Hakol - Newsletter from Kol Yaakov/Horizons

9/11… the crisis in the Middle East… Afghanistan… all cry out for understanding, meaning and real solutions. The words spoken by the renegade Jew, Karl Marx, that “Philosophers have thus far only interpreted history. The point, however, is to change it,”- is currently most germane.

For some, the feeling of collective Jewish adversity is indigenous to the people of Israel. They say we need an attitude change. Their suggestion is that we find the “Joy” in life and not the “Oy”. (See Allan Dershowitz: “Vanishing American Jew,” page 12) Some Orthodox Jews find it most convenient to blame the birth pangs of the Messianic arrival as the sole cause of our “tsuris”.

Both of the above spell spiritual atrophy and religious immaturity. One who is adequately versed in and familiar with the words of Hashem, in our Torah, finds in it demand for change most profound.

To change history we need to change ourselves. We need to metamorphose into people guided by the Torah, not guiding the Torah. We need to seriously research what are our responsibilities to Hashem and His Torah and not what Hashem’s responsibilities are to us.

The old adage “a page of history is a volume of logic” is met with resistance by our innate stubbornness. Biblical history describes the cause of spiritual turbulence for the Jews exiting Egypt, journeying to Eretz Yisroel for forty years, as stubbornness. The Golden Calf was the cause of slow punishment to be meted out throughout our history until today. And who knows about tomorrow? With the spreading of a new spiritual illness identified as “apatheism,” Jews need to mobilize all of their strength to ingratiate ourselves to Hashem and to engender His divine blessings.

Harav Shach zt”l, the unchallenged leader of Torah Jewry in the most recent past, is quoted (P’ninei Reb Elozor) as saying, in a lecture delivered after the Iraq-US War of 1990, the following: “Those of us who attempt to mitigate the meaning of this crisis and the subsequent demand to change our ways in the face of the danger of missiles and Scuds, are living a life of heresy. Dismissing the significance of the above by believing that the dangers of the war are merely Moshiach-inspired, can possibly bring the dreaded curses of Parshas B’chukosai upon us.”

So first let us eliminate our innate stubbornness to listen to the spiritual messages of crisis. Let us perhaps move on to a new level of what a philosopher (A.J.H.) had once said, “How beautiful, once in a while to think with our hearts and to feel with our minds,” (see “I Asked for Wonder,” page 7). Let us stop the departmentalization of our spiritual messages and let the message of the need for change embrace hearts and minds.

top

It all started with a phone call. Last Erev Pesach the Kol Yaakov Torah Center received word that the Sefer Torah the yeshiva had been borrowing for a number of years had to be returned to its owners. Yehuda Dovid Kaplan, staying with the Rosh Yeshiva for Yom Tov, offered to donate a new Sefer Torah as a replacement. Yehuda Dovid and his uncle, Mr. Thomas Kaplan, generous supporters of Kol Yaakov and its outreach division, Horizons, decided to dedicate this sefer to the memory of their mother and grandmother, Mrs. Lillian Jean Kaplan, A”H.

Within a few weeks a new sefer was procured with the assistance of sofer Rabbi Melech Michaels, an alumnus of Kol Yaakov, and a Hachnosas Sefer Torah was quickly planned. Rabbi and Mrs. Yehoshua Krohn graciously offered their home on Meadow Lane for the K’sivas Ha’osios. Talmidim, Rebbeim, alumni and supporters of Kol Yaakov gathered to complete the sefer on the Sunday before Shavuos. The yeshiva was honored by the participation in the k’sivas ha’osios of Ha- Gaon HaRav Reuven Feinstein, Rosh HaYeshiva of Tiferes Yerushalayim, Staten Island and HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Faivelson Rosh HaYeshiva of Bais Medrash L’Torah in Monsey, shlit”a. With Rabbi Yehuda Tropper, the Rosh Yeshiva’s father, completing the last of the osios, the Sefer Torah was exuberantly escorted to the Kol Yaakov Torah Center along Saddle River Road and on to West Maple Avenue. Though the noonday sun was out in force the participants escorted the sefer accompanied by unwavering dancing and singing to music provided from the back of a pick-up truck by Nochi and Yosef Krohn.

