My Living Ledgend

I have not had the honor of personally knowing too many living legends. To me, a living legend is someone who has achieved a unique and unprecedented level of mastery in a specific skill or ideal. When the names of such people are merely mentioned, they are immediately associated with the cause or skill they have lived for.

There is no question that Rabbi Dovid Trenk has achieved the status of living legend. Rabbi Trenk has become well-known throughout the chinuch world as a man of unequaled passion and resolve. One only need attend an open session at the Torah Umesorah Convention to get a flavor for this remarkable man.

Rabbi Trenk is the champion of the “underdog” of Orthodox Jewish education. He supports the bachurim who find themselves unwanted by educators they encounter. He continuously reminds mainstream chinuch of the love that Hashem has for each and every Yid. He refocuses all around him on the potential that each human being has to connect to the Ribono Shel Olam.

In a yeshiva world that is increasingly focused on “clean” and “aleph” bachurim and is slowly excluding others who are viewed as challenging, Rabbi Trenk wonders how a Jewish child can be considered “unclean” and unwanted. He reminds us to ponder if a boy struggling with a Yetzer Harah is less loved by the very Creator who gave him that Yetzer?

No self-respecting mechanech would ever articulate an argument to the truths that Rabbi Trenk speaks. Many find the response of passive aggression more comfortable by not accepting challenging students to their Yeshivos and directing these children to other mosdos. By passing the proverbial “buck” to another mechanech, we are not forced to state what our actions so clearly say.

But Rabbi Trenk will not allow this silent destruction to take place. He bravely champions the cause of B'nei Yisrael. He will not sit ideally by while these children of Hashem are cast aside by so many. By continuously standing up and speaking out at public forums, he keeps these neshamos in the forefront of Jewish education. In recent years, he has taken his passion to a new level by “putting his money where his mouth is” and establishing Yeshiva Moreshes Yehoshua. This yeshiva attempts to pick up the sparks of kedushah guised as difficult children and channel them back to the path of the just. I am hard pressed to identify a more worthy cause.

Those of us in mainstream chinuch do not simply draw inspiration from Rabbi Trenk’s unyielding commitment. He also effects how we interact with talmidim. Anyone in chinuch in the year 2010 is confronted with a shmorges board of difficult situations and talmidim. Every Yeshiva has children who push the limits and challenge authority. It often seems natural and simple to suspend, expel and destroy any one who challenges the vision we have for our yeshivas. When confronted with such situations, and even more innocuous ones, we can take a moment for a healthy reflection of “what would Rabbi Trenk say?” Somehow when I ask myself this basic question, I am able to see the talmid again through the fog of my initial reaction of fear. When I think of Dovid Trenk, I think about the beauty of this talmid and how much good exists within him. When these qualities are highlighted, a Rebbe can find the strength to support the talmid instead of pushing him down.

I feel indebted to this living legend for helping me remember what chinuch is all about and hope that Hashem will continue to give him the strength the keep the cause of all of Hashem’s children in our minds always.