TORONTO — Rabbi Immanuel Schochet and his wife, Jettie will be honoured later this month by Toronto’s Congregation Beth Joseph Lubavitch.
Jettie and Rabbi Immanuel Schochet
Although he’s spiritual leader of the 100-family congregation – a responsibility he describes as part-time – he never sought a pulpit career, he said in a recent interview at his home.
A prolific author whose expertise on Jewish philosophy and mysticism have taken him as far afield as Europe, South Africa and Australia on the lecture circuit, Rabbi Schochet was a professor of philosophy at Humber College from 1972 to 1997 and taught medical ethics at the University of Toronto’s faculty of medicine at the same time.
The couple, who knew each other as youngsters in Holland, are being honoured for more than 50 years of leadership to the Jewish community. Their tribute dinner will take place Feb. 27 at Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation.
Jettie’s father, a businessman, was instrumental in bringing Rabbi Schochet’s father to Holland to serve as chief rabbi of the Hague. Both families left in 1951 – the Schochets came to Toronto when the future rabbi was 15, and Jettie was 11 when her family moved to Dublin.
Rabbi Schochet, a native of Switzerland, completed his education at yeshiva in New York, where he obtained smichah.
“Immanuel used to learn with my father and grandfather,” Jettie recalled of their days in Holland.
Being four years her husband’s junior, she had little contact with her future husband until he visited Dublin in 1959. “The rest was history,” he said, smiling. They married in 1962, settling in Toronto, where the rabbi focused initially on finishing his BA and teaching at Jewish schools to earn a living. He was already rabbi of the Kielcer Congregation, a position he held for 36 years.
After he completed his undergraduate studies, the rabbi continued his education at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo, where he earned his doctorate.
In the mid-1960s, Jettie became a founder of Meginei Chanah, an organization that teaches young brides about family purity. As well, she has co-ordinated the women’s chevra kadisha for 30 years and also volunteers at Baycrest in palliative care.
A sixth-generation native of Holland, Jettie was hidden with a Protestant minister and his family for 2-1/2 years during the war. From the time she was a young teenager, she was involved with Jewish youth work. “I loved being with kids,” she said.
Once her youngest child began school full-time, Jettie started to work as a substitute teacher at Eitz Chaim Day Schools’ preschool. “I loved it,” she said of the 20 years she spent there.
Reflecting on the advantages of not being a full-time pulpit rabbi, Rabbi Schochet said he has the “freedom to say what I want, to do what I want… I could make controversial statements which other rabbis would be scared to make. My livelihood was not on the line.”
Among the causes he has taken on is the fight against Christian missionaries, which he began in the early 1970s, personally talking many young Jews out of their involvement in cults and Christian missionary groups.
As well, he has addressed the issue of “who is a Jew?” and dealt with “internal issues” among Orthodox and non-Orthodox segments of the community.
Punching the air with his fist for emphasis, he said, “When I see something that is wrong, I have no hesitation to speak out.
“But not everyone can do that,” he qualified. “I don’t even blame many of the other rabbis for not doing so.”
Rabbi Schochet’s forthrightness has, on occasion, brought him into conflict with other rabbis – particularly non-Orthodox ones, he said – but, on the whole, he’s had “cordial, good relationships” with most of them. He and Rabbi Gunther Plaut – who served Holy Blossom Temple – respected one another, Rabbi Schochet said.
Although he believes in “a golden middle path,” Rabbi Schochet said there are some things on which there can be no compromise.
“If something could and should be corrected, we should not shirk from our responsibility to do so,” he said.
Assimilation is the biggest issue facing the Jewish community today, he believes. “Too many compromises are made by official organizations. They think by giving in here, giving in there, you will gain… which is not true. You keep chipping away at your own base, so you have to stand firm on basic issues affecting Jewish identity, Jewish consciousness.”
Rabbi Schochet said there are many inconsistencies and “a lot of hypocrisy” in the Orthodox community as well as in the non-Orthodox world. “I would condemn [both] the same way.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a good controversy, as long as you are honest about it, you state where you stand, and have some kind of defence for what you said.”
