Chazal tell us,"Al tikri bonayich, elo bonoyich," teaching us
that the word "bonayich," meaning, "your sons," should
be read and understood as "bonoyich," "your builders."
Those who study Torah are the builders of the world.
From the Kehal Adas Yerushalayim community, better known by
its original name Yeshivas Hamasmidim, we learn that one can
simultaneously fulfill both the pshat and drash
of this maxim. The yeshiva has been a bastion of Torah and
yir'oh in Jerusalem for decades.
Thousands attended a recent gathering in honor of the
community's 51st anniversary, where plans for expansion were
announced. Several buildings are currently under construction
to accommodate the myriads streaming to its venerable beis
medrash in Mea Shearim.
Construction on the new building on Minchas Yitzchok street
in Jerusalem's Kiryat Belz is proceeding at a steady pace.
When completed, this magnificent structure will ease the
congested conditions under which hundreds of the community's
members currently study in the shul on Avodas Yisroel
Street. In addition, work on a new building in the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo has recently begun.
The city of Beitar will soon have its own Yeshivas Masmidim.
The up-and-coming building of Kehal Adas Yerushalayim will
serve the many members of the community who have made Beitar
their home. A second Yeshivas Masmidim in another section of
Beitar is currently in the planning stages.
From Beitar, we proceed to Ramat Beit Shemesh. Here too,
budding Torah scholars pore over their studies in Yeshivas
Hamasmidim. A large beis medrash is nearing completion
and plans for an additional one have been finalized.
The story of Yeshivas Hamasmidim is well-known. It was
masterminded 51 years ago by that remarkable man of
chesed, Reb Yosef Eichler, who was deeply perturbed by
the belief of "my might" that was so prevalent in the younger
generation of those days. Together with his mentor Rav
Avrohom Leib Klein, one of the great chinuch figures
of the time, he established a Torah and mussar
framework which is unaffiliated with any other specific
stream of the chareidi community, and constituting a
blend of the finest of the Lithuanian yeshivos with an
intense Chassidic experience. The unique result captured many
hearts and served as a lifeboat for an entire generation of
Yerushalmis.
The small beis medrash grew and became a large
community. Anyone who peeked inside was smitten. The life
force of the community is, of course, the man who has led it
for the past 15 years: HaRav Leib Mintzberg. Whoever hears
him speak, especially on Shabbos nights when he delivers his
highly acclaimed discourses for avreichim, cannot help
but return again and again. "He is unique in our times,"
marvels HaRav Shmuel Auerbach.
The community's institutions in Jerusalem,
Beit Shemesh and Beitar are many and varied. They include a
yeshiva ketana, a yeshiva gedola, evening
kollelim and 18 kollelei avreichim.
The rosh yeshiva of its yeshiva gedola, Toras
Yerushalayim, is HaRav Chaim Minhahar. Many outstanding
avreichim attribute their progress in Torah to him.
The yeshiva ketana, Or HaTalmud, is headed by HaRav
Naftali Eisenstein, and has produced many outstanding alumni
throughout the years. Many of them belong to an organization
of over one thousand avreichim who meet every week.
This, of course, is in addition to the general educational
framework of the Yeshivas Hamasmidim.
HaRav Leib Mintzberg best described this amazing progress at
the gathering, saying: "The outstanding development of these
institutions amazes me, too. It attests to the great
lesheim Shomayim of its founders."