What has more branches in Israel than there are Post Offices,
promoting Torah learning in more botei midrash
worldwide than Daf Yomi? With 70,000 pairs of fathers and
sons learning bechavrusa at 960 branches around
Israel, and 30,000 pairs in Diaspora kehillos, Ovos
UBonim has become a major Torah movement.
Speaking at the third annual Conference of Ovos UBonim
Organizers in Jerusalem last Wednesday night, HaRav Michal
Zilber, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Zvil, compared Ovos UBonim
to revolutionary organizations like Daf Yomi and the Bais
Yaakov girls school movement.
500 branch organizers from across the Torah community and
from all over Israel gathered to mark the end of the winter
zman and to hear divrei chizuk from prominent
roshei yeshiva. HaRav Aryeh Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Mir-
Brachfeld and moro de'asra of Ovos UBonim for many
years, gave divrei brochoh, saying that the Torah
learning of young children maintains the world. He described
how heart-warming it is to walk into a beis midrash
full of boys learning with their fathers.
HaRav Aryeh Shechter gave an inspiring address about the
importance of strengthening the connection between parents
and children. In a world where many people don't have time
for what is important, it is often the children who suffer.
They ache for words of encouragement from their parents. They
may wait all week for a word of praise. That's why spending
an hour together in the beis hamedrash on Shabbos
afternoon or motzei Shabbos is so crucial, and can change not
only their relationship with their parents but also their
attitudes towards learning Torah and keeping mitzvos.
As someone who himself learns with his grandchildren
sometimes at Ovos UBonim in Bnei Brak, Rav Shechter described
how he saw the simcha of learning being celebrated on
Purim at Yeshivas Mordechai HaTzadik with singing and
dancing. Children learn about Shabbos, tzedoko and
other mitzvos at home, but it takes something like Ovos
UBonim to introduce boys to the simchah of learning
and to show them how special and privileged they should feel
when they learn Torah.
The Keness was chaired by R. Chananya Kahan, who spoke about
practical issues for branch organizers, such as the
appropriate minimum age for attending Ovos UBonim, how to
encourage fathers who don't want to come and learn with their
sons and other issues.
Rav Dovid Herskowitz, Ovos UBonim's International Director,
launched a project to help boys who unfortunately have no one
to learn with. He suggested that it may be possible to find a
suitable avreich in the community to learn with these
boys each week so that they don't feel left out.
Local organizers who attended the Keness were grateful for
the advice and chizuk. R. Shmuel Lopian, who runs two
branches in Har Nof, agreed that Ovos UBonim was helping to
motivate fathers who didn't often find time to learn with
their children. R. Refoel Shachar set up Ovos UBonim in
Moshav Matisyahu six years ago and describes it as the
highlight of his week; he recently encouraged one father who
felt unable to learn with his son to come and just read
stories with him in the beis hamedrash rather than
leave him to learn by himself.
R. Bezalel Kaufman came from Netivot, where he oversees 10
branches; he started with one but when attendance increased
to 200 boys, he encouraged other shuls in the town to open
their batei medrash to cope with the demand. This
Purim there were almost 750 boys in Netivot learning with
their fathers. He tells anyone who is nervous about
undertaking the organization of an Ovos UBonim branch that it
really runs itself. Not only does the head office send out
most of the materials needed, but the concept is already so
popular that the beis medrash fills up of its own
accord.
Thanks were expressed to the small staff of Ovos UBonim who
undertake the enormous task of distributing the materials and
prizes required by the 960 branches throughout Israel —
from Kiryat Shemona to Eilat plus those overseas —
several times each year. It is an operation that is probably
unique in its scale and complexity, and it is only possible
because of the mesiras nefesh of dedicated
volunteers.
Ovos UBonim hasn't stopped opening branches in Israel, but it
is also helping to spread the concept of fathers and sons
learning together on motzei Shabbos to kehillos around
the world. It was announced that during this last winter, 160
branches opened across the United States, and centers are
being started in Russia and the Ukraine. Everywhere that Ovos
UBonim centers are found, they are changing the lives of
fathers and sons, encouraging them to connect with the Torah
and with each other.
