when Rav Leffthen went to meet with Rav YaakovKamenetsky. "He was very positive aboutmaking the move, but urged me not toleave the Miami kehillah high and dry,without finding a suitable replacement."

After these consultations, Rav Leffsummoned the shul's Board of Directorsand told them, "Well, you asked me to bemore 'Zionistic.' So, I've decided to leavethe shul, in order to move to Matityahu."

Rav Leff's stunning announcementcaught the shul off-guard. "However, theshul wasn't convinced that I was leavingforever, and gave me six months to makea final decision. They weren't going tohire another rabbi until they were abso-lutely one hundred percent certain that Iwouldn't return. Mind you, a shul such asthe Young Israel of North Miami Beach isa much sought-after posting for manycongregational rabbis. I also didn't wantto make it easy for myself to go back, soeven though I didn't put my house up forsale for awhile, I shipped all 13,000 se-farim that I had in my library toMatityahu."

In 1983, when Rav Leff and his familyarrived in Matityahu for good, there were

enormous physical, fiscal, and spiritualchallenges to overcome. The contempo-rary cities of Modiin and Kiryat Sefer-Modiin Illit (Moshav Matityahu is now sit-uated adjacent to Kiryat Sefer) were onlygovernmental pipe dreams, at that time.Living there was like living in the WildWest, without the material comfortsthey'd always known, or civilization, asthey'd known it. To say that the Leffs' ad-justment was a "shock to the system"would be an understatement.

"In essence, we were eleven familiesliving on a frum, socialist moshav, isolatedfrom the world and the Jewish communi-ty at large," Rav Leff says, matter-of-fact-ly. He also had to entirely change the na-ture of his rabbanus. "As with any newenterprise, in the beginning, there weretensions between families. People hereare very serious about their Yiddishkeit.They looked to me not just as a rav, but asa father figure who could take care of alltheir needs. I was a mediator, peacemak-er, and psychiatrist, in addition to being arabbi. Because of this, I had little chanceto travel outside the moshav. The goodpart about this was that I had a lot of con-nection with the people, who were hun-gry to learn more and more about the

2.9.05 24

"We now have so much to offer, because our moshav

is a beautiful, heimishe place to live.

It's important for us to grow, while at the same time

maintaining our uniqueness and identity"