Our rabbi, teacher, friend and colleague, Jim Lebeau, is retiring on June 30, after four decades of dedicated service to the Jewish people and the Conservative Movement. Read the messages on this page, and join us in paying tribute to Jim, by sharing your stories and recollections, and by helping young people study Torah at the Conservative Yeshiva through the Rabbi Jim Lebeau Scholarship Fund. Read about Jim’s life, below.

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I met Rabbi Jim Lebeau through United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s board meetings and through the Council of Regional Presidents’ Multi Day Mission to Israel in 2001.  His dedication to our movement and our people is genuine.  He and his wife Marcia were most hospitable to those of us on the mission.  May he continue to be a light to all of us.

Brian Edward Brouse, Congregation B’nai Emunah, Tulsa, OK, Current Membership Chair USCJ, Past  President, former Southwest Region USCJ

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“I blame it all on Rabbi Lebeau.”

There I was, standing in the middle of the Machne Yehuda market, and a grumpy, balding man was holding a two foot-long, razor sharp knife with the tip no more than two inches from my face. He was shouting at me “Nu? Nu?!?”

It was all Rabbi Lebeau’s fault.

As second year students at CY , my wife Naomi and I desperately tried to get students together in social settings that would be fun and raise tzedakah. One of the first events we tried was a “roll your own sushi night” for a Wednesday night in October.

We figured for witty and urbane CY students, 20 shekels for roll your own maki would be a great idea (people could donate as much beyond the price as they wished). We advertised it for quite some time, and to our dismay only a handful of students made firm commitments.

However, Rabbi Lebeau seemed thrilled with the notion, and made his enthusiasm known to all. His glee was infectious, even with the lack of sign-ups, so we decided not to cancel the event. Which is why during lunch on a Wednesday I had gone toMachne Yehduah for sushi grade fish.

After getting elbowed aside by the crowd at the counter for 10 minutes, I summoned my inner Israeli and bellowed in my awful American-accented Hebrew “What do you have that’s fresh enough for sushi?”

One of the countermen heard me and motioned me to come forward, which I did like a hockey player, shouldering people left and right with his encouragement. “It’s all fresh enough. What kind do you want?”

“No, no, I mean safe to eat, er, raw.”

“Yes, yes, for sushi. What do you want – Salmon?”

“Ok, Let me see what you have.”

The man vanished under the counter and came up with a massive side of salmon which was on a foam tray, clean as can be. “No bones, ready to go. For sushi you want this?”

“Yes. Sushi.”

“Okay.” With that, he whipped out a razor-sharp, two foot long filleting knife, and with a blur of speed sliced off a chunk of raw Salmon the size of a matchbox, and jabbed it with the end of his knife. And with a “Nu? Nu? Taste!” he offered it to me on the knifepoint. Which is how a grumpy bald man came to hold a foot-long razor sharp knife two inches from my face. The man was looking at me, half daring me to both manage to get the fish off his knife without amputating my own fingers, and perhaps more importantly to him, eat the fish he was offering me, right there. His eyes seemed to say “If you really know something about sushi you’ll eat this right here right now and let me know just how good it is.” With the most smug version of “todah rabah” I have ever offered, I plucked the fish off the knife with two fingers and ate it. It was, of course, fresh and from the belly, unctuous and rich. I made a face of approval. “Very tasty!” I exclaimed.

With a nod that seemed to note I was worth taking seriously, he said “Of course. How many kilos for you, sir?” Other fish followed, and the order was soon complete. Shortly I was rushing the fish back to the yeshiva’s upstairs kitchen where my wife was prepping other elements.

We had all the lights on, the food ready, the rice seasoned and music playing. And an empty kitchen. I’ll admit it – things were a bit grim . . . until Rabbi Lebeau came. Having eaten sushi for years in Japan, he had never had the chance to make it himself. Up the stairs he came, smile on his face. And a minute later, there he was, rolling away, more delighted than a kid going down a waterslide. And pied-piper like, once he arrived people began to trail in after him. It was not the whole-yeshiva event we wanted, but we did make a couple hundred shekels in donations for tzedakah, and it was a great time. Many new friendships started that night, and many folks got their first taste of sushi. In most regards, it was a success, and in all regards, Rabbi Lebeau helped make it happen.

