Student Profile |
2 Rabbis Join Horizons |
KYTC & JewishROC |
Mazel Tov
Condolences |
Kol Yaakov's New Kollel |
Hakol Info |
Hakol Index
Searching and yearning is one of the healthiest symbioses in the universe of Torah. It is yearning that motivates the searching. Continuous and earnest searching leads to the scaling of ever greater heights which, in turn, leads to the expansion of our Torah (spiritual) universe. Some may even achieve some relief of spiritual angst, however this relief should, hopefully, remain temporary; having another moral dilemma tomorrow and the day after is what transforms life from contractive to expansive living.
Our intelligence sometimes encourages us to become sacred skeptics. Though it appears that skepticism sometimes paralyzes, this is to the contrary; skepticism usually becomes revelatory. Yes, we all look for answers- Hodi'eni Hashem D'rachecha, which is the contentment of completion. Looking outside in, we see our society, even Torah society, as polarized by opposing hard held positions on the most controversial issue. This is the answer to Mah Chovaso B'olamo.
Nonetheless, we should not forget that our mission is in the searching as much as it is in the finding. It is through searching that we can discover that the most tightly embraced truths which, at first, appear to undermine our struggle for greater heights have, in fact, the potential to change into a most powerful propelling spiritual force. Only an impoverished mind blossoms in a struggle free environment. However, as ascendant beings, we struggle either with ourselves or with Hashem- Vayei'ovaik Ish Imo Ad Allos Hashachar.
This struggle is explained by scholars of the past as the wrestling with the corporeal. Though this dance is only until the dawn of the Messianic period, the struggle to maintain closeness with the Divine is eternal. In microcosmic form, human relationships resemble that struggle: Though “Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone,” could not describe a closer symbiosis, K'negdo (devoted opposition) is the true role designated for man’s partner in life. It is no different with Hashem Yisborach. That dance of the contrasting feelings of “so close, yet so far” leads to an endemic experience.
Wanting to make spiritual exploration a career within the right framework is the quintessence of wisdom. Feeling uncomfortable with yesterday is the fulfillment of Mah Chovaso B'olamo. To Torah Jews, J.S. Mills’ remark is not a novel cliché, “Better Socrates unsatisfied than a pig satisfied.” To us it is clear that the intelligent always need a good search.
My name is Avraham Krol. I came to Kol Yaakov from Pinsk in Belarus. I had the good fortune to spend two years learning in a religious school called Beis Aharon. Though I was not personally so religious, my headmaster, Rabbi Moshe Fhima, offered me the opportunity to continue my studies at a yeshiva in America. Thinking back on how much I gained from my time at Beis Aharon, I decided to take this next big step. Not only in going off to America, but, considering I was heading for a yeshiva, to also try and live as a religious Jew. Though this opportunity was presented to me, I was excited by the chance to explore and find answers to the many questions I had concerning Judaism.
So I came to America… to Kol Yaakov in Monsey. Though I was nervous to be doing this on my own, I was relieved to find other Russian students at the yeshiva who helped me become part of the Kol Yaakov family. That experience will stay with me forever. Very soon it wasn’t just the Russian speakers with whom I was able to form a bond but the whole yeshiva: all the other talmidim, rabbeim and of course, the Rosh Yeshiva. It was the experience of being a part of a big family, a family where everybody worries about each other. Kol Yaakov is a place where the Rabbeim do their best to teach every bochur everything they know and where the bochurim help you in any subject you need. Beside for myself, I am also happy I successfully became so much a part of Kol Yaakov because I have, in turn, been able to help new boys from Russia become successful b’nai Torah here as well.
After Sukkos, Kol Yaakov will be (iy”H) launching a Kollel in Yerushalayim called Kollel Bais Yehuda. Since the
focus of this Kollel will be outreach, it will be located in a neighborhood in which it will make the most impact.
This tremendous opportunity is made possible by the sponsorship of a very generous donor, who has also spon-
sored many other Horizons projects.
Kol Yaakov alumnus and menahel of the Kollel, Yoav Simantov, is working hard to ?nd the highly select group of avreichim who will form the initial ten chavrei Hakollel. The schedule of the Kollel will consist of the morning seder dedicated to learning, an afternoon halacha seder followed by time involved in kiruv in the neighborhood.