After the Sefer Torah was brought to its new home, the over 100 assembled guests, sat down to a seudas mitzvah and were inspired by the amazing story as told by Yehuda Dovid Kaplan. Also known as Guma Aguiar, Yehuda Dovid, though born a Jew, was raised as an Evangelical Christian. Through the dedicated teaching and inspiration of Rabbi Tropper and Kol Yaakov, Yehuda Dovid has since returned to the path of yiddishkeit and has made a stunning transformation in recent months. Part of his desire in dedicating a new Sefer Torah for the yeshiva was as a means of reaching out to his estranged family who were still practicing Christians. This endeavor surpassed his greatest expectations: In the span of the few shorts weeks between Pesach, when the Sefer Torah was purchased, and the week of Shavuos, when the sefer was completed (and paralleling the sefira period, when we mark the ascent of our forebears from the 49 Sha'arei Tum'ah of Mitzrayim to the spiritual heights of Har Sinai), Yehuda Dovid’s family had ceased practicing Christianity and had begun their return to their true heritage.

top

Mr. and Mrs. Shmuel Dovid Drossman upon the birth of their son, Avrohom Tzvi

Mr. and Mrs. Adam Kenigsberg on the birth of their daughter, Sara Temima

Mr. and Mrs. Yisroel Ludzker on the birth of their daughter, Yitel Liba

Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Robinson on the birth of their son

Reb Yoel and Mrs. Bernstein on the birth of their son, Moshe Yechiel (the son of our late, beloved baal tefila, teacher and friend, HaRav Moshe Bernstein zt”l)

Kosofsky and Charvit Families on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Nathaniel Charvit

Mr. and Mrs. Yisroel Lover on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Zev

Rabbi and Mrs. Tropper upon the graduation of their daughters, Gila and Rena

Mr. & Mrs. Yaakov Steinberg upon the engagement of their daughter, Sarah

Daniel Wallen upon his engagement to Dorit Hoadley

Eliyahu Franco upon his marriage to Gila Cameo

Reuven Glauser upon his marriage to Esther Pressman

Mr. and Mrs. Hillel Pesach Hurlock upon their marriage

Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Yeshaya Weiss on the marriage of their daughter

Mr. Avrum Kahn on his new position with the Ossining Public School District

Rabbi Tropper took Horizons on the road again, In April and May. He spoke at the University of Miami on Shabbos, setting the record straight on the fad of “popular” Kabbalah with his talk on “Kabbalah: The Mystical and the Mythical and the Danger of Blurring the Line.” Rabbi Tropper was joined by Yehuda Dovid Kaplan, Co- Chairman of Horizons- The Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride through Education Project, at the University. This was Mr. Kaplan’s first opportunity to speak to an audience on behalf of Horizons and present his inspiring story of his return to Judaism. Before leaving the Miami area, Rabbi Tropper delivered a shiur at the North Miami Beach home of Kol Yaakov alumnus, Rabbi Aaron Kaplan. The pre- Shavuos shiur was styled, "Achieving Success in Judaism thru the Process of Failure: A Shavuos Perspective.” The success of the shiur has led to plans for Rabbi Tropper to speak to a larger audience in the community’s shul on his next visit.

Not content to confine his message to these shores alone, Rabbi Tropper took his unique approach to kiruv rechokim to England. On a whirlwind, three day visit, The Rosh Yeshiva spoke to Jewish groups at two of the world’s most prestigious universities, Cambridge and Oxford. The Jewish Society at Cambridge gathered to hear Rabbi Tropper speak about the sanctity of Jerusalem as part of their Jerusalem Day observance. Over at Oxford University, the Rosh Yeshiva had a more controversial topic to discuss, namely the spiritual survival of Israel. Rabbi Tropper’s talk generated much discussion that carried over after the end of the lecture. Before returning to the States, Rabbi Tropper spoke to a group of students at the famous JFS High School in London (a traditional Jewish school with students from a variety of backgrounds). Through this Horizons trip contact was made with several prospective new students for Kol Yaakov.

Though the slower pace of the summer season provides an opportunity to rejuvenate and evaluate our progress and enjoy some time off, Horizons still has arranged to reach out to far flung communities beyond New York for part of the summer intersession (as is the custom). The yeshiva will be hitting the road to the South with a SEED program in Richmond, Virginia. Two years ago the yeshiva stopped in Virginia’s capital for a few hours on the way to North Carolina. Such an impression was made that this time around the Rosh Yeshiva, with ten bochurim in tow, will be returning for ten days to learn Torah and provide chikzuk in the Young Israel of Richmond community (and sneaking a little touring of the sights in Virginia as well).

top

“Congratulations on your acceptance to Brandeis University.” I held the letter in my hands in bliss. An era in my life, the high school years, was coming to a close. To tell the truth, I was happy to leave it behind. Many of my classmates were a bit sad or nostalgic at our graduation from Wahconah Regional High School which is situated in a little town in western Massachusetts – but I was wasn’t nor would it have bothered me if I never set foot in there again. I was ready for a big change: college… a career. I had read somewhere that you change more in your college years than at any other time in your life. I had a premonition that within a few years, I would change very much indeed. Little did I know where my freshman experiences would take me.

I was happy to go to Brandeis for several reasons: It’s a “good school-” in the top 30 or 40 in the country, I already had a friend or two there and it was near Boston, where I have family. It had a respected Linguistics department, which was my intended major. Best of all, it was Jewish. During the whole course of my high school years, I never encountered more than 6 Jews on campus. I attended a Conservative Hebrew school in a neighboring city but had no friends there and found it largely unfulfilling. In spite of this, I had a strong Jewish identity, had visited Israel for a short time in 10th grade and was interested in learning more and becoming more religious. I just had no idea what that entailed.

During the course of my first month I started gravitating towards the Orthodox minyan at Brandeis, switched to the kosher meal plan and, after about three weeks, dug my old tefillin out of a box, almost unused since the week of my bar mitzvah ceremony. I began donning them each morning. Contrary to my preconceptions, I found the Orthodox chevrah to be friendly, welcoming and willing to help a beginner. As the year progressed I learned more and more and by December I realized that “modern” Orthodoxy was not for me. I came to know and love the the frum kehilla in Boston, having spent a few shabbosim with them. By the beginning of my sophomore year, I was living in Boston and commuting to Brandeis, davening at Congregation Chai Odom and learning under the guidance of Rabbi Dovid Moskovitz, shlita.

Brandeis, the “non-sectarian, pluralistic and secular” institution of learning, which had ironically been the catalyst for my transformation into a frum Jew, is the antithesis of Torah hashkofo. Most of my peers had values opposite of my own and I felt unable to be myself sitting in class or in a social context. They preach tolerance while being tolerant only to those who share their own ultra-liberal opinions. At the same time that I came to feel that there was no place for me at Brandeis, I also had a longing to fulfill the ideal for a religious person my age – to go learn in yeshiva. Because of my general facility with languages and the four semesters of Hebrew that I took, I was able to grasp basic ideas from seforim and at least follow what my chavrusa was saying in a gemara. I wasn’t satisfied, however, and I wanted to go on to the next step. Waiting another two years to finish my linguistics degree, whose value I now seriously doubted, was not a desirable option. With the help of Rabbi Tropper, whom I met at Kol Yaakov’s Bostoner shabbaton, I found a yeshiva that fulfilled my expectations for intensive, serious learning and lots of personal attention. I believe that the environment at Kol Yaakov is one in which I can grow to meet my personal goals and potential. Im yirtzeh Hashem, I will be zoche to raise my own family in accordance with Torah values, having the advantages I lacked.

top

The longest four miles I ever traveled were those between my childhood home in New Hempstead, New York and the Kol Yaakov Torah Center in Monsey. To cross these four short miles I had to traverse the sweltering deserts of Arizona, the lush countryside of Europe and the awe-inspiring city: Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodesh.

I was brought up in a traditional Jewish home: meat and milk were kept separate, Chanukah candles were lit each year, and bagels were bought from Bubba’s every Sunday — religiously. I knew little about neighboring Monsey. I knew I felt sorry on weekend mornings, for the young boys we drove past, dressed up in their dark suits on their way to services, while I was dressed in my little league uniform on my way out to play with my team. When I concluded my years in the public school system and graduated from Ramapo H.S. I had no idea that there was a yeshiva right across the street from me, nor did I have any idea what a yeshiva was all about.

I went on to Arizona State University, a midbar in a midbar, and suddenly found myself amidst non-Jews, forced to defend a religion that I myself knew little about. I majored in Political Science and Biblical Criticism (Jewish Studies), but my solo attempts to find out more about my heritage left me with more questions than it did answers. By the time I graduated I was even more confused about what my role as a Jew was, but I knew that it was time to find out.

After graduating, I briefly backpacked parts of Europe to see a bit more of the world and to give myself time alone to reflect and discover who I was. From Greece I set sail across the Mediterranean Sea to Israel, with confidence that answers to my questions would soon be found. Boruch Hashem, the hand of Divine Providence helped me meet the right people; I was led to an Aish HaTorah Discovery program and wound up spending the better part of a year learning in Yerushalayim.

I was ecstatic in my new profession as an unemployed truth seeker. I drank from the material thirstily, started wearing tzitzis, and began to be known by my Hebrew name. My family, on the other hand, wanted me home. So, following the advice and approval of my Rebbeim, I headed back to the Greater Monsey area.

When I returned home I found that New Hempstead had changed. Religious families had moved into the houses formerly occupied by my secular friends. My feelings towards those children all dressed up on “Saturday” also changed from pity to envy as I realized they had something so beautiful that I never had as a child.

There were a couple of yeshivos that I could have learned in while staying at home. My first meeting with Reb Leib Shlit"a made it clear the Kol Yaakov was the right place for me. I remember asking Rabbi Tropper what made Kol Yaakov different. Why should I want to learn there? His answer: “Kol Yaakov is not just a yeshiva, it’s a body shop. We are here to make you into a mentch and a Ben Torah.” That response was enough to make me want to try it and, in so doing, complete my four mile journey.

Rabbi Tropper was good to his word. Within a year my metamorphosis from a college graduate, somewhat acquainted with the basics of Judaism and the aleph bais, into a full-fledged Torah Observant Jew possessing the skills necessary to “graduate” to Yeshiva Chaim Berlin was realized. Within the same year I also became a chosson and married my partner for life.

B"H , ten years later we are living in Flatbush with our precious children. I am a Special Education Rebbe for the P’tach program in the Mesivta Chaim Berlin, at Yeshivat Shaare Torah and at Ohr Yitzchak. I try diligently to pass on the lessons that my Rebbeim and friends at Kol Yaakov have taught me, and I am forever indebted for all the kindness they have shared and for all they have done for me and my family.

HaKol is published by the Kol Yaakov Torah Center and Horizons

29 W. Maple Ave. PO Box 402, Monsey, NY 10952
(845) 425-3863

info@horizons.edu www.horizons.edu

Editor– Rabbi Dovid Jacobs

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1. It is customary to recite Kiddush Levana upon the exiting of Tish'a B'av, and not before.

