Jacob Levin
Jacob Levin came to Dallas in September 1929 with his wife Tsipora, arriving from the Philadelphia and Camden area, a region with a population of more than two million at the time. He recalled being struck by Dallas as a relatively small metropolitan town, with a Jewish population he estimated at around 12,000. Despite its size, he found the community deeply committed to Jewish life, with synagogues including Sherith Israel, Agudas Achim, Temple Emanuel, Tiferet Israel, and the Romanian Shul, along with the Dallas Hebrew School, the Talmud Torah, and Sunday schools.
During his 25 years in Texas, Levin became a central figure in Jewish education, working closely with the Dallas Hebrew School and its camp program associated with Habonim. He remembered lay leaders such as Harry Siegel, president of the Dallas Hebrew School, who personally delivered coal to heat the frame schoolhouse on Park Row so the children would be warm, and Aaron Kaplan, chairman of the school's board of education, whom he considered a true partner in Jewish learning. He also recalled Rabbi H. Raphael Gold of Sherith Israel, a scholar and gifted speaker with whom he had respectful disagreements over curriculum, and shared a moving memory of the two of them weeping together on Simchat Torah in 1929, the year of the Hebron riots.
Levin and his wife returned east in 1953, yet he spoke of Dallas with lasting affection, noting that even Tsipora, who had insisted they return, recalled the city with great nostalgia. This recording was made after a reunion gathering held at the home of a friend, where former campers, Hebrew school students, teachers, and board members honored Levin on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary in Jewish education. Attendees and well-wishers, many carrying warm memories of camp and Hebrew school, offered heartfelt tributes, and colleagues praised him above all as a true teacher who cared personally for every student under his guidance.
Full Transcript
So as I said, I'm doing what Yaffa commanded me. This is Yaakov Levin, as I said before. I'm doing what Yaakov commanded me. What is the matter here? I'm right in the midst of heavy traffic going to South Philadelphia toward the Philadelphia International Airport. And I'm taping this. Praha asked me to say a few words in English to those former campers of Kambonim and all other friends and haverim who may not have understood my message in Hebrew. Well, last night at Ami's house, we had a wonderful Pegisha following the dinner which our haverim attended together with 180 local friends and teachers and board members. You know the gang.
And we got together at Ami's house and had a little drink, a little snack, and we sat and taped. Now, as I said then last night, it was the most wonderful experience to see Jaffa Jacobs and David Zesmer and Rivka Burmutter-Levin and Zalman Schneider and his wife Goldie Lee and Bruno Siegel and his wife and who else was there? And Reuven Berman and his wife. It felt like a real Dallas reunion. Well, I'm looking forward. braha, put a bug in our yafa, again I say braha put a bug in our heads maybe this coming summer I'll be able to get away for a few days maybe a week and fly down and visit with you not promising mind you but I'd love to do that because whenever we speak of anything that's pleasant in our lives we speak of Dallas even Tsipora.
Tsipora was the one who insisted that we return east. But even she speaks of Dallas with great nostalgia And then why not It quite justified So we had a great time We are now on the Walt Whitman Bridge which is over the Delaware River crossing from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. And we're going to approach, after crossing this bridge, the Philadelphia International Airport, where Braja will... Yaffa. Oh, I'm all right. But Yaffa, Jacobs, Ginger that is, will board a plane to be back home. This evening she'll be back in Dallas and I'll be jealous. This bridge is beautiful, isn't it? It's a long span of about a mile and three quarters right over the Delaware River.
and we can observe the boats in the port of Philadelphia to your right and also some to your left. The Delaware, as you may know, is a filthy river, but it's wide. We see now the Philadelphia skyline to our right and it's pretty. It's more beautiful at night. The hour now is 4.35 and we are moving right along. traffic on the bridge is not too bad well, Khaverim it was good seeing Dallas representatives former campers and Hebrew school students I hope to see you all soon Shalom Obrachah this is Yaakov Levin again with a PS we listened last night to the messages which you all taped to us and every word you said fell like dew upon our hearts and minds.
