Banquet Keynote: Rabbi Benjy Korf on the Ikar of Chinuch

Ahead of the new school year, a throwback to the Kinus HaMechanchim keynote address by Rabbi Benjy Korf, Head of School at Lubavitch Educational Center in Miami, Florida, who focused on the theme of raising פרומע, ערליכע, ווארעמע, חסידישע אידן.

Surrounded by hundreds Lubavitcher Mechanchim from across the globe, Rabbi Korf spoke about the tremendous growth in the world of education and the many skills expected of today’s educators. Pedagogy, curriculum, differentiated instruction, classroom management, technology, and professional development all matter, he said, and a mechanech has a responsibility to continually improve his craft.

But none of those things, important as they are, can replace the foundation of Chabad chinuch.

Drawing on the Rebbe’s approach to chinuch, Rabbi Korf emphasized that education is not only about what a teacher knows, but who the teacher is. There are lessons that can be taught, he explained, and there are values that are transmitted simply through the presence, dedication, and example of the mechanech.

At the heart of his address was the unique shlichus of a Chabad mechanech. Rabbi Korf emphasized that children can sense when a teacher approaches chinuch not simply as a profession, but as a mission, and that the mesiras nefesh, hiskashrus, and sense of purpose a mechanech brings into the classroom are felt by his talmidim. 

Professionalism, he explained, should strengthen that mission, not replace it. “Professionalism can never replace hiskashrus. It can only become a tool to support it.” The true uniqueness of Chabad chinuch is the connection of the mechanech to the Rebbe and what that connection allows him to transmit to his talmidim.

Rabbi Korf also spoke about the daily mesiras nefesh of mechanchim, the consistency of walking into the classroom each morning and giving another piece of themselves, day after day, often without recognition or applause. It is precisely that steady devotion, he said, that makes the shlichus of a mechanech so special.

He concluded with an uplifting charge to the mechanchim gathered at the banquet, they are the ones entrusted with transmitting Chassidishkeit and Hiskashrus to the next generation.