2. The Chofetz Chaim suggests that Kiddush Levana should be recited at the end of a fast only after breaking the fast.

3. If the moon is covered, even lightly, one should wait until the moon is clear in order to recite Kiddush Levana. (heard from Haga'on Harav Moshe Feinstein Zt"l)

CONDOLENCES :

Rabbi Dovid Stefansky on the loss of his brother, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Stefansky zt”l

Gershon Moskalik on the passing of his grandmother, Mrs. Genya Rudina a”h

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Student Profile \| Letters from Alumni \| Halachic Insights \| Hachnosas Sefer Torah Mazel Tov \| Condolences \| Hakol Info \| Hakol Archives
9/11… the crisis in the Middle East… Afghanistan… all cry out for understanding, meaning and real solutions. The words spoken by the renegade Jew, Karl Marx, that “Philosophers have thus far only interpreted history. The point, however, is to change it,”- is currently most germane. For some, the feeling of collective Jewish adversity is indigenous to the people of Israel. They say we need an attitude change. Their suggestion is that we find the “Joy” in life and not the “Oy”. (See Allan Dershowitz: “Vanishing American Jew,” page 12) Some Orthodox Jews find it most convenient to blame the birth pangs of the Messianic arrival as the sole cause of our “tsuris”. Both of the above spell spiritual atrophy and religious immaturity. One who is adequately versed in and familiar with the words of Hashem, in our Torah, finds in it demand for change most profound. To change history we need to change ourselves. We need to metamorphose into people guided by the Torah, not guiding the Torah. We need to seriously research what are our responsibilities to Hashem and His Torah and not what Hashem’s responsibilities are to us. The old adage “a page of history is a volume of logic” is met with resistance by our innate stubbornness. Biblical history describes the cause of spiritual turbulence for the Jews exiting Egypt, journeying to Eretz Yisroel for forty years, as stubbornness. The Golden Calf was the cause of slow punishment to be meted out throughout our history until today. And who knows about tomorrow? With the spreading of a new spiritual illness identified as “apatheism,” Jews need to mobilize all of their strength to ingratiate ourselves to Hashem and to engender His divine blessings. Harav Shach zt”l, the unchallenged leader of Torah Jewry in the most recent past, is quoted (P’ninei Reb Elozor) as saying, in a lecture delivered after the Iraq-US War of 1990, the following: “Those of us who attempt to mitigate the meaning of this crisis and the subsequent demand to change our ways in the face of the danger of missiles and Scuds, are living a life of heresy. Dismissing the significance of the above by believing that the dangers of the war are merely Moshiach-inspired, can possibly bring the dreaded curses of Parshas B’chukosai upon us.” So first let us eliminate our innate stubbornness to listen to the spiritual messages of crisis. Let us perhaps move on to a new level of what a philosopher (A.J.H.) had once said, “How beautiful, once in a while to think with our hearts and to feel with our minds,” (see “I Asked for Wonder,” page 7). Let us stop the departmentalization of our spiritual messages and let the message of the need for change embrace hearts and minds. top It all started with a phone call. Last Erev Pesach the Kol Yaakov Torah Center received word that the Sefer Torah the yeshiva had been borrowing for a number of years had to be returned to its owners. Yehuda Dovid Kaplan, staying with the Rosh Yeshiva for Yom Tov, offered to donate a new Sefer Torah as a replacement. Yehuda Dovid and his uncle, Mr. Thomas Kaplan, generous supporters of Kol Yaakov and its outreach division, Horizons, decided to dedicate this sefer to the memory of their mother and grandmother, Mrs. Lillian Jean Kaplan, A”H. Within a few weeks a new sefer was procured with the assistance of sofer Rabbi Melech Michaels, an alumnus of Kol Yaakov, and a Hachnosas Sefer Torah was quickly planned. Rabbi and Mrs. Yehoshua Krohn graciously offered their home on Meadow Lane for the K’sivas Ha’osios. Talmidim, Rebbeim, alumni and supporters of Kol Yaakov gathered to complete the sefer on the Sunday before Shavuos. The yeshiva was honored by the participation in the k’sivas ha’osios of Ha- Gaon HaRav Reuven Feinstein, Rosh HaYeshiva of Tiferes Yerushalayim, Staten Island and HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Faivelson Rosh HaYeshiva of