It was the most refreshing thing ever. Of course, you all have a southern accent, you know, but we enjoyed it tremendously because keeping in touch this way is a real enriching experience. and we hope to be able to hear from you from time to time and if you are not too busy and if you are so inclined why not drop a line occasionally we be more than happy to reply perhaps we see you sometime in late June or early July Again thank you for the tapes and thank you for whoever thought of it I think it was Jaffa Chesnick, and Shirley Wald, Jaffa Jacobs and Shirley Wald and Mrs.
Ruthie Weingarten Mrs. Ruthie Weingarten live in, isn't it? Oh, Paul Mutter, yes, yes, yes, yes Well, thank you all for everything and we look forward to seeing you Shalom for now In 1929, the first memory is that of a man who is no longer among us, Harry Siegel, Olof Asholom. In 1929, Harry Siegel was the president of the Dallas Hebrew School. and I remember Harry Olofasholom driving up to the building on Park Row the wooden, the frame, the two-story frame school building right near the tracks on a cold winter day in his black Cadillac driven by a chauffeur taking out from the car buckets of coal to heat up the building so that the kids at school would be warm.
And when I think of that, I choke up because I have never known another person who served Torah that way. Harry Siegel had his office at the Blue Bonnet Hotel in downtown Dallas and I came down to his office every morning to discuss with him Hebrew school matters and there wasn't a thing that the school required asked for that Harry Siegel didn't do He was a true friend of Torah and of Jewish education The truest I have met in all my 50 years of experience in Jewish education I can also remember the second memory that comes to my mind is going to the Romanian shul to say Kaddish on the Yorzide for my father, Allah, Shalom.
and there for the first time I met a man by the name Michal Kaufman. Michal Kaufman was I think the uncle of Simcha Kaufman and Asher Kaufman. He was one of two Kaufman brothers who were among the very early Jewish settlers in Dallas and they founded the Romanian Shoal. I came for Myrif one evening and Mr. Kaufman, I think Oliver Shalom, walked up to me and Mr. Kaufman was a very tall, heavyset, broad-shouldered man with a long beard. and he walked up to me and said Levin Gei Tumomet Davnen and I didn't feel like going to the Amut to Davnen I felt like being one of the congregants so I told him Reb Michal Zolan Anderer Davnen and his answer was he made a fist and said to me Levin Gei Davnen my answer was And guess what?
I don't. Well, those are two men whom I had first met. Where was that show located when you left? Do you remember? I don't remember. It was located in one of the old parts of the city. I don't remember exactly where it was. It was also a two-story frame building. Now, now there is another person whom I remember very vividly, with whom I had many disagreements, but whom I revered and respected. And that again, That was the late Dr. H. Raphael Gold, Rabbi Gold. Alav HaShalom. Rabbi Gold of Sherith Israel was one of the most scholarly and erudite rabbis, one of the most erudite rabbis I met.
Rabbi Gold's fourth day was public speaking. he was a speaker second to none. He always had something very valuable to tell his audience, his congregation, and always told it in a most beautiful manner. Our disagreements were machloket l'shem shamayim. We disagreed on curricula for Hebrew schools, on priorities in curriculum, and so on. But never disagreed on general principles or policies. And let me tell you a few incidents with Rabbi Gold. This one I remember. We arrived to Dallas in September 1929. Soon thereafter we had Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And then came Sukkot and finally Simchat Torah. Now at Shareth Israel, the old building, if you remember, there were doors on both sides of the bimah of the Aron Kodesh.
Over one door was an inscription reading Yerushalayim. Over the other door was an inscription reading Zion. remember this was in 1929 the year of the riots in Hebron in Israel in Eretz Israel when 16 yeshiva boys in Hebron were killed by Arab marauders and we were all very depressed by the riots in Eretz Israel the custom at Sheirith Israel on Simchat Torah morning was that as soon as a man had an aliyah, he would go through one of the two doors to an empty room where a table was set and he would make a schnapps So Rabbi Gold and I had successive aliyot that morning and he invited me out with him for a schnapps and we went in.