After that first trip to the fish market, that counterman would take care of me before other customers, and treated me like a life-long patron. And with that, I did my best to learn the rest of the shuk. I plunged into darker and smaller alleyways, bought strange Mizrachi delicacies in tubs, and found the things I had only heard about, like the narcotic-like pastries at Melech HaBurekasim. I would never have learned how to order ground fish for the Sabbath, or explored the treasures of the Iraqi shuk if not for the enthusiasm of Rabbi Lebeau. Of course, those who know Jim Lebeau will be surprised at none of this. He makes differences in the life of students, visitors, teachers and friends. His warmth is singular and his sense of humor was enough to one year endure my reading of a Purim sphiel letter, supposedly from him. . The next year… he trumped it.

But it was not just our social life or tzedaka projects that Rabbi Lebeau supported. We signed on for a second year at CY after Rabbi Lebeau had arranged a very generous stipend. What neither he or anyone else knew at the start of that year is how much the dollar would loose in worth during the year of our stay. By the time the second semester of our second year had begun, our costs skyrocketed, as we were paying for rent, electricity, food and medicine in shekels. The Fuchsberg center was hurting from the same economic issues, and we all knew that Rabbi Lebeau was working furiously to help keep the scholarships supported and the bills paid. It was rough all around. It would have been understandable had he, when we came to him for help, turned us away. Instead Jim Lebeau went to find us support on top of all the work he was doing to keep CY and Fuchsberg programs afloat. By the time Passover was near, Rabbi Lebeau had arranged a special stipend of several hundred shekels for us to help cover Passover costs. It made what could have been a disaster into a joyous time in Jerusalem.

My two years at the Conservative Yeshiva were transformative. They gave me tools to teach I never dreamed I would have, and a wealth of Torah. And none of it – not a day – would have been possible without Rabbi Lebeau’s hard work and good humor.

It’s all his fault… and I am so thankful.

Miron Hirsch

Community Educator at Anshe Emet Congregation, Chicago

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The Conservative Yeshiva was “an idea whose time had come.” Through the pioneering leadership of Rabbis Pesach Schindler and Rabbi of Moreshet Yisrael Congregation Herb Avraham Feder, who both served as first “Roshe Yeshiva”, and a handful of others, a few movable pews at Beit Knesset Moreshet Israel were turned around and filled with a few students thirsty for knowledge and teachers anxious to share their love for Torah L’Shmah.

Without a “business plan,” mission statement or mentor, encouragement from “the powers that were,” institutional, financial or academic encouragement, together, they formed what has grown into “The Conservative Yeshiva.” Rabbi Jim Lebeau was key to moving the tiny “Conservative Yeshiva” into a vibrant institution which is helping to transform Conservative and Masorti Judaism today.

He has added his personality, enthusiasm, love for Jews and Judaism, students and rabbis, respect for lay men and women, open mindedness, egalitarian commitment, kindness, care and warm, winning smile to transform a kernel of an idea into a great movement which has already enriched Jewish communities in the Americas, Europe, Israel and the world. Undeterred by lack of finances, deficits or bureaucracy, undaunted by “naysayers”, unfazed by internal or external hindrances, Jim Lebeau’s straightforward honesty and faith, warm heart and creative energy won over a generation of young people for intellectually honest Torah study and commitment to the future of the Jewish People. May his legacy continue to bring him and the Jewish People blessings for generations to come.

B’vracha u’bkavod rav,

Rabbi Richard Hammerman, Caldwell, NJ, USA

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As members of the CRUSY region USY in the mid 1950′s, I was often a “ben-bayit” in the Akron, Ohio home of Bill Lebeau and his younger brother Jim Lebeau. Those who know Jim as an “ohev et haberiyot” would have understood this quality of Jim by knowing his father and mother, Leo and Edith Lebeau. Both his mother and father were gentle, affable and soft spoken souls who received me and others with the same warmth and gentility that all of us get currently when we are greeted by Jim in Jerusalem. At one time, Jim dated my own sister, and became an occasional “ben bayit” in my own home in Columbus. From Akron to Columbus, from USY to Fuchsberg, from Lowell to Jerusalem, Jim Lebeau’s dear mom and dad, alehem hashalom, did well in instilling through their own personalities the quality of “ohev et habriyot” that we so admire in Jim.

Rabbi Jerry Zelizer, Metuchen, NJ, USA

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I love you Dad. You are one of the most hardworking, and dedicated men many people will ever know.

Your loving daughter,

Debbie Rosenthal, Hartsdale, NY, USA

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My husband and I met at the Conservative Yeshiva. We dated for two years while Yeshiva students, and then went back to the States. About a year and a half later, we came back to Israel for a crazy long weekend trip, and on our first night, found ourselves at the Yeshiva’s Tu BShvat seder. The next morning, we decided to get married. Smiling at our secret, we visited Jim in his office after morning minyan, saying nothing. Jim was the one who dared to ask what the rest of the world wanted to know: “When are you two getting married already?” When we told him he was a half-hour too late, his smile couldn’t have been bigger – nor the bottle he pulled out in order to toast our future together. It was the nicest possible way to start an engagement, knowing we had his love and support and behind him, that of the whole Yeshiva community. We (and our two small future yeshivaniks) wish him only happiness.

