Faculty Rabbi Allan Lehmann Retires on a Chai Note
It’s only fitting that Rabbi Allan Lehmann is retiring after his 18th year at Hebrew College — after all, he exemplifies the spirit of “chai”. A consummate teacher, mentor, and over all mensch, he has breathed life into Hebrew College’s beit midrash throughout his tenure, serving as an integral part of the fabric of Hebrew College.
“Allan is a model of devoted, open-hearted, and open-minded Jewish living, love of the Jewish people, and rabbinic service,” says Rabbi Dan Judson, Hebrew College Provost. “He embodies and channels our ancestral heritage with his being. To receive his blessing to live our path in Torah is to feel the full embrace of our tradition.”
Since joining the Rabbinical School faculty, Rabbi Lehmann has been a beloved teacher, wise counselor, trusted colleague, and steady presence in the Hebrew College community. He has given generously of his time and wisdom, helping students navigate countless rabbinic challenges and answering endless questions about Torah and tefillah. He draws upon deep knowledge across an astonishing range of subjects, all while offering guidance with an inspiring level of humility and patience.
“I’ve heard Allan describe himself as a ‘Zeh Hayom Asah Hashem, Nagilah v’nism’cha vo’ Jew —a person who sees each day as an expression of the Divine and finds ways to celebrate it,” says Rabbi Daniel Klein `10, MJED `10, Dean of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. “This is a way of being that I experience in Allan as both innate and deeply cultivated. To encounter Allan in our beit midrash, in class, or in a hallway conversation is to be drawn into a moment of wonder, and to feel an invitation to marvel at creation.”
Klein fondly recalls a teaching of Lehmann’s for which he is especially grateful about the message of the angels in Shacharit (morning prayer service). Lehmann enlivens this message by encouraging the community to look around the room at this moment in tefillah to see and acknowledge one another and offer an implicit beracha, or blessing, to each person to pray and be as they need to:
וְנוֹתְנִים בְּאַהֲבָה רְשׁוּת זֶה לָזֶה לְהַקְדִּישׁ לְיוֹצְרָם בְּנַחַת רוּחַ
Lovingly give permission to one another to sanctify their Creator with inner peace.
For Klein, this moment is made more powerful by how fully Allan embodies the preceding line in the liturgy:
וְכֻלָּם מְקַבְּלִים עֲלֵיהֶם עֹל מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם זֶה מִזֶּה
They all take upon themselves the yoke of God’s sovereignty, one from another.
“Allan will be greatly missed in our beit midrash and in our community. He is a rabbi’s rabbi – the person we all turn to, faculty members and students alike – when we need just the right blend of deep textual knowledge and humble life wisdom. We are profoundly grateful for all that he has brought to Hebrew College and wish him every blessing in this next chapter,” says Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld.