| Rabbi Yaakov D. Homnick gave his first public lecture at the age of fifteen, when he stood in for his father to deliver a Sabbath Women’s class at the synagogue. That was in 1973.
In 1980, living in Chicago, he was chosen by Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levine, Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe Yeshiva, to conduct a weekly Talmud class at the Agudath Israel Congregation. The class was immensely popular, drawing half of the entire synagogue membership. When he moved to Israel in 1981, the attendees presented him with a beautifully engraved silver goblet identifying him as “The Lecturer.”
In 1985, he was invited back from Israel to Chicago by the Philanthropist, Mr. Melvin Siegel, to help found the Toras Chesed Community Kollel. Rabbi Homnick, as Co-Dean and Director, taught classes on all levels. He was also responsible for designing the syllabus for the full program. He remained for two years, laying the foundations of an institution that continues to thrive fifteen years later.
In 1987, he returned to Israel to head his own Kollel, Marbeh Chaim, and to be the evening Outreach Director at Yeshiva Ohr Somayach. This enabled him to develop skills for teaching individuals with no background of Jewish Education. Additionally, Ohr Somayach would send him as an emissary to lecture to Jewish students at such universities as Brandeis, Princeton and University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Since returning to the U.S. in 1994, Rabbi Homnick has assumed various Rabbinical and teaching positions in the Jewish communities of Cincinnati, Boca Raton Hollywood and Miami. He currently heads the North Miami Beach Community Evening Kollel. He has written twelve books on Talmud and Jewish subjects.
Over the years, Rabbi Homnick has been invited as Scholar-In-Residence to communities in New York, Los Angeles, La Jolla, Dayton, Columbus, Jacksonville, Toronto, Leeds, England and Mexico City.
To sum up, Rabbi Homnick has taught every Jewish subject except Kabbalah, to Jews of every age, every educational level and every religious level. He has counseled people through every sort of life experience. And he does all this with fluency in English, Yiddish and Hebrew.
He is a soldier in the Israel Defense Force, on extended leave due to the family obligations which require his presence in the United States. |
