Pioneer of Modern Orthodoxy in Great Neck and Long Island’s North Shore, Rabbi Emeritus at Great Neck Synagogue, and Founder of North Shore Hebrew Academy
This 13th of Adar, (traditionally Ta’anis Esther, Erev Purim), marks the 20th Yarzheit of our dear Rabbi Dr. Ephraim R. Wolf, HaRav Ephraim Reuven ben Nachum Chaim zt״l. The modern Orthodox community in Great Neck was shaped by him.
When Rabbi Wolf became the spiritual leader of the Great Neck Synagogue (GNS) in 1956, the strong denominations on the peninsula were Reform and Conservative. At the time, Orthodoxy was perceived to be outmoded and declining, out of touch with modern society. “Through his force of personality, Rabbi Wolf was able to give a legitimacy to Orthodoxy that Great Neck might otherwise not have had,” according to Rabbi Dale Polakoff, who in 1988 succeeded Rabbi Wolf as rabbi of the Great Neck Synagogue, a modern Orthodox congregation with close to 600 families.
Today, Orthodoxy is not only accepted, but also thriving in Great Neck. In Rabbi Wolf’s early days in Great Neck, that was far from being the case. With his humble manner, sense of tolerance and an extraordinary ability to connect with people, no matter what background they came from, Rabbi Wolf was able to bridge the gap. Stanley Fischer, a former President of GNS during Rabbi Wolf’s tenure, related that Rabbi Wolf regularly visited Jewish patients at North Shore University Hospital, whether they had any affiliation or not. Rabbi Wolf would deliver a welcome package to all new Jewish residents of which he was aware, and bring a special brachah plaque to hang above the crib of a newborn baby boy before the bris milah, to which I can personally attest, when our son Joey was born in 1999, when Rabbi Wolf was already the Rabbi Emeritus.
Dr. Mel Breite told me that when he first moved to Great Neck, in the 1970s, and Rabbi Wolf learned of some needed Sukkah repairs, he appeared at the Breites residence the very next day with a brand-new Sukkah!
Rabbi Wolf was devoted with all his heart and soul to our Holy Land. Everyone from Great Neck whotraveled to Israel became a Shaliach Mitzvah - whether they were asked by Rabbi Wolf to deliver tennis balls for underprivileged kids to play with, or letters for posting (with the stamps affixed already), or to take much-needed dental supplies. Rabbi Wolf always referred to his congregants as “You beautiful people,” and he meant it with all his heart.
The Great Neck community grew rapidly. Rabbi Wolf, with the capable assistance of his wife, Rebbitzen Elaine Wolf a”h, established the North Shore Hebrew Academy (NSHA), a coeducational yeshiva that now has more than 1,100 students from toddler through high school, on four campuses in Great Neck. He also established the Mikvah (which, in order to gain village approval, was initially referred to as a wading pool!), and worked countless hours on gaining approval for the Great Neck eruv. All of these achievements helped shape Great Neck into the bastion of Orthodoxy it is today, eventually serving as home to the Young Israel of Great Neck, two Chabad Shuls, as well as many Sephardic congregations, including Israeli, Persian, and Iraqi synagogues.
For all of his great accomplishments, a section of Old Mill Road, where the Great Neck Synagogue is situated, is named “Rabbi Wolf Way,” featured on Waze!
Rabbi Wolf’s involvement in Jewish causes was known well beyond the confines of Great Neck. Stanley and Jacqui Fischer remember being in a small town in a distant state when a man in an ice cream shop asked them where they lived. When they said “Great Neck,” he replied, “Please send my best to your esteemed rabbi - Rabbi Wolf!”
In the early days, Rabbi Wolf drove the bus himself to make sure students got to school at the NSHA. On snowy days, Rabbi Wolf shoveled snow off sidewalks, recalled Sharon Goldwyn, a congregant who was a student at the North Shore Hebrew Academy in its early days - whose parents, Solomon and Belle z”l, were among the founders of both the school and the synagogue. When snow got into her boots, Rabbi Wolf went back to her home to make sure that she had dry socks and shoes. She couldn’t learn Torah if her feet were wet and cold, Rabbi Wolf told her!
