Rabbi Johnny Solomon - "Keep dreaming!"

 

Rabbi Johnny Solomon was born in London, and he moved to Israel with his wife Donna and their five daughters in 2012. Rav Johnny is a Teacher, Editor, Writer and Virtual Rabbi. In terms of teaching, he gives classes at Midreshet Lindenbaum and Matan, he is the Educational Director for Zehud and for Kitah, and he also runs his own ‘Online Kollel’ where he teaches classes on Jewish thought and law. As an Editor, he works independently and for Mosaica Press. As a Writer, he produces Jewish content and curricula for Jewish schools around the world, and he also writes a daily thought on daf yomi which can be found on various social media feeds, on Sefaria and on his website. And as a Virtual Rabbi, he offers spiritual coaching, halachic consultations and one-to-one learning to men and women around the world. Beyond this, Rav Johnny is a board member of Chochmat Nashim, and he is one of the three contributors to the RZWeekly podcast. To book a session with Rav Johnny, to invite him to deliver in-person on online talks to your community, or to read his daf yomi posts, visit his website https://rabbijohnnysolomon.com.

1. What was a place, person or event that transformed your ideas, thinking, or perspective?

I worked at Immanuel College as a Jewish Studies teacher, and then as the Head of Jewish Studies, for 7 years from when I was 23 until aged 30. During this period, I learnt so much about education and what it meant to be a teacher, and I was incredibly fortunate to be mentored by many outstanding teachers and to have the opportunity to experiment with different teaching styles. Moreover, it was during this period that I attended various courses in curriculum development both in the UK and Israel and I was able to develop myself and my vision as an educator. Given this, many of the skills and confidence that I have today – both as a teacher and curriculum writer - came from this period of my life.

2. What Jewish message does the world need to hear?

‘Don’t stop learning; Don’t stop growing; Don’t stop giving to others; Don’t stop trying to make the world a better place.’

3. How do you deal with failure?

Over the years I have failed in many things. For example, I failed the final year of my Maths degree - which I then completed by shifting my attention to the study of world religions & the sociology of religion. Nevertheless, on each occasion I have used the opportunity to reflect on what my goals really are, what I really want to achieve, and I have then used this clarity to choose what was often to become a better path for me.

4. If you were to give advice to your younger self, what would it be?

‘Keep on dreaming - because the things that seem unimaginable now are within your reach in the future’.

To use one example, after high school, aged 18, I came to Israel to study at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavne. Unfortunately, I was only able to come for one year, but I dreamt then that I would further my learning at a later stage in life, teach Torah, marry and have children, and possibly even study for semicha. 'Years later, having made Aliyah, married with five daughters and as an experienced teacher with semicha, I began teaching at Machon Ma’ayan which is situated on the road leading to Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavne. 20 years beforehand, while walking this same road, I had dreamt many dreams which seemed unimaginable at the time. And 20 years later, with God’s help, so many of my dreams had – via a series of circuitous routes – come to fruition.'

5. What is one way you spoil yourself a little?

I listen to music whenever I am writing or editing, and while I go through different phases of musical interest, I have recently reconnected with the music of Jacques Loussier whose Jazz interpretations of Bach are magnificent.

6. How do you get back on track if you have had an unproductive or distracted period?

I talk to myself. Play the piano. Or go for a walk. But while it happens quite often, my workload is sufficiently significant that I soon realise that, one way or another, I’d better get back to work.

7. What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

The best piece of advice that I have received by some of the greatest influences in my life is to believe in myself, and though we all suffer from self-doubt, this has driven me to grow both personally, professionally and spiritually. For example, as I recently shared, at a student conference which I organized and for which Rabbi Sacks zt’l was the keynote speaker, he gifted me a book about Jewish Education in which he had written the following  ‘To Johnny – In great friendship and admiration. You have great achievements ahead of you – may Hashem be with you all the way. With blessings, Jonathan Sacks’. As I explained in an article that I penned soon after he died, ‘Rabbi Sacks gave me – as he gave so many others – the blessing of encouragement to continue to hear the call of God, to rise to the responsibility of communal leadership, and to know that, with effort and belief both in God and in others, we can make things better.’ 

8. What do you consider as your biggest achievement in the last 5-10 years?

I am constantly discovering new parts of myself and exploring new vistas. Just in the past year I have undertaken writing an original thought on daf yomi each day, I have joined the Mosaica Press team as an editor, and I have created an online platform for my work as a spiritual coach and halachic consultant which has given me the opportunity to help many men and women around the world. Simply put, the fact that I feel I have continued to personally, professionally and spiritually grow while also helping others is something that makes me proud. However, what makes me most proud, and what is both my and Donna’s greatest achievement, is our family and our children who inspire us each day.

9. What area do Rabanim/teachers not stress enough?

I am a Teacher, an Editor, a Writer and a Virtual Rabbi – and in each profession there are different issues that arise. Still, if I had to focus on one thing within the field of Jewish learning and Jewish education, I think it would be that we don’t stress the concepts of ‘ameilut’ (toiling) in Torah sufficiently. Though there are many tools now available – both in print and online - to help people learn, ownership of what we learn ultimately comes from investment in our learning. Sadly, too many teachers are afraid to emphasise the importance of putting in the hours to achieve mastery for fear of scaring their students. Though this does concern me as well, I believe that I need to remind students that learning takes real labour – but that real learning is a labour of profound love.

10. What part of Jewish learning is your main focus or favourite? How would you recommend people to get more deeply into it?

Responsa (She’elot U’Teshuvot)! I love how responsa address real-life-questions, and how responsa authors formulate original halachic rulings to address the questions which they have been asked. Over the past 25 years I have studied thousands and thousands of She’elot U’Teshuvot which have helped me understand the ways in which halacha is interpreted and applied, how halacha can meet the needs of every generation time, and the extent to which the human condition can and should be considered in halachic decision-making. In terms delving more deeply into the genre of responsa, readers may wish to attend one of my courses at my ‘Online Kollel’, or have a one-to-one learning session with me exploring a topic of their choice. Beyond this, some great sets of modern responsa that I love learning include Rabbi Hayyim David Halevy’s ‘Asseh Lecha Rav’, as well as the responsa published by my good friend Rav Yoni Rosensweig titled ‘Yishrei Lev’.

11. I have often thought that we in the modern orthodox community are walking a tightrope between different worlds both of which we want to belong to and be active in which may detract from our full attention to one or the other particularly to the Jewish side. Can you give some ideas or direction how to connect more deeply to the Torah and Hashem? (Books, ideas, programmes, activities)

If we do not learn and think about Torah law and Torah values, we cannot know which aspects of the modern world compliment or conflict with Torah, which means that we can only negotiate our participation in one, in light of our understanding of the other. Personally, my belief is that the problem with Modern Orthodoxy is not a lack of books or essays about Modern Orthodoxy as an ideology. Instead, what is lacking is practical and tangible discourse which helps join the dots between the ideology of Modern Orthodoxy, and the daily choices that we make about living a life that fuses a full commitment to Torah to as full as possible commitment to the modern world. Still, to help make sure that what we learn is brought into the life we lead, my belief is that we need three things: a) We need to pray and thereby recognize that we are in a perpetual personal relationship with God; b) We need to learn Torah which speaks to the challenges that we face, and c) We need to have someone to whom we can turn on occasion to address the real issues we are facing in terms of maintaining our God awareness in a world that is rapidly erasing religion, religious values, and objective moral values from the public square.