Bais Medrash L’Torah in Monsey, shlit”a. With Rabbi Yehuda Tropper, the Rosh Yeshiva’s father, completing the last of the osios, the Sefer Torah was exuberantly escorted to the Kol Yaakov Torah Center along Saddle River Road and on to West Maple Avenue. Though the noonday sun was out in force the participants escorted the sefer accompanied by unwavering dancing and singing to music provided from the back of a pick-up truck by Nochi and Yosef Krohn. After the Sefer Torah was brought to its new home, the over 100 assembled guests, sat down to a seudas mitzvah and were inspired by the amazing story as told by Yehuda Dovid Kaplan. Also known as Guma Aguiar, Yehuda Dovid, though born a Jew, was raised as an Evangelical Christian. Through the dedicated teaching and inspiration of Rabbi Tropper and Kol Yaakov, Yehuda Dovid has since returned to the path of yiddishkeit and has made a stunning transformation in recent months. Part of his desire in dedicating a new Sefer Torah for the yeshiva was as a means of reaching out to his estranged family who were still practicing Christians. This endeavor surpassed his greatest expectations: In the span of the few shorts weeks between Pesach, when the Sefer Torah was purchased, and the week of Shavuos, when the sefer was completed (and paralleling the sefira period, when we mark the ascent of our forebears from the 49 Sha'arei Tum'ah of Mitzrayim to the spiritual heights of Har Sinai), Yehuda Dovid’s family had ceased practicing Christianity and had begun their return to their true heritage. top Mr. and Mrs. Shmuel Dovid Drossman upon the birth of their son, Avrohom Tzvi Mr. and Mrs. Adam Kenigsberg on the birth of their daughter, Sara Temima Mr. and Mrs. Yisroel Ludzker on the birth of their daughter, Yitel Liba Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Robinson on the birth of their son Reb Yoel and Mrs. Bernstein on the birth of their son, Moshe Yechiel (the son of our late, beloved baal tefila, teacher and friend, HaRav Moshe Bernstein zt”l) Kosofsky and Charvit Families on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Nathaniel Charvit Mr. and Mrs. Yisroel Lover on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Zev Rabbi and Mrs. Tropper upon the graduation of their daughters, Gila and Rena Mr. & Mrs. Yaakov Steinberg upon the engagement of their daughter, Sarah Daniel Wallen upon his engagement to Dorit Hoadley Eliyahu Franco upon his marriage to Gila Cameo Reuven Glauser upon his marriage to Esther Pressman Mr. and Mrs. Hillel Pesach Hurlock upon their marriage Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Yeshaya Weiss on the marriage of their daughter Mr. Avrum Kahn on his new position with the Ossining Public School District	Rabbi Tropper took Horizons on the road again, In April and May. He spoke at the University of Miami on Shabbos, setting the record straight on the fad of “popular” Kabbalah with his talk on “Kabbalah: The Mystical and the Mythical and the Danger of Blurring the Line.” Rabbi Tropper was joined by Yehuda Dovid Kaplan, Co- Chairman of Horizons- The Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride through Education Project, at the University. This was Mr. Kaplan’s first opportunity to speak to an audience on behalf of Horizons and present his inspiring story of his return to Judaism. Before leaving the Miami area, Rabbi Tropper delivered a shiur at the North Miami Beach home of Kol Yaakov alumnus, Rabbi Aaron Kaplan. The pre- Shavuos shiur was styled, "Achieving Success in Judaism thru the Process of Failure: A Shavuos Perspective.” The success of the shiur has led to plans for Rabbi Tropper to speak to a larger audience in the community’s shul on his next visit. Not content to confine his message to these shores alone, Rabbi Tropper took his unique approach to kiruv rechokim to England. On a whirlwind, three day visit, The Rosh Yeshiva spoke to Jewish groups at two of the world’s most prestigious universities, Cambridge and Oxford. The Jewish Society at Cambridge gathered to hear Rabbi Tropper speak about the sanctity of Jerusalem as part of their Jerusalem Day observance. Over at Oxford University, the Rosh Yeshiva had a more controversial topic to discuss, namely the spiritual survival of Israel. Rabbi Tropper’s talk generated much discussion that carried over after the end of the lecture. Before returning to the States, Rabbi Tropper spoke to a group of students at the famous JFS High School in London (a traditional Jewish school with students from a variety of backgrounds). Through