Although he never sought out his present position, HaRav
Shmuel Kohen is truly the right man in the right place at the
right time. Son of Rav Yaakov Kohen zt"l, one of the
prime builders of Torah in postwar France, Rav Shmuel has for
the past two-and-a- half years successfully taken the reins
and continued the tremendous strides his father made in the
southern French city of Marseille before his tragic death at
age 65.
The year was 1963. Daily, Jews fleeing the rising
antisemitism in North Africa were arriving in France which
offered them relative physical safety but grave spiritual
danger. Without the means or experience to organize frum
mosdos, thousands of Jewish youth were forced into a
public school education that led ultimately to outright
kefirah.
Askonim approached the Steipler Gaon, as well as a
young avreich at the Kollel Chazon Ish. This
avreich had done what few then dared to do: After
studying under HaRav Chaim Yitzchok Chaikin (a talmid
of the Chofetz Chaim) at Yeshivas Aix-Les- Baines, he had
abandoned thoughts of a career and came to study in Eretz
Yisroel. This avreich as well sought out the
Steipler's counsel and within a short time he was boarding a
ship with his family back to France. This avreich was
Rav Yaakov Kohen. His son Shmuel was five at the time.
"The Steipler told my father that the most important thing is
to establish a kollel," recalls Rav Shmuel who, over
the years, would accompany his father on scores of visits to
Rav Shach zt"l and other gedolim. "With those
few words, the Steipler in effect set into motion a
revolution here, on many fronts."
Indeed, with hindsight it is clear that Rav Kohen was to be
the first to plant the first seeds of Torah al taharas
hakodesh in postwar France.
While much remains to be done, the map of French Jewry close
to forty years later is quite different. On a break between
learning and fundraising, Rav Shmuel sat down to fill us in
on where Marseille is holding today in ruchniyus.
"Let's start from the beginning, from the earliest ages. Our
beit sefer now numbers about 450 talmidim, kein
yirbu, and each year, ten new families join us, on the
average.
"We have to turn away many more than that, due to space and
resources. But it's important to point out that we accept
families with the understanding that they will send their
boys to our yeshiva ketana, which is strictly al
taharas hakodesh, and that they will send their girls to
seminars, usually in Manchester or Gateshead."
Indeed, Gateshead has contributed a great deal to the
development of Marseille. Rav Kohen was instrumental in
bringing Rav Shimon Bitton zt"l, one of the luminaries
of the Gateshead Kollel, to serve as Marseille's rov and
dayan, all of which he did between sedorim. The
rest of his time he spent learning in Rav Kohen's kollel.
Throughout the city of Marseille, in all circles of Jews,
one finds a picture of Rav Shimon Bitton on the wall.
Rav Meir Sebbag and Rav Yehuda Steinhaus of the yeshiva
ketana are also products of the Gateshead community.
"More and more, our kollel is making inroads into the
wider community," says Shmuel proudly. The kollel
today numbers twelve avreichim, plus Rosh Kollel
HaRav Eliezer Klein, a talmid of HaRav Shmuel Rozovsky
and HaRav Shach in Yeshivas Ponevezh. "Baalei batim
learn there regularly for half a day or in the evenings, and
our rosh kollel gives shiurim in town. One of
our avreichim recently took on the post as rav in a
kehilla, where he runs a beis midrash learning
program."
About twenty years ago, Rav Shmuel's mother established the
Beis Midrash Lemorot, a remarkable seminar, unique in France.
This seminar takes in girls from varying levels of
background, usually with extensive secular education, and
trains them to be teachers in Jewish Education. "All of these
girls go on to marry bnei Torah, and they are in
demand throughout France as teachers. Many of them have
settled in Eretz Yisroel as well."
In short, while aware of the awesome, groundbreaking legacy
that precedes him, Rav Shmuel feels that Marseille is
advancing with steady momentum in the direction his father
intended. "In a way, the success we've had over the past two-
and-a-half years really demonstrates that "gedolim
tzaddikim bemisosom yoser mibechayeihem -- that my
father's merit is accomplishing even more for us now than
ever before."