And we took a couple, not only one. And we walked in together and Rabbi Gold was very happy at that point and held his arm over my shoulders as if in embrace. And we walked in together through the door over which the word Zion was written. And of course you understand, we had a few drinks. And as we walked in, both of us simultaneously burst into tears. I'll never forget that incident as long as I live well in one more incident about the late Rabbi Gold a pleasant memory in 1953 we came back east after having been 25 years in Texas and Rabbi Gold was a practicing medic specializing in psychiatry in New York, Park Avenue, New York, swanky neighborhood.
And one day I read in the Philadelphia papers that Dr. H. Raphael Gold will address a meeting at the YMHA in Philadelphia. And he will speak on parents' guidance to children. Zipporah didn't feel too well so I went to the Y I came a little late because of heavy traffic on Broad Street in Philadelphia and as I entered the room where he spoke I stopped at the door for a moment and he saw me enter and he spoke ad-libbing continued as if he continued his address, his lecture, and he said these words, quote, and take for example Mr and Mrs Jacob Levin sitting in Dallas at their window and watching their own children play in their front yard And he continued in that vein This was the way in which he told me that he saw me enter.
Great man he was, clever man. Unfortunately, he died at an age where many men could still live and do live at age 70. It was a great loss. Well, what else do I remember about Dallas? There was another family. The family of the late Aaron Kaplan, Allah Masha'ala. I must interrupt a minute and make sure I make the right turn. We are now at the Philadelphia Airport Circle. So will you excuse me a moment? I have about five minutes. Okay. Mr. Aaron Kaplan was a very fine Talmid hacham, and he was the chairman of the Board of Education of the Dallas Hebrew School. and we were by and large, he and I, were in agreement on goals in education, on methods in motivation, on what Judaism should mean to our students and so on.
and the late Aaron Kaplan was of tremendous help to me and to the faculty of the Dallas Hebrew School. I was present in the hospital at the time of Mr. Kaplan's death and I felt a great loss in his passing. I know Sherman Kaplan very well. I remember him as a very young man there were other people in town but by and large Dallas impressed us when we had first come in 1929 as a metropolitan little town because we had come from Philadelphia, Camden area with a population then of over 2 million And we came to a city I don know what I think Dallas had a population of 400 and about 12 Jewish souls at that time I think by now it's about 20,000, am I right?
20,000, 22,000. Yes. At that time, there were 12,000 Jews. Nevertheless, very much was done for Judaism and for Jewish education. The synagogues, Sherith Israel, Hagudah Sachim, Temple Emanuel, the Romanian Shul. And then there was another synagogue where Rabbi Annas was later officiating. and I forgot the name of that synagogue for the moment. Tiferet Israel, yes. And the Talmud Torah, the Dallas Hebrew School, and the Hebrew School at Akura Sachim, and the Sunday schools in all the synagogues, all of that was really great, great for a Jew who seeks identification with his people and his culture. As I did not get David Zesmer's comments or Levine's comments at the banquet, I feel I would be remiss if I did not include it on this tape.
Levine, in beginning, started by summarizing the year since this meeting was one of summarization of the year's activities as well as a banquet in his honor. however he departed from his main speaking in the middle to talk about Jewish education and at that time told the story of during the time that he was here he talked about the Yovel on Shabbat and when this boy came to his father and told him what they had talked about in going over the sedra of the week he told them of the Yovel well the father's father who was a banker was very upset and then Mr. Levine and Mr.