this Horizons trip contact was made with several prospective new students for Kol Yaakov. Though the slower pace of the summer season provides an opportunity to rejuvenate and evaluate our progress and enjoy some time off, Horizons still has arranged to reach out to far flung communities beyond New York for part of the summer intersession (as is the custom). The yeshiva will be hitting the road to the South with a SEED program in Richmond, Virginia. Two years ago the yeshiva stopped in Virginia’s capital for a few hours on the way to North Carolina. Such an impression was made that this time around the Rosh Yeshiva, with ten bochurim in tow, will be returning for ten days to learn Torah and provide chikzuk in the Young Israel of Richmond community (and sneaking a little touring of the sights in Virginia as well). top “Congratulations on your acceptance to Brandeis University.” I held the letter in my hands in bliss. An era in my life, the high school years, was coming to a close. To tell the truth, I was happy to leave it behind. Many of my classmates were a bit sad or nostalgic at our graduation from Wahconah Regional High School which is situated in a little town in western Massachusetts – but I was wasn’t nor would it have bothered me if I never set foot in there again. I was ready for a big change: college… a career. I had read somewhere that you change more in your college years than at any other time in your life. I had a premonition that within a few years, I would change very much indeed. Little did I know where my freshman experiences would take me. I was happy to go to Brandeis for several reasons: It’s a “good school-” in the top 30 or 40 in the country, I already had a friend or two there and it was near Boston, where I have family. It had a respected Linguistics department, which was my intended major. Best of all, it was Jewish. During the whole course of my high school years, I never encountered more than 6 Jews on campus. I attended a Conservative Hebrew school in a neighboring city but had no friends there and found it largely unfulfilling. In spite of this, I had a strong Jewish identity, had visited Israel for a short time in 10th grade and was interested in learning more and becoming more religious. I just had no idea what that entailed. During the course of my first month I started gravitating towards the Orthodox minyan at Brandeis, switched to the kosher meal plan and, after about three weeks, dug my old tefillin out of a box, almost unused since the week of my bar mitzvah ceremony. I began donning them each morning. Contrary to my preconceptions, I found the Orthodox chevrah to be friendly, welcoming and willing to help a beginner. As the year progressed I learned more and more and by December I realized that “modern” Orthodoxy was not for me. I came to know and love the the frum kehilla in Boston, having spent a few shabbosim with them. By the beginning of my sophomore year, I was living in Boston and commuting to Brandeis, davening at Congregation Chai Odom and learning under the guidance of Rabbi Dovid Moskovitz, shlita. Brandeis, the “non-sectarian, pluralistic and secular” institution of learning, which had ironically been the catalyst for my transformation into a frum Jew, is the antithesis of Torah hashkofo. Most of my peers had values opposite of my own and I felt unable to be myself sitting in class or in a social context. They preach tolerance while being tolerant only to those who share their own ultra-liberal opinions. At the same time that I came to feel that there was no place for me at Brandeis, I also had a longing to fulfill the ideal for a religious person my age – to go learn in yeshiva. Because of my general facility with languages and the four semesters of Hebrew that I took, I was able to grasp basic ideas from seforim and at least follow what my chavrusa was saying in a gemara. I wasn’t satisfied, however, and I wanted to go on to the next step. Waiting another two years to finish my linguistics degree, whose value I now seriously doubted, was not a desirable option. With the help of Rabbi Tropper, whom I met at Kol Yaakov’s Bostoner shabbaton, I found a yeshiva that fulfilled my expectations for intensive, serious learning and lots of personal attention. I believe that the environment at Kol Yaakov is one in which I can grow to meet my personal goals and potential. Im yirtzeh Hashem, I will be zoche to raise my own family in accordance with Torah values, having the advantages I lacked. top The longest four miles I ever traveled were those