All in the family: Israeli teachers join Maimonides

Rabbi Shachar Naim is in his mid-30s, but this year marks the first time he ever left his native Israel. He has landed in Los Angeles, where he will be teaching classes at Gindi Maimonides Academy for the next two years, along with his wife, Zimrat. 

The Naims are shlichim l’hora’ah, or teaching emissaries; they live in a house in Pico-Robertson with their five children and teach grades 3, 6, 7 and 8. While Zimrat will focus on the chagim (holy days), Humash (Torah) and halachah (Jewish laws) with the elementary school students, Shachar’s cirriculum includes Mishnah and Gemara (study of Talmud, including rabbinical analysis). Both teachers are going to encourage students to learn about Israel and forge their own relationship with the Jewish state. 

“We want them to be connected to Israel, even though they are far away,” Shachar said. “They may not be living in the land, but it’s in their hearts.” 

According to Rabbi Aharon Wilk, principal at Maimonides, the school wanted to expand its Judaic studies program and looked to hire more teachers. He attended a job fair in the United States but found only applicants with backgrounds similar to his current staff. 

While there are already Israeli bnei akiva and bnot sherut (emissaries, also known as shlichim) at the school, who serve as associate teachers and teachers’ assistants, the Maimonides administrators had never before brought in Israeli educators whose job it was to teach about their culture. Wilk said when he found the Naims, at first it didn’t make sense to hire them. 

“It was so funny because they give you all these rules to find a good shaliach couple, and Rabbi Shachar goes against all the rules,” Wilk said. “They say try to get teachers who have done it before, so they’re accustomed to American culture. They should be a couple without kids, so you’re not taking on an enormous expense. The only time Rabbi Shachar was on a plane was when he was a paratrooper for the Israeli army, and they have five kids.”

However, after the Naims came to Los Angeles for a brief visit, Wilk knew he had found his new teachers. “He touched people with his smile and his middot (character). He knew 100 kids’ names in two days,” Wilk said of Shachar. “I said this is the guy they need. I thought that the Naims were going to lift up our school for the next number of years.” 

In Israel, Shachar works as an engineer and Zimrat is a teacher. Zimrat said they decided to take the positions in L.A. because they wished to give back to their people. “We thought that if we can do something else to contribute more to Am Yisrael, this would be a good way.”

So far, the Jews of L.A. have shown their appreciation for the Naims. The family arrived on July 27 to a fully furnished house and invitations. “We emailed the school and asked if anybody had furniture,” Wilk said. “Now we literally have enough furniture to fill three or four homes. Some parents gave them food or dishes. This creates a sense of community. It’s a unifying thing.”  

Though being here is nevertheless an adjustment, Shachar said he sees that “there is a very loving community here. They invite us for dinner and Shabbat. It’s very exciting.” 

Inviting shlichim to teach, whether young men and women fulfilling their national service duties or families just moving to Los Angeles, is a very common practice among Orthodox schools in L.A., according to Miriam Prum Hess, director of donor and community relations at Builders of Jewish Education. She said that doing this “really helps connect students to Israel and to Jewish life in Israel. The shlichim serve as role of models of Israeli Jewish life.” 

The Maimonides administration wanted to invite shlichim to their school because it promotes more authentic Torah learning. “In the Talmud, there is a saying that there is no Torah like the Torah of Israel,” Wilk said. “I think what that means is obviously the Torah comes out in Israel and the word of HaShem is in Yerushalayim.”

Since the students can’t go learn in Israel, bringing Israel to the students is the next best thing. “A lot of rabbis recall their studies in Israel as their best years of learning, and it makes them so passionate and inspired,” Wilk said. 

Personally, the Naims hope that their own children, who are 1, 5, 7, 10, and 12, will be motivated by their time in L.A. to serve the Jewish people, as well. “We told them they would be shlichim, too,” Shachar said. “They have a very big responsibility on their shoulders to be good examples of Jews who come from Israel. I think they can have a big impact on the students in Maimonides and in the neighborhood.”

Seeing and interacting with Jews here also will benefit their children, Zimrat said. “It’s a good experience to meet many kinds of Jews in different cultures. When you’re an adult, it gives you a wider point of view of the Jewish world, and you can make better decisions because of it.”

Though they will miss the comforts of home and their friends and family, the Naims said already they don’t feel like strangers here. “We feel like we belong here, and our kids are really enjoying it,” Zimrat said. “And when students from Maimonides visit Israel, they can come to our house, and we’d be happy to host them. We’re a big family.” 

Beyond connecting with Israel and delving deep into Torah learning, Wilk said his students can learn a crucial lesson about Judaism from the Naims. 

“I hope my students are going to see people who never left Eretz Yisra’el that stopped their lives at an important time, when they’re building the future for their family, to give back to the Jewish community,” he said. “Students will see that life isn’t just about you. You’re deeply connected with the Jewish community at large. I want them to see the Naims as role models. I think the Naims will teach the students to care a little more and always reach a little higher.”