Participants of Agudas Yisroel of America's second American
Yarchei Kallah — held this past Shabbos parshas
Tetzaveh through Monday afternoon at the Newark Hilton "
— left feeling uplifted and inspired.
For veteran attendees, the privilege of hearing from and
simply being with an illustrious assemblage of gedolei
and manhigei Yisroel, the atmosphere of
conviviality, the aura of kedusha that permeated this
unique gathering did not surprise and certainly did not
disappoint. The feeling among first-timers,"expressed again
and again throughout the four days, was that —
notwithstanding all they'd heard and read — the event
had to be experienced to be fully appreciated.
"Passing from the mundane to the sublime," was the way one
newcomer described walking through the glass doors that
separated the lobby of the busy airport hotel from the area
that had been specially designated for the Yarchei Kallah.
"I had originally planned to stay only through Shabbos," said
another. "But there was no way I could bring myself to leave.
There was just something so pure about it all."
Highlights included the sweet, melodious strains of the
Kabbolas Shabbos; the conference room turned beis medrash;
the rischa deOraisa that characterized the outstanding
shiurim by Rabbi Dan Blumberg, Rosh Kollel Yisroel
veShimshon of the West Side and Rosh Hayeshiva Ohr Simcha in
Englewood, and Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum, rav of Khal
Nachlas Yitzchok, and not least the groups of lomdim
reflecting on this droshoh, reexamining a point
raised in that shiur.
The program opened Friday night with two shiurim. The
first, by Rabbi Yitzchok Sorotzkin, rosh yeshivas Telz,
focused on the sugya dekallah which was Krias
HaTorah, offering an insightful and deep analysis of the
requirement of a tzibbur for krias haTorah. He
was followed by Rabbi Usher Weiss, Av Beis Din of
Darchei Horaha and rosh hayeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah,
who delivered a shiur on the parsha, spinning a
web of lomdus, halacha lema'aseh and aggadah
based on the mitzvah of achilas kodshim.
After Shacharis the next morning, Rabbi Sorotzkin delivered a
droshoh on the incredible koach of tefilloh.
tefillos
throughout the Yarchei Kallah," said one of the
lomdim. "The challenge is to keep them in my mind and
heart the rest of the year."
Later that Shabbos was a Sholosh Seudos droshoh from
Rabbi Yaakov Reisman, rav of Agudath Israel of Long Island,
in which he compared the bigdei kehuna with the way a
Jew must approach his avodas Hashem. Explicating a
shiur da'as by the Telshe Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Avrohom
Yosef Bloch, Rabbi Reisman portrayed the end result of this
process as lekadsho ulechahano reaching a high level
of kedusha.
A powerful and empowering message of ahavas Hashem was
conveyed at the Melave Malka by Rabbi Usher Weiss, who had
traveled from Yerushalayim to be part of this special
gathering. Relaying the heartbreaking news of a very recent
personal loss, Rabbi Weiss then shared with the visibly moved
assemblage what the tragedy had taught him: In times of
sorrow, those who feel close to HaKodosh Boruch Hu
feel His brochoh upon them. "It does not diminish the
grief," he averred, "but imparts a feeling of calm and
submission." The greatest balm for his pain, the Rosh
Hayeshiva told his listeners, is limud haTorah.
Affected as much by the speaker's incredible dignity and deep
emunah as by his distressing besura, the crowd
fell almost eerily silent at the conclusion of Rabbi Weiss'
remarks. The normal tenor of a Melave Malka was restored only
when, at Rabbi Weiss' request, the men broke into spirited
zemiros.
Addresses delivered the next evening would bring additional
messages of chizuk and his'orerus.
"When two people sit and learn," said the Lakewood Mashgiach,
Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon, "the Shechina is with them."
Alluding to the week's parsha and its focus on the
building of the Mishkon, the place in which the Shechina
rests, Rabbi Salomon went on to explain the concept of
gilui Shechina.
"When the Ribono Shel Olam's hashgacha is recognized,
when it can be seen making contact with creation " as it was
in the Mishkon and in the Bais Hamikdash — that's gilui
Shechina."
Giving numerous examples of the nissim Hashem
regularly performed in those holy places, Rabbi Salomon
brought the discussion back to the Chazal that tells us that
when two Jews engage in Torah study, the Shechina is
present.
"It would be a pity to go away from such a gathering without
recognizing the nissim that brought us all here," the
Mashgiach observed. "To have in this day and age a head and a
heart pure enough to learn is a ness, one that
Hakodosh Boruch Hu performs for us because He wants us
to come closer to Him and to realize that our lives have to
change."
Rabbi Salomon closed his remarks with an eitzah tovah
for the lomdim: "When you return home, examine
your life and resolve to live it with the Shechina.
Because living with the Shechina affects every
facet of our lives."
"And, it all begins," the Mashgiach proclaimed, "with two
Yidden coming together to learn Torah."
The subject of Talmud Torah, and, more specifically the laws
of Bircas haTorah and their profound effect on limud
haTorah, were addressed by the next speaker, Rabbi
Avrohom Moshe Feuer, rav of Kehillas Bais Avrohom.
Galvanizing his listeners with his characterization of the
Torah's transformative properties, the speaker went on to
examine the various halachos related to Bircas HaTorah. "They
should be said with trepidation, from a Siddur, slowly and
deliberately and with yishuv hadaas." Bircas HaTorah,
which Rabbi Feuer called "the most important" brochos
of the day "set the stage for proper limud, lead
us back to Sinai and inspire us to learn in the way Moshe
Rabbeinu intended."
Rabbi Feuer's talk reached a crescendo with his observation
that limud haTorah benefits not only the learner,
keeping him spiritually afloat, but the Torah itself, which
depends on those who learn it to keep it alive.
The penultimate shiur was delivered by Rabbi Yeruchom
Olshin, rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha, who gave a
fascinating talk about the different halachos surrounding the
last eight pesukim of the Torah.
The final droshoh of the Yarchei Kallah was delivered
by Rabbi Avrohom Schorr, rav of Khal Tiferes Yaakov who, in
his inimitable style, delivered a riveting talk about the
sanctity of Shabbos and its connection to krias haTorah
and limud haTorah.
Quoting the Ben Ish Chai, Rabbi Schorr informed his listeners
that "learning a blatt gemara on Shabbos, is
equivalent to learning 1,000 blatt during the week."
But, the Rav stressed, this benefit is obtained only if one
has the proper understanding of the kedusha of Shabbos
and conducts himself accordingly. Women, too, have a special
power on Shabbos, Rabbi Schorr observed. When they bentch
lecht with the proper kavana, they have the
koach to change their lives and the lives of their
descendants for generations to come.
It would be hard to imagine an audience more receptive to
Rabbi Schorr's message — indeed, to all the inspiring
words of Torah they had been privileged to hear throughout
the Yarchei Kallah — than these baalei batim
who had chosen to spend four days learning Torah and
mining its riches.