Rabbi Wolf studied at the Mesivta Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn, at the Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, and at the Yeshiva Tifereth Israel in Israel. His early pulpits were in Malden, Massachusetts, and in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he established Yeshiva Day Schools. His entire life was devoted to kiruv rechokim (bringing Jews closer to Judaism) because he loved Torah and always sought ways to share that love.
Rabbi Wolf was very active in the project of Zeirei Agudath Israel headed by Mr. Mike Tress zt”l, and Mesivta Torah Vodaas, headed by Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz zt”l. He wanted to do something for boys growing up in cities too small to support yeshivahs. Rabbi Wolf was one of the “recruiters” who would travel to outlying areas, even sleeping in railway stations, with a list of boys who might be interested in coming to learn in Mesivta Torah Vodaas. Rabbi Wolf was a very practical man, and he strove to do whatever possible to preserve Torah. He always had in mind what could be done in order to save a Jewish soul for Yiddishkeit.
When people will write about the last 50 years, Rabbi Wolf will probably not be mentioned in the headlines, because he always shunned publicity. However, according to Menachem Porush zt”l, the former Israeli Knesset member, whenever someone writes about a practical deed that was done for Torah and education in Eretz Yisrael and in America, the name of Rabbi Ephraim R. Wolf will be mentioned prominently as one of the outstanding, devoted activists in this holy field.
There are many more wonderful things to say about our dear Rabbi Wolf that are often expressed by myriad others around the world who are lucky enough to have known him. Permit me to focus on just one of the many traits that I personally experienced that made Rabbi Wolf so unique. When my wife Drora and I moved to Great Neck in 1993 with our family, Rabbi Wolf already had assumed the position of Rabbi Emeritus of GNS. I observed that both Rabbi and Rebbetzin Wolf would very modestly try not to intervene in the daily goings-on of the synagogue, so as not to give the appearance of “still running the shul.” But, one thing that Rabbi Wolf couldn’t resist was trying to make newcomers or strangers to the synagogue feel welcome. On many occasions, Rabbi Wolf would say to me, “Paul, you’re a friendly guy. Why don’t you go over and say ‘Shalom Aleichem’ to that gentleman over there and make him feel at home!” Of course, when I went over and welcomed someone, I always felt really good about it. To this day, when somebody comes to the shul whom I do not recognize, I try to follow Rabbi Wolf’s sage advice, which invariably gives me the impetus to go over and welcome him. This is just one striking example that exhibited Rabbi Wolf’s sensitivity and caring for others. I used to greet Rabbi Wolf every Shabbos with a jocular “Thanks for coming, Rabbi; I know it’s your day off!” This always made him chuckle, and he would even repeat it to others. But, in all seriousness, my dear Rabbi Wolf, “Thanks for coming!”
On his 20th yahrzeit, we appreciate the wonderful legacy that Rabbi Wolf left behind for all of us, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Four great-grandsons and one great-nephew named Ephraim Reuven, after Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, celebrated their Bar Mitzvah. Five great-grandchildren are engaged in advanced Torah study, including one in a Hesder yeshiva. Besides the Ephraim Reuvens who are already between 18 and 19 years old, there are 10 great-grandchildren whose names have either Ephraim or Reuven in them. All the great-grandchildren are raised surrounded by photos of their great-grandparents and stories about their Chesed and loving kindness, and are ba’alei chesed, displaying a strong love for Eretz Yisrael.
May Rabbi Wolf’s neshamah have an aliyah on his upcoming 20th yarzheit and may his memory, together with his wife Rebbetzin Elaine Wolf’s memory, be a blessing for us all, particularly for his children Rabbi Shimon and Hennie of Kew Gardens, and Dr. Dahvid and Leah Wolf of Meitar, Israel, and for his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, ken yirbu.