Not even the blustery winds of winter could douse the warmth
and the ruchniyus generated by over 42,000 Israeli
talmidim who jammed nearly 700 shuls and yeshivas from
Kiryat Shemoneh to Eilat during these past few months as part
of the revolutionary Avos Ubonim learning program.
Avos Ubonim's "secret ingredient" for success is its relaxed
weekly one-hour chavrusa-style atmosphere for boys and
their fathers. Building or strengthening the familial bond
between a son and a father is the essence not only of
"productive learning" but also of familial tranquillity.
Derech eretz kodmoh laTorah. In today's fast-paced
world, finding quality time -- even an hour -- is a major
factor in determining the mental and spiritual integrity of
the family unit.
Avos Ubonim, which is only six years old, rapidly discovered
that Israeli children from across the religious and economic
spectrums are not only motivated by the relaxed and gentle
learning atmosphere, they are also energized by the
generosity of the organization.
In fact, the positive word of mouth (sheim tov mishemen
tov) generated by excited talmidim and fathers
alike, even caught Avos Ubonim's hard-working staff off-
guard.
"As part of our winter program, we gave a daily diary/luach
(yoman) to each and every talmid. It is an
invaluable link between all of the youngsters and a reminder
of their weekly devotion to their studies," Avos Ubonim,
Director Dovid Herskowitz claimed. "We had ordered 40,000
copies of the yoman just before the winter started,
which was 3,000 more than what we thought needed, as we
expected around 37,000 talmidim. But we were
overwhelmed by the response to our learning program. We had
almost 43,000 talmidim at our winter weekly sessions,
meaning that we had to reorder another 3,000 copies of the
yoman for Israel and a few hundred copies were even
sent for talmidim who are part of the Avos Ubonim
network in places like the USA, Holland, France etc. Much to
our delight, we have had an enormous demand for our programs.
Our yoman is what you would call a best-seller!"
This "volcanic eruption" of learning, as Rabbi Herskowitz
likes to call it, is akin to the revolution created by the
Daf Yomi project, which has spread all over the planet. Avos
Ubonim is moving rapidly in the same direction with a daily
demand to open new branches, not only in Israel but all over
the globe. The organization is expanding to meet the demands
of young Jewish boys who are not only "hungry" for enjoyable
learning, but are yearning to feel the love between a father
and his son as they study the holy texts in unison.
Well what is your next project?
Besides plans for producing the luach in English,
Spanish and French for next year, we are currently putting
all our efforts into Yeshivas Mordechai Hatzaddik on Purim
led by Rabbi Naftali Meir Falk where we are expecting a
record turnout of at least 50,000 children! More about that
next time.