Kol Yaakov Rosh Yeshiva, Harav Leib Tropper, will serve as Rosh Kollel and will be making regular and frequent trips to Israel to pro- vide leadership for the Kollel’s sacred mission. It is hoped that, with this initial foothold, Kol Yaakov/Horizons will be able to expand its kiruv activities in Israel.
Kol Yaakov is excited to welcome two new staff members to the Horizons team, Rabbi Yonason Meadows and
Rabbi Yaakov Burgess. Rabbi Meadows, a Kol Yaakov alumnus and musmach, has joined Horizons as the new
Director of Development for the Eternal Jewish Family/Kol Yaakov. He comes to Kol Yaakov professionally,
after successfully expanding the growth of two of New York’s major chesed
organizations, Bikur Cholim of Monsey and Ohel of Brooklyn. Rabbi Yaakov Burgess, also a fixture in the yeshiva beis medrash for the last couple of
years, will be working full time on college campuses fighting assimilation
and intermarriage. Rabbi Burgess, who brings his kiruv expertise from the
Boston area, will be greatly expanding Horizons/EJF’s frontline kiruv efforts. Though his move from the Kol Yaakov beis medrash to the Horizons
office is a few short steps, the leap ahead for our bottom line goal - outreach,
will, iy"H, be significant.
Mrs. Dina Hain upon the passing of her father, Rabbi Osher Katz zt"l
Mr. Avi Jaman upon the passing of his mother
Mrs. Rachel Michaels upon the passing of her father
Mr. & Mrs. Shais Aharon Rosenblatt upon the passing of their son, Gedalia
Alumni, supporters and friends of Kol Yaakov and Horizons are preparing to mark “25 Years of Reaching, Teaching and Venturing Beyond” at a milestone dinner on Sunday, October 28th at the Sheraton Crossroads in Mahwah, New Jersey. Inspired by the late legendary Torah sage, Harav Yaakov Kaminetsky, after whom the yeshiva is posthumously named and who served as president of the yeshiva, the Kol Yaakov Torah Center has become a leading institution for educating Jews with limited backgrounds across the nation and abroad, providing the highest standards of Torah learning.
The dinner will pay tribute to the Rosh Yeshiva, Harav Leib Tropper, who is credited with shepherding the growth of the yeshiva and nurturing a generation of baalei teshuva who are today fully integrated members of the Torah community, many in leadership roles. The Rosh Yeshiva has led Kol Yaakov’s growth into a center for Torah learning that extends well beyond Monsey, New York; thousands of young men from the United States and abroad have passed through its doors.
The 25th Anniversary Dinner will also honor a group of distinguished members of the community, who are associated with some of the impressive history of Kol Yaakov. They include Dr. Joseph Sutton; Rabbi Dovid Stefansky, Rosh Yeshiva, Kol Yaakov; and Mrs. Susan Blond, CEO of Susan Blond Inc. The dinner will also honor the memory of the late Rabbi Moshe Bernstein, zt”l, who was a major force in raising the bar for kashrus in the US.
This milestone event will also recognize a group of distinguished alumni, including Rabbi Dr. Joel Gellen (Chovev Torah Award), Rabbi Yaakov Barros (Harbotzas Torah Award) and Mr. Amitai Bielinki (Ahavas Torah Award), as well as Mr. Louis Gilbert ESQ., (Nazer Chesed-Crown of Kindness Award). The Keynote Speaker of the evening will be Harav Reuven Feinstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva of Staten Island, son of the esteemed Torah giant, Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l. The Guest Speaker will be Thomas S. Kaplan, Chairman, Leor Energy LP, who also serves as Chairman of The Eternal Jewish Family, a project of Horizons.
To mark the 25th anniversary of Kol Yaakov/Horizons, a special commemorative book “Responding to the Voice – Memories and Profiles” will be published (in lieu of the traditional journal). The book will chronicle the personal stories of alumni members of Kol Yaakov and the major role that they have played in building Jewish communities in many parts of the world. This book will include many features, pictures and the 25-year history of the Kol Yaakov Torah Center as a major international center of kiruv. The Dinner will also see the debut of “Responding to the Voice,” a twenty minute film by Peretz Eichler chronicling the 25 year history of the yeshiva. The dinner will feature videotaped acceptances by the honorees and awardees. The Chairmen of the Dinner are Mr. Neil Auerbach and Mr. Yosef Hendler.
