Rabbi Moishe Y. Engel, of Hebrew Academy Jewish Day School in Orange County, taught first grade for his entire 43-year career. This makes him a rarity. Many Chabad rabbis may teach that long, but how many stay in first grade? Now semi-retired at 78, the Long Beach-based native of Montreal works half-days. “My job,” he says proudly, “is connecting with our alumni.”
This is how it works. “Two days ago,” Rabbi Engel told The Journal, “my wife Rachel and I met three of our alumni, two in a dentist’s office because they have become dentists. They are the children of my dentist. They were happy to see me because the last time we met, they were students in our school.” But what made first grade so compelling? “I used to ask myself that question,” he said. “I am not sure what got me to the first grade. When I was in camp, I was the counselor of six-year-olds five summers in a row. I went higher and higher in camp, and once I came out here to Long Beach, I started my own camp. We had two first-grade classes, so I taught one in the morning and one in the afternoon.” What was so compelling? In first grade, he said, “they still think you, the teacher, are God. They come home and tell their parents what the teacher said, and the parents say okay.” He’s also enough of a showman to hold the attention of a room of six- and seven-year-olds. “I am very big on the kids acting out everything — and I dressed for certain occasions, like before Purim. For three weeks I am wearing Purim costumes and teaching them all about Purim.”
The Hebrew Academy’s school opened in Long Beach in 1969, and Rabbi Engel arrived a year later. The school grew so quickly that by the end of the decade, it had to move to larger quarters in Huntington Beach. Even as the school expanded, the rabbi found time to work every Wednesday at the Cal State Long Beach campus Chabad. Having a college-age audience didn’t stop the fun-loving rabbi from donning his Purim costumes. “One day a girl came over to me and said ‘Rabbi, when I was in first grade, I saw you in a Purim costume. Then I met you in high school, and you were in a Purim costume. And now I come to Cal State Long Beach, and you’re still in a Purim costume.’” Seated beside her husband, Rabbi Engel remarked with perfect timing, “Once a clown always a clown.”
“It wasn’t always fun and games. A former student told him she was a poor student who never would amount to anything. Today, he boasts, she is a successful psychologist in New Jersey. She runs an entire program for people who have eating disorders. Rabbi Engel said his “big thing” was “you have to teach children to love Yiddishkeit. That may cause you not to be as strict as you might be otherwise. Yes, you take a risk that the kids taking might start taking advantage,” he acknowledged, “but my feeling always was, it’s better to do it that way.”
In 1972, Rabbi Engel established Silver Gan Israel Day Camp in Long Beach, later moving to Huntington Beach. From 40 children the first year, it now serves 800 children, making it one of the country’s largest.
Rabbi Engel’s father died when he was 10. Two years later, a friend told his mother a Jewish camp scholarship was available at the Montreal Gan Israel overnight camp. Years later he learned the truth had been fudged – someone had collected money to cover his cost. To repay this debt, he now collects money to send children to camp.
In 1975, he and a group of women founded the Jewish Family Institute, promoting family values and marital harmony. In 1976, he began giving adult Hebrew reading classes for parents who never had learned.
For decades, his life has been jammed with doing good for others and influencing others. An admirer noted that all seven of his children and their spouses work in a variety of ways for the benefit of the Jewish people. Recently, he said, “my wife and I bumped into an alum from my school. We have a dinner every year, and we invite a class from one year for free. This year was the class of ’99. The dinner is $750 a plate. They can come for free.” He came across one former student who was having a difficult time in her life. “My wife and I became very involved with her, so much so that two days ago, we bought her a used car because we realized how badly she needed transportation. She was having trouble with her feet, and she couldn’t get to work. Her mother lives in Israel. I reconnected her to her mother. Her phone isn’t working, and we are trying solve that problem, too. … Some students were in our school just until the fifth grade, others were in or out at various times. Some just for high school. It means that while they are all around the same age, they don’t know each other. The dinner is a big thing for many. We started from 1980, the first graduating class.”
Since an average class at his school has 20 students, Rabbi Engel estimated he taught about 4,300 students during his career. “And I meet former students,” he said. “Several months ago when I went to the dentist, a guy was sitting there with a mask on and said ‘Hi, Rabbi Engel.’ I said, ‘Who are you?’ He said ‘You don’t recognize me? I was your student 43 years ago.’”
For decades, his life has been focused on doing good and influencing others. An admirer noted that all seven of his children and their spouses work in a variety of ways for the benefit of the Jewish people. In semi-retirement, he’s writing a book with the intriguing title “Shabbos in a Gas Station and Other Exciting Stories.”
Finally, what attracted him to Long Beach, his home for 55 years? “The Rebbe had a plan for the world; I knew his guidance would be best for me.”
Fast Takes with Rabbi Engel
Jewish Journal: What are your proudest achievements?
Rabbi Engel: Mainly the establishment of Silver Gan Israel Summer Camp, Huntington Beach, and advocating for Jewish burial instead of cremation.
J.J.: What is your favorite music?
RE: Hassidic.
J.J.: What is your favorite moment of the week?
RE: Having guests around the Shabbos table.