Zesmer, Allah Shalom, went the following week to talk to the man and in telling him of it and going over and listening to the man discuss they told him well this is what the Tanakh says that the period If you owe value, you must return the land. And so the man said, if it's in the Torah, then take it out. And he went on to say that in Vayikra, there is a statement that says, you must obey your parents and remember to obey your parents to keep the Shabbat and to listen to the law of the Lord. and Levine explained that why was this said since this was also stated in the Ten Commandments for us to remember that first you must listen to your parents and it mentions the mother because the father is taken for granted of course you listen to your father but then of course you listen to the law of the Lord and in question you must obey the law of the Lord as opposed to your parents he mentioned the fact that he told this to many young people so that they to give them strength because there are so many things that they deal with today that their parents were
in their parents are saying one thing and these things are not necessarily the thing to do David Sesmer of course made the presentation of the things that we sent to Levine although he did not present well he did not and we were certainly unable to hear the tape but he presented the card that Mayor Siegel had written or had drawn and described it of course it was the picture of the buses of the Hebrew bus and of the going to camp and also to Hebrew school or car going to Hebrew school and the Hebrew bus going to Hebrew school and car going to camp anyway
be that as it may he mentioned the fact of course it looked like it was colliding at one point and he felt this was very symbolic because both of these things went together in our experience with Levine were the things that meant so very much to us and of course he mentioned as we all feel feel that although we've been to many schools and many universities none of our teachers has compared or come to what Levine has been able to give us and what our association has meant with him The teacher as a person had been superb And he went on to say that in
the program and giving the introduction about Jacob Levine although it mentioned he was the educational director, nowhere in the program did it mention, and gave his background, of course, nowhere in the program did it mention that he was a teacher. And this is what Levine, of course, was to everyone. and he felt that this is the problem or these are one of the largest problems of today that we find educational directors sterile educational directors in their sterile offices who never are really in contact with the people that they should be dealing with and of course Levine was certainly not one of these types of people he was a teacher in the full sense of the word and cared about each individual every individual student that was under his tutelage and had direct contact and understood what that student could do and had a broad understanding of that student, of course.
So these are the essences of what was said that evening, and I certainly feel that I would have been remiss in not at least recamping them as I was unable to get them on tape. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you This is Introducing the Dallas former Habanim students and friends gathering today to greet our Haver Yaakov Levin on the occasion of his 50th anniversary in Jewish education. Levin is Lamed Vov Yud Nun. Lamed Vovniks, the 36 righteous men who walk the earth, leading us in the right path. Yaakov, we all feel you indeed deserve this title and wish you the very greatest success, luck, and, of course, L'Hitra'ot.
My former Hebrew name was Bysheva Sommer. This is Shirley Sommer Law for wishing you a continuing success in anything you do in the future of your work, Marla Levine. Because of your influence to inspire me after all these years, my two daughters are entering Tel Aviv University in the fall. We will always remember you and the Jewishness you gave us. I am sorry that I missed you when you were here. I was also a former camper for a number of years when you were here. Best of luck in everything. And I will also write you in the near future. This is Marlene Lester Radford wishing you Mazel Tov in this milestone in your life.
I also send you greetings and Mazel Tov from my sister Joy Lester Rice Board from Houston. Hi, this is Mona Rabinowitz Rubinstein. Mazel tov to you. You well deserve the honor that is being given to you. I have such fine memories of our days at camp together. I think of you often and will remember you always. My mother, Esther Rabinowitz, sends her regards. My love to the family. Bye for now. Shalom. This has been you, Florence Skinsberg. My heartiest congratulations to you both. In the name of the wonderful memories that I and all of us in Dallas have of you, may you have much more napos and happiness in the future.
Dear Yaakov and Sephora, our hearty mazel tov on this great day. Our thoughts are with you for continued good health. May your dreams in behalf of Eretz Yisrael continue to flourish. With love, Chavar and Chavara, Miriam and I.J. Funk and family. Will you write it down? Well, say whatever you write it down. Many more happy returns and good health. I will find you. Sorry everything the rest of you. Hi, Jake. This girl from that big town of Ponca City, Oklahoma, will...