He was kind, warm, positive, energetic,
and always upbeat. When I think back to my year in his class over 25 years ago,
what I remember most is how he made each class so much fun and exciting!
As a top notch karate expert (at least
that was our impression), he would walk the halls between class and recess, and
to our absolute amazement – quick background: there were two sets of lockers, a
lower level and an upper level, and the upper level lockers we could hardly
reach – he’d do high karate kicks to close any high lockers that were left open.
We watched our rebbi walking the halls with his nifty karate kicks and punches
in the air. How cool is that!
He’d mesmerize us with his ongoing and never-ending
“Dovid’l” story. Whenever we behaved well or somehow earned a reward, he’d
continue the exciting and dramatic saga, as he circled the room, acting out the
parts and changing voices with emphasis and excitement. I don’t remember the
details of the story, but I remember he had our rapt attention, and whenever he
stopped, we clamored and begged for more and couldn’t wait for the next
time.
Then there was the assortment of
characters and personalities that he would conjure up, such as “Harry B,” “The
Lady with the Umbrella,” and more. He’d leave the classroom (to go “get” the
character) and then come back in, acting as one of these characters he had made
up. It was fun and funny!
He taught with gusto, but he also knew
how to keep the overall tone of the class light and enjoyable. Before starting
to teach when we came back from recess, he would often look around the room and
ask, “Who has extra chocolate? I love chocolate!”
Everyone in the class was always a “tzadik.” He gave over the feeling that
he believed greatly in each of us kids, and he always kept everything so upbeat
and exciting!
Rabbi Dinovitz taught us so much Torah,
middos, and skills that year – all of
it with his trademark fire, warmth, energy, and enthusiasm. What a fun and
special rebbi we had!
* * *
Postscript: After writing this,
I reached out to a few of my former classmates to see if they, too, had
memories to share.
Yanky
Statman: “I can’t recall a single time hearing Rabbi Dinovitz scream or
lose his temper. Our class was certainly not the easiest class he ever taught,
yet day after day he would have a smile on his face – happy to be teaching
Torah to his talmidim. Many of his Dovid’l
stories remain with me today, and I have shared some of them with my own
children.”
Moshe
Abramson: “I remember how he would sit and shmooze (chat) with us. He would
also always stand right by the doorway greeting us when we came up from recess
or any activity outside the classroom. It was always very lively and active in
his class. One of the big things I remember, and this stood out to me as a
young third grader, was his active karate moves! “Hiya!” He would do different
karate moves to keep our attention! I loved that as a kid. What also stood out
to me is just the way he taught: his sweetness, his love, his caring, and the
special way he greeted each and every boy as he walked in the door. It was really,
really special.”
An
Appreciative Talmid: “I still feel the geshmak
that he gave off in his classroom. I really felt that he let us know it was
okay to be ourselves. We could be funny, mischievous, even a little silly – and
still be good Yidden who love learning. We didn’t have to fit into a box to be
important. We could use our own personalities to serve Hashem. And he showed
this to us by loving and living as a fun but serious rebbi – way before it was
in style to do that.”
Dovid
Gerstein (Monsey): “It was a great year! It was always exciting. I remember
he had a point system and prizes – I still have a wallet he made for me.”
Elazar
Finkelstein (Lakewood): “I remember the exciting stories he would tell,
especially the Dovid’l stories. I don’t remember the details of the stories
(though I might, if I were reminded of them), but interestingly there is one
thing I do remember very well and actually use today when I tell stories to my
own kids! There was a special tune Rabbi Dinovitz used to use throughout the
story whenever he got to a suspenseful part or a situation that would make you
wonder what’s going to happen next, “Oy vey oy vey oy vey oyyveyy…!!”
Yoni
Schwartz: “I remember I liked when he used to imitate people to make us
laugh. I remember the various acting routines he used to do. He made learning
fun!”
Mordy
Rosen (Israel): “It’s more than 33 years, and there is this one memory, one
experience, chiseled into my mind, vividly painted and still palpably felt. I
write now, not from memory, but as if I am still experiencing it now.
“For me, grade school was a challenge.
Day after day, lesson after lesson, I turned my head from side to side,
watching how everyone else was able to plug into the lesson, but not me. But
Rebbe was able to reach me. It was his unwavering acceptance of me. Rebbe
flowed with me and made his teachings exciting and fun. I felt prized and
loved, and that was able to pierce through that stubborn wall.
“There was one experience that year
that, until this day, is not only remembered but felt, which made me. The topic
being discussed was the egel hazahav (golden
calf), and when Moshe Rabbeinu broke the luchos
(tablets) as he came down from Har Sinai. In his classic dramatic way of
painting the picture, Rebbe asked aloud, ‘Hashem told Moshe in Shamayim what klal Yisrael was doing; he already knew! So why didn’t he break the
luchos right away? Why did Moshe wait
until he came down to break them?!’ Everyone was silent; no one knew what to
say. I don’t know why – I never raised my hand – but instinctively I did. I
said, ‘Maybe he wanted to break them in front of the Yidden, to show them “Look
what you did, look what you lost.”’ Rebbe’s face froze, and without saying a
word, he ran out of the classroom. We could all hear his footsteps running down
the hallway and, then after a few moments, running back. He barged back into
the room, stumbling through our desks towards me, only to slam a freezing cold
can of soda on my desk, and he screamed, ‘Did you all hear that? Did you hear
what he just said!!?’
“Rabbi Dinovitz, I still hear that can
of soda slamming on the table, and now, years later, my talmidim hear that as well. It’s the sound of belief in another
person, in another Jew, that we all have greatness inside, just waiting for the
right setting to see it shine. Rise before the Ribono Shel Olam and tell Him
that there are thousands of Yidden to whom you not only taught Torah but also brought
the joy of being a Yid and loving Hashem.”
