The yeshiva letze'irim Avi Ezri, an affiliate of the
Yad Mordechai institutions headed by HaRav Yitzchok Katz,
recently held a gala celebration of its completion of Bovo
Kamo.
The following letter, sent by Maran HaRav Yosef Sholom
Eliashiv and to which HaRav Aaron Leib Steinman added his
signature, was read by HaRav Yosef Efrati:
"I was glad to hear that the yeshiva letze'irim Avi
Ezri, an affiliate of the Yad Mordechai institutions headed
by HaRav Yitzchok Katz, is attracting youngsters from France,
who come to study and grow in Torah in that mokom
Torah. Since a simcha is now taking place in honor
of the completion of a mitzvah -- the siyum of Bava
Kamo -- I would like to add my brocho that the
students of the Avi Ezri yeshiva merit to begin other
masechtos and to complete them, lilmod ulelamed,
lishmor velaasos ulekayem es kol divrei haTorah hekdosha
be'ahava."
Thirty-three bochurim from three of the shiurim
faced the stage where the rabbonim were seated. These
bochurim raised the level of Paris' kedusha
with their hasmodoh. The rabbonim were: HaRav Betzalel
Rakow, rav of Gateshead; HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky, rosh
yeshiva of the Philadelphia Yeshiva; HaRav Yosef Efrati,
HaRav Yaakov Hillel rosh yeshiva of Ahavat Shalom and
HaRav Pinchos Weiss. All of these rabbonim had come to Paris
especially for this unusual event.
Seated beside the rabbonim were: the rosh yeshiva and
head of the Yad Mordechai institutions, HaRav Yitzchok Katz,
the ramim in the Nishmas Yisroel yeshiva gedola,
HaRav Zeev Kokis, HaRav Chaim Mann, HaRav Yehoshua
Salomon and HaRav Ephraim Zalman Sternbuch, as well as the
roshei yeshiva of the yeshivos ketanos in
France: HaRav Yechezkel Roter, rosh yeshiva of the
yeshiva ketana of Arentier, where forty students
study; HaRav Reuven Meyer, the rosh yeshiva of the St.
Louis yeshiva in Alsace, and HaRav Yehuda Toledano, rosh
yeshiva of the Rancee yeshiva.
The yeshiva ketana Avi Ezri was founded in 5753 (1993)
at the initiative of Maran HaRav Eliezer Menachem Man Shach
zt"l, who instructed HaRav Katz to open a yeshiva even
with only five students. In the beginning there were indeed
only five students. But in Paris in those days, when the
secular atmosphere was so rampant, that was considered an
impressive accomplishment.
Since then, the yeshiva developed. Now it is flourishing, in
the beautiful study hall, lechvod haTorah, dedicated
by HaRav Aaron Yehuda Leib Steinman on his visit to Paris.
HaRav Pinchos Weiss brought the brochos of HaRav
Steinman, saying: "The purpose of HaRav Steinman's visit to
Paris was to arouse parents to send their sons to yeshivos
al taharas hakodesh, and indeed there is much
his'orerus on that point. HaRav Steinman spoke before
thousands of parents who were deeply stirred by his plea that
they not abandon their children -- the gift given them by
Hakodosh Boruch Hu -- to oblivion and to the
materialistic life of just eating, drinking and sleeping.
`Don't think that they won't have parnossa,' HaRav
Steinman called out. `Hakodosh Boruch Hu will provide
them with parnossa.' This year, the number of students
studying in Avi Ezri doubled. Another yeshiva for youngsters
who stopped high school will be founded in the old beis
medrash across the street."
After the students learned the entire masechta with
iyun and bekiyus, they said: "Hadron aloch
maseches Bovo Kamo vehadroch alonn." Regarding this,
HaRav Chaim Mann said, "When we say the Hadron aloch
at a siyum we mean: We will return to you and you
will return to us, and we won't forget you. Bovo Kamo
lives in reality and speaks to us. I won't leave you, and I
pray to Hashem that you won't leave me. Who can fathom the
joy of the masechta over the fact that even in the
heart of Paris children rejected its tumah and
completed Bovo Kamo with kedushah?"
"Scores of bochurim are engrossed in learning in Pava
Street in the heart of olam hazeh, but are very
removed from its experiences," HaRav Efrati said. "But that
comes as no surprise."
HaRav Betzalel Rakow then said: "Bochurim, you have
acquired Bovo Kamo through learning, and may it become
fixed in your hearts. One forgets what he has learned when he
doesn't attribute importance to it." As an example of
kinyan haTorah he then cited an account about HaRav
Dovid of Karlin, saying: "In his elderly years, Reb Dovid was
weak and didn't see. He would sit in the beis medrash
all day, studying Shas by heart. A meshulach
once entered the beis medrash, and Reb Dovid greeted
him with `Shalom,' and asked who he was. Then he returned to
his studies. After a few minutes he again said `Shalom' to
the meshuclach, doing so a few more times too. The
Chofetz Chaim asked the meshulach to relate that
incident in his hesped of Reb Dovid, because it
stresses how Reb Dovid of Karlin forgot the entire world, but
did not forget even one word of the Shas, since Torah
was reality for him, just like his body."
HaRav Yaakov Hillel said: "In this mokom Torah in
Paris, we see a combination of in-depth Torah study and
tikkun hamiddos. . . For each Torah achievement a
student makes, and for each page of gemara over which
he toils, he derives satisfaction and joy. In the material
realm though, the more one acquires, the more dissatisfied
and unfulfilled he feels. That is why we hold a celebration
at the ending of a masechta even though we are only at
the beginning of our way."
HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky, the rosh yeshiva of the
Philadelphia yeshiva said: "We say the same Kaddish for the
petiroh of a person and for the completion of a
masechta because we don't want to part from the
gemara. . . . My father, zt"l, was a rav in a
small town and on the day of a siyum in the town, all
the townsmen did not say Tachanun. Certain rabbonim
questioned this practice, and my father said that this was
the custom of the town. Afterward I saw a halocho in
Kaf HaChaim to that effect."
Later on, HaRav Zeev Kokis said: "From the day the Beis
Hamikdash was destroyed, Hakodosh Boruch Hu has
nothing but the daled amos of halocho. What do
we mean by daled amos? Ein Yaakov says that the
Aron Habris was two-and-a-half amos long and
one-and-a- half amoh wide. The length symbolizes the
knowledge -- the length of the Torah -- and the width its
understanding and depth. Together they constitute daled
amos. As a result, Chazal tell us to combine knowledge
and understanding since bekius and iyun
separately do not constitute an integral entity." He then
noted that HaRav Katz opened the botei medrash in the
19th and the 20th quarters of Paris, in order to introduce
yeshivishe learning to the traditional Jews there and
to draw the distant ones closer. In the Ohel Moshe beis
medrash, he said, scores of bnei Torah are
studying with rischa deOraisa.
