There was rejoicing in the chassidic Dorog community in Eretz
Yisroel at the news that thirty of its leading avreichim
passed the examinations that will entitle them to receive
rabbinical diplomas - semichoh. The thirty, all
students at Dorog's Bnei Brak kollel, devoted
thousands of hours to their learning and spent hundreds of
days immersed in study. Their semichas represent the
culmination of all these efforts. The avreichim were
examined by some of the country's foremost rabbonim who said
that they were extremely impressed by the avreichim's
detailed knowledge and understanding of
halochoh.
The avreichim's success did not come as a surprise.
The Dorog Kollel has a reputation for excellence that is
second to none and the rabbonim who are familiar with the
Dorog Beis Hamedrash say they cannot praise it warmly enough.
The students who learn there study a wide range of subjects
in addition to Yoreh Deah, and the program includes
learning Shas in depth and studying the laws of
Shabbos.
HaRav Shmuel Birnbaum, rosh yeshiva of America's Mirrer
Yeshiva, gives a shiur at the kollel each year
at the beginning of the summer session. On one occasion he
allowed himself to express something of what he felt and
said: "I heard that the avreichim learning here are
first-class talmidei chachomim, but I did not realize
how true this was until I saw it for myself."
Bnei Brak's huge Dorog Torah campus houses a number of
institutions, each of which is well-known in its own right:
yeshivas for 100 older and younger students, a talmud
Torah for 200 pupils, and also a number of chesed
organizations. All these have excellent reputations. The
yeshivas are among Bnei Brak's leading learning centers, and
no effort is spared to help each individual student climb to
his spiritual potential. The results are there to be seen and
the students are outstanding in terms of both their character
development and their conduct.
The Dorog talmud Torah has some two hundred pupils.
Its dedicated teachers work hard to bring out the best in
every boy and it is therefore not surprising that the
talmud Torah has achieved an excellent reputation for
educating its charges to Torah and yiras Shomayim.
The thirty newly-qualified rabbonim will receive diplomas
attesting to their familiarity with the laws in Yoreh
Deah, and these will be signed by the rabbonim who tested
them on their knowledge. HaRav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, rosh
yeshiva of Torah Ohr Yeshiva, wrote on each semichoh
certificate that the avreich concerned: ". . . had
a good grasp of the subject-matter, is well-versed in the
various points involved and has a far-ranging understanding
of each complex halachic subject on which he was questioned.
It is clear that he has worked extensively and diligently in
his study of the holy Torah."
We send warm, heartfelt congratulations to the avreichim
who are now joining the ranks of rabbonim. May they serve
the Jewish people for many years to come.
