A Kind Word from Rabbi Kook Changed Two Brothers Forever

Shenhav and Neriah Atias grew up in a secular home on Shimoni Street in Rehovot. What set their home apart from others wasn’t anything they had inside. It was who lived next door—the Chief Rabbi of Rehovot, the Gaon Rabbi Simcha Kook.

In an interview with Mosaf Shabbat Kodesh from Yated Ne’eman, the brothers, who now both learn in yeshivas through the Acheinu organization, shared the surprising and touching way they found their path back to Torah.

“I grew up not knowing much about rabbis,” Shenhav, the younger of the two, begins. “Of course, you could tell just by looking at him that he was someone special. But I didn’t think much about it at the time. Now I understand what a huge gift it was to live next to him.”

The story really began when Neriah, the older brother, was fourteen. One day he met Rabbi Kook on the stairs. The rabbi greeted him warmly and then asked a surprising question: “Would you like to learn with me?”

It made no sense on the surface. What were the odds that a secular teenager would agree to learn Torah with a rabbi many decades older than him? But Neriah didn’t hesitate. “Sure,” he said.

“When do you want to start?” the rabbi asked. Neriah’s answer: “Now.”

Rabbi Kook was deeply moved. He had expected the boy to brush him off, but instead he saw a real desire to connect. They sat down right away and learned Gemara together. That first session led to more, and soon they set a regular time to learn every week.

The changes in Neriah were visible almost immediately. “He started wearing a cap,” Shenhav recalls, “and even tzitzit under his shirt.”

“I Just Wanted to Follow My Heart”

At the time, Shenhav was in fifth grade. His brother’s journey began to influence him too. “Because of him, I started keeping Shabbat. I even joined a religious study center, but I didn’t change my lifestyle much yet.”

Still, his friends noticed something was different. When they heard he was thinking about going to a yeshiva after seventh grade, they were confused. Some thought he had lost his way. Pressure started coming from school, encouraging him to stay on the usual academic path. But Shenhav pushed back. “I just wanted to follow what felt right in my heart.”

By then, Neriah had become a full yeshiva student at Neve Eretz. One of the teachers there, Rabbi Munk, was considering opening a new yeshiva. Neriah introduced Shenhav to him and asked for guidance. Rabbi Munk smiled and said, “He’ll be the first student. Thanks to him, the yeshiva will open.”

The new yeshiva opened in the summer of 5776 (2016) with just three students. Shenhav was one of them. “It began as a branch of Neve Eretz,” he shares, “but it later moved to Be’er Yaakov as more boys joined. It’s a huge honor for me not only to be part of it, but to have been one of the first.”

Then he adds with a smile, “Do you want to speak to my brother Neriah? I’m only here because of him.” He went off to find him, warning that Neriah might be learning even during the lunch break. Soon he returned with his older brother by his side. Neriah looked like a typical yeshiva student. If he hadn’t shared his story, no one would have guessed that he had once gone to a completely secular school.

“The Learning Changed Me”

Neriah picks up the story. “Not long after we moved in next to the rabbi, I started noticing him in the stairwell. He had such a dignified presence that I would lower my head out of respect when we passed.”

Then one day, the rabbi stopped him and said, “Maybe we should learn together?” Without thinking twice, Neriah said yes. They walked into the rabbi’s home, sat down, opened a sefer, and began to learn. “He explained everything so clearly, with such warmth, that I was completely drawn in.”

They started learning Mesillat Yesharim, a classic sefer on Jewish character development. The learning sessions became deeper and more personal. Neriah shared his struggles, his thoughts, and the challenges of trying to grow in a secular environment.

“We ended up learning together two or three times a week for over a year and a half,” he says. “The rabbi helped me feel like I was entering a whole new world. He inspired me to want more, more meaning, more spiritual connection, more Torah.”

By the age of fourteen, Neriah was accompanying Rabbi Kook to give shiurim (Torah lectures) around the city. “I would walk beside him into packed study halls. I sat with the students and felt like I belonged.”

Even though he still looked like a secular teenager at the time, he began wearing a cap in honor of the rabbi. A few months later, he replaced it with a kippah. His classmates noticed the change, but didn’t make much of it. “What kept me strong during those days,” Neriah says, “was the feeling that Rabbi Simcha gave me. I felt lifted up, connected to something higher.”

"My Whole Life Shifted Because of That First Invitation"

As time passed, Neriah and Rabbi Kook began to learn every day. They went together to pray Mincha and Maariv. Seeing Neriah’s eagerness, Rabbi Kook paired him with a chavruta (study partner) from the Maor HaTalmud yeshiva.

They started learning the first chapter of Tractate Berachot. It was the first full chapter of Gemara Neriah ever completed. When they finished, they asked what to learn next. The rabbi suggested they move on to chapter six.

At the same time, Neriah joined a midrasha led by Rabbi Vager, who, like Rabbi Simcha, gave him personal attention and made him feel supported.

“During the day I went to a regular high school, and in the afternoons and evenings I learned Torah,” he explains. “Eventually, I even started to feel respected by my friends. Some of them looked up to me. It was surprising to see how accepted I was, even though I was walking around with a kippah.”

He shares one moment he’ll never forget. “One afternoon, I was walking with my friends when Rabbi Simcha came out from his daily Daf Yomi shiur near the school. My friends greeted him, and right there, in front of everyone, he said something kind about me.”

And then he adds, smiling, “One time he even introduced me to his brother, the great Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, and said, ‘This is my chavruta.’”

"If I’m Here Today, It’s Because of Rabbi Simcha"

Neriah pauses. “If I’m here today, living a life of Torah, it all started with that warm invitation from Rabbi Simcha. I appreciate it now even more than I did back then. I felt then, and I still feel today, that my success really matters to him. He was willing to give me all the time in the world.”

“Thanks to him,” he concludes, “I’m now learning at Neve Eretz Yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Aryeh Levi, welcomed me with such warmth and has been helping me grow ever since. Not long ago, my brother joined me here. He’s doing great, and the team from Acheinu is guiding him with incredible dedication.”

With that, Neriah gives a small smile and heads back to the beit midrash.