A festive 80th birthday celebration of prominent Chabad Rabbi, Rabbi Dovid Schochet, took place in NYC on Thursday evening, March 22 marking milestones both old and new milestones. Rabbi Schochet, President of the Toronto Rabbinical Council and a member of Vaad Rabbonei Lubavitch, is world renowned for his genius in the depth and breadth of Torah knowledge and for his active involvement in various prestigious educational institutions.

Despite his newly obtained octogenarian status, Rabbi Schochet is still a very active educator in high demand in many Chabad institutions, particularly in his home city of Toronto where he has been leading a congregation since 1957.  Rabbi Schochet was joined by his students, family, friends, and admirers for an elegant evening that highlighted his continued dedication to Torah education.

The gathering also turned into a reunion of sorts for a few noteworthy Chabad Rabbis in attendance,  friends and colleagues from Rabbi Schochet’s youth.  Among them were Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Rabbi Faivel Rimler, Rabbi Shmuel Fogelman, all venerated leaders in their own right, who were with Rabbi Schochet as members of a unique Chabad mission to Israel more than half a century ago.

In 1956 the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, dispatched a delegation of 12 Yeshiva students from Brooklyn to Israel to console the grief-stricken community of Kfar Chabad. The small agricultural village in central Israel formed by Chabad-Lubavitch immigrants, were reeling from a  terror attack.

An Arab gunman had walked into the synagogue of the village's agricultural school and opened fire on a classroom of young students and their teachers. Five of the studnets and one teacher were killed instantly. Despair and dejection pervaded the village as many were reminded of the bloody pogroms of Eastern-Europe from which they sought to escape, and saw the massacre as a sign that their dream of a peaceful life in the Holy Land was premature.

Seeking to raise the morale of the despondent Chasidim  in Israel, the Rebbe sent this group of young idealistic rabbis to impart a message of hope and faith. As Kfar Chabad grappled with questions of whether to disband or not, Rabbi Schochet and his colleagues repeated the Rebbe’s succinct answer: “By your continued building, will you be comforted.”

Rabbi Krinsky, whose designated task was the ‘record-keeper’ of the mission, reminisced at Thursday’s event on how the group met with Israel’s Chief Rabbis of the day and disseminated the Rebbe’s strong message of hope and renewal throughout Israeli media.

All of the young Rabbis who participated in the inspirational mission, now in their eighth decade of life, continued on to committed careers in the fields of Jewish activism and education. Thursday marked the first time a part of the group reunited in an official setting.

But the birthday celebration was far from a retirement party. Rabbi Schochet’s daughter, Mrs. Batya Lisker, executive assistant to Rabbi Krinsky, remarked, “At my father’s home the phones are constantly ringing with leading Rabbis and Chabad emissaries from around the world seeking his expertise.”

It is befitting that Rabbi Schochet’s start as a leader in religious education began with that tour of Israel in 1956, after which he chose to best remember the legacy of the murdered students and teacher by becoming an educator himself. The mission also held personal significance from him, as he met his the woman who would become hi s wife on that trip. Following their 1957 marriage, one of the last of which the Lubavitcher Rebbe presided over himself, they moved to Toronto and began their lifelong work of Jewish outreach and education.

The evening doubled as a graduation ceremony for Rabbi Schochet’s rabbinical students hailing from as far as Panama, Australia and Israel.  An ordaining rabbi of the “Onlinesmicha.com”, an innovative Rabbinical ordination program of the Lubavitch Yeshiva of Minnesota, Rabbi Schochet issued semicha ordination for his students who met the rigorous requirements of the program.

Rabbi Schochet emphasized the importance of the students realizing their full potential as the future leaders of the Jewish community, reminding them to “Utilize this chance. This is not the end, it’s the beginning.”

The evening closed a circle. Fifty six years after a group of young  rabbis traveled to comfort and inspire a  community after a tragic and devastating loss, this same group joined again to preside as the reins of Torah education and community service were passed to the next generation.  

Following the evening, Rabbi Schochet said he found it “heartwarming to see so many friends and family come out to honor me.”

The Rabbi also reflected on the monthly account he would submit to the Rebbe through his secretary, Rabbi Chodakov, of all he had managed to accomplish each month. “At the end of every conversation Rabbi Chadakov always asked 'Ok, this what you have accomplished, what have you not accomplished yet?'  

“Tonight it was easy for me to see what I have accomplished with my children, and grandchildren here in front of me. But I still think: what more do I need to accomplish? How many more people can I reach had I stretched myself even more."