All supporters of Kol Yaakov and Horizons are urged not to miss this critical opportunity to make this event the success that it must be to ensure the future of Kol Yaakov. For information and reservations, please call 718.854.4450 x102.
For this year’s Summer Seed program, Kol Yaakov found itself in a dilemma; there were two outreach centers that had invited the talmidim of the yeshiva to come and bring some ruchnius to their respective communities. Communities in both Rockville, Maryland and Charlotte, North Carolina were anxious to have Kol Yaakov transplanted in their midst for a week this summer. So, with solomonic wisdom, the bochurim were sent in two groups to these communities.
Testament to the success of last year’s summer trip to the Charlotte Torah Center was the invitation and insistence by its director, Rabbi Mordechai Roizman, that the boys return for another week of providing chizuk to the small community in Charlotte. By request from the community itself, the contingent sent to Charlotte consisted of mostly the yeshiva’s Russian bochurim (Avrohom Krol, Ovadia Visotsky and Alexander and Eliezer Yisroel Finski) but were also joined by two American bochurim (Baruch Lazarus and Avrohom Fox) as well as Michoel Stern and his wife, Tova. Newly married Kol Yaakov alumnus, Moshe Holender and his wife, Bryna, provided extra chizuk for Shabbos Nachamu. Connections made last year were renewed and new friendships were developed within the Charlotte community.
Meanwhile, a little closer to home, another contingent of bochurim (Binyamin Greenberg, Yosef Lebo vitch, Yochanan Uvaydov, Dov Dukhovny, Reuven Levine and Adam Brudzewsky) joined the happenings at JewishRoc of Rockville, MD, under the leadership of Rabbi Yaakov Benamou, for Shabbos Nachamu and the week following. Since no Seed program would be complete without Rabbi Yehuda Friedland, he and his family joined up with the Kol Yaakov program in Rockville for several days. The talmidim of the yeshiva spent the week participating in a variety of outreach programs run by JewishRoc. Rabbi Benamou and the Rockville community were unanimous in their praise and appreciation to Kol Yaakov for the wonderful experience they had with the yeshiva’s bochurim, declaring the week the best Seed program they have yet experienced.
Kol Yaakov’s connection to JewishRoc grew out of Rabbi Benamou’s ongoing relationship as a branch of the Eternal Jewish Family (a program of Horizons/Lillian Kaplan Jewish Pride Through Education Project). Specifically, JewishRoc partnered with EJF this summer for an innovative learning program for prospective gerim (converts). Since part and parcel of EJF’s efforts is to prepare non-Jewish spouses in an intermarriage to convert and live as fully observant Jews, the intensive summer learning program prepared, by Rabbi Benamou and Jew ishRoc, was a unique and innovative effort to address the problem whereby conversion candidates, having limited access (if any at all) to most full-day summer type learning programs before conversion, face the challenge of having to be fully prepared in knowledge and observance before that conversion. Four participants this summer were ready to meet with the beis din of Rabbi Aharon Felder in Philadelphia upon completion of the program.
Elliot & Suzanne Balaban upon the birth of their daughter, Sarah Etie
Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Wolpin upon the marriage of their son, Sholom Boruch to Gitty Hirschberg
Rabbi & Mrs. Yitzchok Wolpin upon the birth of their daughter
Rabbi & Mrs. Meir Beller upon the bar mitzvah of their son, Yekusiel Yisroel
Rabbi & Mrs. Akiva Kaplan upon the bar mitzvah of their son, Yaakov Moshe
Rabbi & Mrs. Yechezkel Shain upon the bar mitzvah of their son, Yitzchok Z’ev
Rabbi & Mrs. Moshe & Channi Raice upon the engagement of their son Bentzy to Devorah Spiegel
Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Cohen upon the marriage of their son, Yosef Tzvi to Malka Tarica-Lechter
Mr. & Mrs. Daniel & Chana Melamed upon the birth of their son
Mr. & Mrs. Yitzchok & Laura Rosenberg upon the bar mitzvah of their son, Shmuel Gershon
Tzeischem L’Sholom to Mr. & Mrs. Daniel & Chana Melamed who moved to Eretz Yisroel
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