Emily (Michal) Michelson and Bill Shackman, Salt Lake City, UT,  USA

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I’ve known Jim since he was a teen-age member of USY, along with my brother David Cullen. Akron and Detroit, MI, were in the same region, and Jim often came to Detroit for meetings and Kinusim. Since he and David were (and still are) fast friends, he stayed at our house. Jim, David and big brother Bill Lebeau were a threesome, and as the big sister (with a drivers’ license) I often drove them around town. As the years rolled by, the age difference became less and less important, and Jim and I became friends, and later colleagues. A visit with Jim and Marcia is always one of the high points of a trip to Jerusalem, and the Conservative Yeshiva has been one of my favorite Masorti projects. Under Jim’s stewardship, I’ve watched it grow from small beginnings to the respected program it is today. I’m truly sorry to see Jim leave, but I wish him and Marcia KOL TUV V’HATZLACHA for what I hope will be many more happy and productive years.

B’yedidut,

Rabbi Marion Shulevitz, New York, NY, USA

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I had the privilege and honor of working with Jim back the days when I was a synagogue Youth Director and the Regional Field Worker for NERUSY. Back then, Jim was the Rabbi in Lowell, Massachusetts.Whenever we needed anything for the youth of New England, there were 3 Rabbis that we could always count on to go above and beyond to serve our charges — and Jim was one of them. For his vision and understanding the importance of “turning on” the Conservative Jewish youth of New England, I always appreciated and admired him. On the personal level, after my aliyah, it was Jim who suggested that I study in our Yeshiva which I did for a couple of years and I appreciate that as well. Whenever I needed a friendly voice to share New England Patriots stories and our beloved Red Sox stories, Jim was always around as well! Mazal tov on your retirement — and thank you for all you have done for the countless number of people that you have taught and helped throughout your career!

Steve Toltz

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Rabbi Jim Lebeau – Ohev et habriot umekarvan l’Torah (Who loves people and brings them closer to Torah) P’Avot 1:12

Who does not like Jim Lebeau?  There is probably no other rabbi who has as many friends as Jim Lebeau.  The group of people who have only nice things to say about Jim chovek olam, circles the globe.

Why, Oh why, Oh why, Oh – Why did I ever leave Ohio? the song asks.  Jim grew up in Akron, attended Western Reserve University, then left for rabbinical school at JTS. He served as a chaplain in the US Navy.  For thirteen years he was a congregational rabbi in Lowell, Massachusetts, before his aliya in 1985.  In Jerusalem, Jim coordinated the Israel year of study for rabbinical students at the Schechter Institute.  He then served for four years as rabbi of the Jewish Community of Japan.

In June 1997 Jim assumed the role of Director of United Synagogue’s (USCJ) programs in Israel, which centered primarily on the building of the beautiful  Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and the growth of the Conservative Yeshiva.

For these 13 years Jim has toiled day and night, in Israel and in North America, to raise the funds for the Fuchsberg Center and supervise its many programs.  No one has or likely will give as many tours of the Fuchsberg Center campus as Jim, always with pride and a smile.  And who will come in at 2 am with cold drinks and nibbles to host a large-screen viewing of the Super Bowl, to the delight of Nativers and other nostalgic “Anglos” in Jerusalem?  Jim will be a very tough act to follow.

Jim Lebeau was a leader from the beginning.  He served as the International President of USY in 1960.  Yet in the course of all this activity, Jim Lebeau has placed teaching Torah at the top of his priorities.  His booklet on The Jewish Dietary Laws: Sanctify Life (USCJ, 1983) is still used by people all over the world.  His “introductory minyans” were highly appreciated by people of all ages to whom Jim introduced the basics of davenning.  When Jim explains or is in charge, Judaism is warm, friendly and accessible.

 

 

“One who finds favor with his fellows, finds favor with God,” R’ Hanina be Dosa said (P’ Avot 3:13), another who would have certainly liked Jim Lebeau.  We want to thank Jim for all he has done over these decades, particularly for his work for USCJ, the Fuchsberg Center and the Conservative Yeshiva, and for the privilege of working with him.  We wish Jim, Marcia and the family harbe nachat v’briyut in the years to come!