between my childhood home in New Hempstead, New York and the Kol Yaakov Torah Center in Monsey. To cross these four short miles I had to traverse the sweltering deserts of Arizona, the lush countryside of Europe and the awe-inspiring city: Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodesh. I was brought up in a traditional Jewish home: meat and milk were kept separate, Chanukah candles were lit each year, and bagels were bought from Bubba’s every Sunday — religiously. I knew little about neighboring Monsey. I knew I felt sorry on weekend mornings, for the young boys we drove past, dressed up in their dark suits on their way to services, while I was dressed in my little league uniform on my way out to play with my team. When I concluded my years in the public school system and graduated from Ramapo H.S. I had no idea that there was a yeshiva right across the street from me, nor did I have any idea what a yeshiva was all about. I went on to Arizona State University, a midbar in a midbar, and suddenly found myself amidst non-Jews, forced to defend a religion that I myself knew little about. I majored in Political Science and Biblical Criticism (Jewish Studies), but my solo attempts to find out more about my heritage left me with more questions than it did answers. By the time I graduated I was even more confused about what my role as a Jew was, but I knew that it was time to find out. After graduating, I briefly backpacked parts of Europe to see a bit more of the world and to give myself time alone to reflect and discover who I was. From Greece I set sail across the Mediterranean Sea to Israel, with confidence that answers to my questions would soon be found. Boruch Hashem, the hand of Divine Providence helped me meet the right people; I was led to an Aish HaTorah Discovery program and wound up spending the better part of a year learning in Yerushalayim. I was ecstatic in my new profession as an unemployed truth seeker. I drank from the material thirstily, started wearing tzitzis, and began to be known by my Hebrew name. My family, on the other hand, wanted me home. So, following the advice and approval of my Rebbeim, I headed back to the Greater Monsey area. When I returned home I found that New Hempstead had changed. Religious families had moved into the houses formerly occupied by my secular friends. My feelings towards those children all dressed up on “Saturday” also changed from pity to envy as I realized they had something so beautiful that I never had as a child. There were a couple of yeshivos that I could have learned in while staying at home. My first meeting with Reb Leib Shlit"a made it clear the Kol Yaakov was the right place for me. I remember asking Rabbi Tropper what made Kol Yaakov different. Why should I want to learn there? His answer: “Kol Yaakov is not just a yeshiva, it’s a body shop. We are here to make you into a mentch and a Ben Torah.” That response was enough to make me want to try it and, in so doing, complete my four mile journey. Rabbi Tropper was good to his word. Within a year my metamorphosis from a college graduate, somewhat acquainted with the basics of Judaism and the aleph bais, into a full-fledged Torah Observant Jew possessing the skills necessary to “graduate” to Yeshiva Chaim Berlin was realized. Within the same year I also became a chosson and married my partner for life. B"H , ten years later we are living in Flatbush with our precious children. I am a Special Education Rebbe for the P’tach program in the Mesivta Chaim Berlin, at Yeshivat Shaare Torah and at Ohr Yitzchak. I try diligently to pass on the lessons that my Rebbeim and friends at Kol Yaakov have taught me, and I am forever indebted for all the kindness they have shared and for all they have done for me and my family. HaKol is published by the Kol Yaakov Torah Center and Horizons 29 W. Maple Ave. PO Box 402, Monsey, NY 10952 (845) 425-3863 info@horizons.edu www.horizons.edu Editor– Rabbi Dovid Jacobs top 1. It is customary to recite Kiddush Levana upon the exiting of Tish'a B'av, and not before. 2. The Chofetz Chaim suggests that Kiddush Levana should be recited at the end of a fast only after breaking the fast. 3. If the moon is covered, even lightly, one should wait until the moon is clear in order to recite Kiddush Levana. (heard from Haga'on Harav Moshe Feinstein Zt"l) CONDOLENCES : Rabbi Dovid Stefansky on the loss of his brother, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Stefansky zt”l Gershon Moskalik on the passing of his grandmother, Mrs. Genya Rudina a”h top