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Another mammoth
undertaking that has created tremendous excitement among the participants is
the worldwide network of Dirshu’s Kollelim for
Balebatim. This part of the Dirshu program is
specifically designed to serve such men who spend their days in pursuit of a
livelihood, but who wish to retain the ambiance of their past lives in
yeshiva. New branches open periodically to service the mounting demand.
The typical participant
in this part of the program is one who in his earlier years was a yeshiva
bachur or kollel yungerman. Today he must devote his energies to
worldly concerns for the maintenance of his family, but he yearns for the
years gone by, for the pleasures of sitting before an open Gemara engrossed
in the complexities of its phrases and its logic. These men are overjoyed
at the possibility of joining a program of study, which will bring back the
intensity they once knew in yeshiva and the chance to reunite with other
like-minded individuals, and, as it were, to come back to “themselves.”
Hundreds of working men
around the world have enjoyed a quantum change in their lives as their
acceptance of the yoke of Torah is renewed through the framework of Kollel
Dirshu. Most of the kollelim worldwide congregate in
the early morning (although some communities have opted for the evening)
when the minds of the busy balebatim are fresh and scheduling
conflicts are negligible. The kollel members come from all walks of
life and all points of the political spectrum. Chasidishe, Litvishe,
Ashkenazim and Sfardim, all learn and daven together at
every Kollel Dirshu. They come to work towards a goal that
supercedes such distinctions: ‘To return the crown to its splendour’,
to become the Bnei Torah steeped in learning that the balebatim
of Klal Yisroel used to be.
What is the secret of
Kollel Dirshu’s extraordinary success? What is it about this
learning program that sets it apart and creates extraordinary demand? Why do
the rigors of this demanding system not repel, but attract new members all
the time?
The answer may lie in the
mesirus nefesh that is intrinsic to the program. Working men are now
given the ability to become kavua in learning with all that that
entails. They take upon themselves the task to learn and to review and their
learning stays with them throughout the working day. They are given the
tools to truly accept the yoke of Torah; a task that is beyond the means of
almost any individual not connected to a source of daily discipline and
inspiration.
The changes effected on
the lives and the families of those involved are manifold. The members’
commitment to serious learning, reviewing and retaining reaches levels not
experienced since their days in Yeshiva, if indeed ever. Their davening
is consistently enhanced. The solid connection to Torah provides the
necessary medicine for overcoming the nisyonos of the workplace. The
wives and children of those who take part in Kollel Dirshu,
who also make formidable sacrifices for their husbands and fathers to be
able to learn, take tremendous pride in their accomplishments.
In the Ramot neighborhood
of Jerusalem there are 80 serious-minded men who attend a daily shiur
in Daf Yomi. They, like so many others, undergo the tough testing process
and receive substantive monetary rewards in exchange for high achievement.
Across the length of
Israel there are new branches of the Kollel for Balebatim,
filled with laymen eager to be part of a structure for Talmud study, eager
to spend their time within the sacred tent of Torah. Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh,
two in Beitar (one ‘standard’ gemarah based kollel, and one
special kollel devoted to the study of halachos t’luyos ba’aretz),
and now Haifa. In all these locations, the void for serious balebatim
looking for chizuk, learning and a sense of community has been
filled.
There is a particularly
unique feature in the Beit Shemesh kollel. This institution pairs
off young kollel men with balebatim and/or baalei teshuvah,
the newly initiated in the ways of Torah, who are desirous of expanding
their Torah knowledge. This chavrusa-style venture allows them to
make structured progress in the systematic pursuit of Torah.
Indeed, successful new
Kollelim for Balebatim have opened up in major Jewish centers around the
world. In Detroit, Michigan, “Motor City,” one such kollel was
founded recently, and already there are over forty individuals enrolled. In
Montreal, Canada, over forty men study together and hear a daily shiur
every evening. The request for the establishment of similar kollelim
is resounding everywhere. Wherever the project is seen as feasible, a new
kollel is founded, becoming the talk of the town in short order and
attracting serious participants to the light of Torah.
One of the more recent
kollelim to open was in Chicago, where Kollel Dirshu
had the remarkable accomplishment to open its doors and almost immediately
became a foremost address for learning balebatim in town. Many native
Chicagoans are amazed, having never seen anything like it before. When
entering the bais hamedrash at 6:00 a.m. one is struck by the kol
Torah of fifty study partners.
Most recently, just after
Pesach, Kollel Dirshu came to Cleveland. As usual, the
program’s local administrators were amazed to see the unprecedented demand.
Expecting around thirty participants to attend, there were an astonishing
fifty balebatim the first day. Dirshu clearly seems to
be able to provide for the unique needs of balebatim what many have
sought for without success.
In Toronto, where the
Dirshu nerve center is located and where the concept first took
shape now proudly has offered alternative Dirshu programming,
such as the Choshen Mishpat program, as well as a course of study in
Hilchos Shabbos. Of course, it is in Toronto that the heart of
international Dirshu beats, with the daily Daf being pored
over by sixty participants each morning. The daily Gemara shiur is given by
Rav Dovid Hofstedter and is enhanced by weekly in-depth shiurim
delivered by local Rabbonim or Rav Hofstedter, who is the architect of
Dirshu as well and the project’s overseer, whose involvement
sustains the international network.
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