Happenings
After Avraham underwent the mitzvah of Bris Milah, the level of spirituality found in his home rose exponentially. As a consequence of the Shechinah taking up residence, so to speak, in Avraham’s home, people of low spiritual stature were
From Avraham we learn the importance of screening the people we bring into our homes. As the children of Avraham Avinu, it behooves us to follow in his footsteps, to open our doors to every type of guest… while adhering to our responsibility to protect our families from negative influences. Vital Kiruv Information in one Location Another very helpful bonus received by the throngs of pe’eylim who attended, was a special kiruv manual distributed by Acheinu with every vital piece of information about kiruv that is available. All of the many kiruv yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel and the areas in which they specialize were mentioned; kashrus questions were addressed; and the addresses and phone numbers of roshei yeshiva of kiruv yeshivos and rabbanim who specialize in kiruv sheilos were listed. One kiruv activist said, “Just
obtaining that manual made the trip from afar worth it. All of the other tools have infused me with chizuk and guidance to continue bringing Hashem’s children back to Him, one at a time!” Bringing Children and Parents Back through the Koach HaTorah On Tuesday night, 2 Nissan/March 12, another remarkable Acheinu event was held at the Acheinu Yeshiva in Kiryat Sefer, a yeshiva that Rav Dovid Hofstedter opened at the behest of HaGaon HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, shlita. The Acheinu Yeshiva in Kiryat Sefer is a yeshiva that caters to bochurim who did have an elementary Torah education but nevertheless come from homes that are traditional in nature but not fully observant. The boys go on to be mainstreamed in first-rate yeshivos throughout the country. The Yeshiva organized a parents’ night where the fathers and mothers of the talmidim came to participate in a special event in the yeshiva with their sons. The parents observed their sons making a siyum on Masechta Megillah that they had learned over the past month and a half in the yeshiva. The sight of numerous
mothers crying pure tears of joy to see their sons so happy and so successful was a sight that itself brought tears to the eyes of everyone present. The singing and dancing combined with the powerful feelings of achdus and acceptance spotlighted the life-saving work that Acheinu is doing, not only with their bochurim who attend the yeshiva but also with the entire family unit. One touching scene was the “Avos Ubanim” segment of the evening, where fathers who rarely if ever opened a Gemara in their lives were paired up to learn with their sons. Some boys were clearly filled with deep emotion as they shared their newfound inner world of Gemara learning with their fathers for the first time. “One saw the koach haTorah, one saw how these fathers were connecting with their sons with the pure, life-giving waters of the Torah, in a way that they had never previously connected,” said Rav Michoel Berlin, Rosh Yeshiva of the Acheinu Yeshiva in Kiryat Sefer. “It is clear that Acheinu not only strengthens its charges but invests in the entire family bringing Klal Yisroel closer to the day when, “All of Your children will know Hashem!”
Dirshu’s Kinyan Shas Test Puts 1488 on the Path to Shas By Chaim Gold To see the face of HaGaon HaRav Yeruchem Olshin, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Bais Medrash Govoha, was to see a combination of amazement, simcha and ahavas haTorah. The Rosh Yeshiva expressed his amazement upon entering the Lakewood Cheder Dining Room, Dirshu’s testing site in Lakewood, and observing the tables upon tables of talmidei chachomim taking the Kinyan Shas test!
He responded, “I don’t know! Truthfully, during the entire month running up to the test, I snatched every minute I could, to learn. Even when we were travelling, my wife would drive and I would try to chazer. I knew that if I didn’t chazer a minimum of 20 blatt daily I would not
test. They represent the entire crosssection of Klal Yisroel: A virtual kibbutz galiyos of Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Yeshivish, Chassidish, Baalei Battim and Kollel Yungeleit, all on the trajectory to becoming true Shas Yidden!
Kinyan Shas is perhaps Dirshu’s most demanding program because it is the program that produces and encourages people to become true “Shas Yidden” people who literally have Shas at their fingertips. Dirshu has numerous programs including its most popular monthly Kinyan Torah Daf Yomi tests. The biannual Kinyan Shas test is a cumulative one, on all that has been learned from Brachos until where the Daf Yomi is holding at the time of the test.
There were numerous other sites in North America, including, Boro Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush, Monsey, New Square, Toronto, Montreal, Cleveland, Staten Island and The Five Towns. Without a doubt, however the largest concentration of Kinyan Shas participants was in Eretz Yisrael where more than 1,200 people took the test. In the Bnei Brak location which was graced by HaGaon HaRav Berel Povarsky, shlita itself there were some 400 people
A Test on 240 Blatt and Double How?! As I walked up and down the rows watching people engrossed in the 16 page test, I was amazed. How did they do it? How were they able to take a cumulative test on all 240 blatt that the Daf Yomi has learned since the beginning of this machzor? Then I met Rabbi Moshe Fisher, one of the individuals taking the test. I asked him, “Reb Moshe, “how were you able to review that much?”
get up after the shiur, stand in a corner and begin reviewing the entire shiur by heart. Some bochurim viewed his conduct as a bit strange but that bochur took no notice. The name of that bochur was Chaim Kanievsky! That is the power of chazarah!” thundered the Rosh Yeshiva. “Those bochurim may have thought it strange but no one knows who they are today! Rav Chaim, however, became a Gadol Hador!”
Transforming Lives
make it. Dirshu has literally transformed my life into a life of being mosef v’holeich to achieve increasingly more yedias haTorah.” The numbers of people who took the Kinyan Shas cumulative test worldwide is simply mindboggling. Nearly 1,500 people in Eretz Yisroel, Europe and America took this first Kinyan Shas
HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, Shlita and the Power of Chazarah In his remarks, Rav Yeruchem told a fascinating story that he personally heard from Rav Chaim Sarna, zt”l. “Rav Sarna related that when he was a young bochur learning in the Lomza Yeshiva in Petach Tikva, he remembered that after the Rosh Yeshiva finished delivering his shiur there was one bochur who would
Dirshu is transforming lives across the world. As Rabbi Moshe Fisher of Lakewood eloquently explained when I asked him how he managed to remember so much – “It becomes part of your life. Every time I say kriyas Shema at night, I think of the Gemaras about kriyas Shema. Every time something comes up on Shabbos, I think of the related sugya in Shabbos... Once you are into Dirshu, it is hard to be meisiach daas—to take one’s mind off of Shas!”
april 18, 2013
Nevertheless, Rav Hofstedter cautioned that coupled with that warmth there must be vigilance to preserve the spiritual level of the family too. In his sefer Dorash Dovid he devotes an entire ma’amar to this issue. He explained that in Parshas Vayeirah we find that Avraham Avinu planted an eishel in Be’er Sheva. An eishel was a tent from wherein he preformed the mitzvah of hachnosas orchim. What, then, was so special about the eishel that Avraham established in Be’er Sheva? Did his practice of hospitality there differ from the hospitality he had offered in Charan and in Eilonei Mamrei?
unable to enter. Therefore, Avraham found it necessary to set up a new hospitality house, the “Eishel” outside of his private dwelling. It would be a place where he could host all comers, even those not of noble souls.
The Jewish Home
the concentration camps during the Holocaust. He related that one of her amazing qualities was her ability to create a warm, supportive and loving atmosphere in her home and with everyone she met. “That is such an important tool in kiruv today,” he explained.
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