Thousands of bnei Torah outreach activists joined
dozens of gedolei Torah, roshei yeshivos and
marbitzei Torah to sanctify Sheim Shomayim at
the annual Lev L'Achim conference held at Heichalei Malchut
Halls in Bnei Brak Monday night 26 Nisan.
HaRav Tzvi Eliach opened the conference, saying, "Those who
are involved in chizuk all year have come to receive
chizuk. They have gathered together to see maranan
verabonon gedolei Yisroel shlita, who provide the power
and direction for our work: to demonstrate that we are all
one big group working in unity."
The first segment of the conference focused on high-school
students who have begun to lay tefillin and to set
time aside for shiurim. Lev L'Achim Director Rabbi
Eliezer Sorotzkin, who led the entire conference, then
invited HaRav Reuven Mordechai Dahan, who is very active in
this field, to address the audience. He quoted Amos
8:11, which reads, "Behold, days are coming . . . when I
will send a famine in the land; not a famine for bread nor a
thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Hashem,"
saying, "It is a great gift that one can abandon and leave
one way of life and enter a new life. While in past years
people who were stirred to do teshuvoh had questions,
there were some who wanted to know, to investigate, to gain
clarity and there were those who wanted to know why Hashem
acted as He did. Everyone had his'orerus from an
external force, from disappointment in the outside world,
from some personal tragedy, etc.
"[Yet] in the last two or three years we have been witness to
a wonderful phenomenon that reveals to us a new facet and
depth to Amos' prophecy in the simple sense — " . . .
but for hearing the words of Hashem." While people used to
return at older ages after having already `tasted' the things
of This World, today there are 16- and 17-year-olds at the
height of their vigor, and they want to learn, they want
shiurim, they show a yearning to hear `the words of
Hashem' and are waiting for us to light the way for them."
The second portion of the program, outreach in light of
halochoh, began with a talk by HaRav Yosef Kalatzky, who
heads Beis Medrash Yad Avrohom in New York. He recalled an
anecdote that took place 15 years ago in which a major
philanthropist was prepared to invest an enormous sum in a
project to form a bridge between chareidim and secular Jews
by sharing Torah with them. When he brought the man in to
speak with HaRav Shach zt"l the Rosh Yeshiva broke out
in heart-rending tears, saying the only way is to set up
Torah-based schools to teach children Torah. "You, the
avreichim who work at Lev L'achim," said HaRav
Kalatzky, "bring Torah education to the children. As a result
of your work Torah-based schools are set up and thousands of
children learn Torah."
He went on to share halachic guidance he received from HaRav
Chaim Kanievsky shlita.
Rav Sorotzkin invited HaRav Yitzchok Zilberstein, the rov of
Ramat Elchonon, to the podium to respond to a long list of
questions posed by avreichim working in the field and
conveyed to him several weeks ago. During Pesach he had an
opportunity to discuss these matters with his father-in-law,
Maran HaRav Eliashiv shlita, and his brother-in-law,
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky.
More and more participants came streaming in shortly before
6:00 p.m., the designated time for maranan verabonon
to arrive, until the hall was so packed that the doors had to
be locked shut.
After the gedolei Yisroel were enthusiastically
received and took their seats on the dais, Rav Sorotzkin
said, "This conference is a gathering of multitudes of
avreichim who, throughout the year, devote a portion
of their valuable time to reach out to the hearts of wayward
brothers, children kidnapped from Our Father in Heaven, to
teach them Torah and mitzvas, and all this at the directive
of the roshei yeshivos and under the guidance of the roshei
kollelim. This conference is a gathering of over 500
avreichim, members of the network of night
kollelim for Lev L'Achim outreach at 35 different
locations. This conference is a gathering of hundreds of
active noshim tzidkoniyos and volunteers and the staff
of the 41 study programs in the Shalhevet network for young
women — rebbetzins, coordinators and guidance
counselors. This conference is a gathering of over 150
dedicated activists who spend day and night enrolling
children for Torah-based educational institutions to prepare
them to enter the holy yeshivas. This conference is a
gathering of coordinators and people on call at the holy Lev
Shomea program and the Student Adoption program. This
conference is a gathering of activists at other Lev L'Achim
programs such as the Women's Alumni Organization, the
Department for the Absorption of Georgian Immigrants and the
Department for the Struggle Against Missionaries and
Assimilation."
The first of the keynote speakers was the Gavad of
Zichron Meir, HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner shlita, who
said it was his pleasure to take part in the conference.
"Without a doubt you are giving nachas ruach to Our
Father and certainly the shluchei mitzvoh, the
cherished avreichim talmidei chachomim veyirei Hashem
who give of their time and energy to increase and glorify
Torah, should be praised, especially for [their efforts] to
save empty souls from the abyss and oblivion of the
secularists and those who throw off the yoke, and to return
these souls of which Shlomo Hamelech says " . . . behold the
tears of the oppressed and they had no comforter" (Koheles
4:1), who were born and raised in an environment that has
no one to comfort [them]. And Lev L'Achim comes along and
lifts up these souls and brings them under the wings of the
Shechinoh."
After HaRav Ezriel Auerbach read a letter from his father-in-
law HaRav Eliashiv, HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz spoke,
focusing on the Lev Shomea program. Next HaRav Nissim
Toledano, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Shearit Yosef, recalled
how his grandfather, HaRav Baruch, cried out during the
period when thousands of child immigrants were stripped of
their religious heritage, saying, `How can I go up to My
Father without the lad with me?!!' [a paraphrase of
Bereishis 44:30]."
After speeches by HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, rosh yeshiva of
Yeshivas Slobodka, and HaRav Boruch Shapira, the audience
rose to its feet to receive HaRav Chaim Kanievsky. The dais
was also graced by HaRav Shmuel Auerbach, HaRav Gershon
Edelstein and other prominent roshei yeshivos, marbitzei
Torah and rabbonim.
The closing speech was delivered by HaRav Aharon Leib
Shteinman shlita, who said, "People need Torah like
they need air to breathe, for one cannot live without it.
Therefore HaKodosh Boruch Hu made it possible to merit
Torah by causing others to study Torah, which we do not find
in other mitzvas. Therefore the reward of those who bring
others closer to Torah thereby giving them life itself is
beyond measure or description."
Click here to see a letter from Maran HaRav Eliashiv shlita.
