Newsletter

Harav C. Z. Levitan Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Ari Levitan Rabbi Rabbi Dovid Rube Yehuda Russak

Volume II Chanuka 5771

Recent News
MAZEL TOV
The Rosh Yeshiva & Rebitzin upon the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson, Rafi Levitan, son of Mr. & Mrs. Didi Levitan. Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Rube upon the Bar Mitzva of their son Yitzy. Rabbi & Mrs. Yehuda Rusak upon the birth of their daughter Soroh. Mr. & Mrs. Yossi (Jomo) Rosenberg on their recent marriage Mr. & Mrs. Yitzie Rosenbaum on their recent marriage Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Rube upon the birth of a boy,
(still unnamed as we go to print)

Mr. & Mrs. Avi Franco upon the birth of a girl Mr. & Mrs Akiva Glatzer upon the birth of a girl Mr. & Mrs. Mattis Steinberg upon the birth of a girl Mr. & Mrs. Ari Lowinger upon the birth of a boy Mr. & Mrs. Simcha Malek upon the birth of a boy Yehoshua Verstandig upon his engagement Ben Zion Blech upon his engagement Moshe Moerman upon his engagement Chezky Fine upon his engagement

Please keep us connected with your simchas etc. so that we can include them in future newsletters. In the unfortunate event of a Levaya or shiva please notify us so that we can inform the oilam.

Keep us connected

We all know of the Rambams legendary genius in cataloguing the entire Torah into fourteen sections in his Yad (14) Hachazokoh. We also know of his major works on Mishnayos, Sefer Hamitzvos and Moreh Nevuchim. The Rambams special gift of writing is called by many lishono hazohov, golden language, a rare talent of brevity and precision. Given all of this, we are immediately drawn to an unusual wording of of a Rambam in Hilchos Chanuka (4:12) mitzvas ner chanukas chavivoh he ad meod the mitzvah of ner chanuka is very dear/beloved. Why does the Rambam consider it so dear-wording not found in the Rambam by any other mitzvah. The answer may be based on a historical fact. Chanuka is the only yom tov established post-nevuah. The era of nevuah came to an end during the early years of the Bayis Shainee. The direct line of communication between Hashem and His people no longer existed. The nes of chanuka occurred in the middle of the Bayis Shainee, approximately two hundred years after it was built. Despite no heavenly instruction, the chachomim of the time realized that those nissim called for establishing a yom tov of Hallel and Hodoah to show our appreciation. Chasidim use a moshol to explain what a minhag is, which Ill take the liberty of modifying. Some of you may already have experienced this, the rest will experience it soon IYH. You are decorating your sukah with various store bought items, many of which were bought on sale after X-mas. Your oldest child, coming home from play-group, bursts into the suka smiling from ear to ear and holding a hideously mangled paper chain. The child shouts look what I made for the suka and presents it with innocent pride. You take it, kiss the child and declare its going right up, its beautiful and its not a lie. Subjectively, it pales in comparison to the other noi suka but to you its beautiful because your kid made it! Thats the chashivus of a legitimate minhog, Hashem loves it because His children made it. So too, Hashems children made chanuka on their own, without nevuah, we understood what had to be done without being told to. Its not written in the Torah, no novi guided us, so where did it come from? The baalei-mussar of old would define musar as the lightening bolt that illuminated the forest for only a brief moment but still showed you where to go in the darkness. The well learned lessons of the past were utilized to make our way through the night. That may be why the mitzvoh of ner chanuka is so dear and beloved by Hashem. Many of us find ourselves in a similar life-situation. Weve left yeshiva to pursue our goals of becoming Torahdike Zevulons. There really isnt anyone giving instructions, prodding, inspiring us to do what has to be done on a daily basis. We have to know, understand ma chovoso bolomo based on what weve learned in the past. There is no other way. When we do whats right, Hashem cherishes our learning, our davening, our tzedokoh ad meod just like the nes chanuka. Our berocho to all of you is to be bnei binoh, to understand and perform constant kidush shem shomayim with hatzlocho and brocho. With cheeboh yesairoh, lzu

Message from the Rosh Hayeshiva The Lingering Light of Chanuka

10 Golar Drive Monsey, NY 10952 P: (800) 636-6776 F: (845) 406-9191 mzeyeshiva@yahoo.com

news from around yeshiva

The long winter zman is well underway and the sounds of Torah and tefila are reverberating through the Bais Medrash. The two courses that we arranged to help train and prepare the guys with practical business tips and information have begun. Both the Quickbooks course given by Mr. Frankel on Sunday afternoons and the practical business insights given by Mr. Horowitz on Thursday nights are enjoyed by all attendees. We were privileged to participate in a unique siyum one morning, as one of our bachurim, Betzalel Gold finished maseches Berochos. It was unique because it was a project that began a long time ago and was primarily learnt in times outside of the normal seder schedule. As someone quipped at the siyum, it was a Lavan siyum one that was accomplished by stealing free time. A gala breakfast was served and Betzalels father, Mr. Avrohom Moshe Gold was in attendance for this momentous occasion. We heard warm words from The Rosh about the importance of completing projects we begin and that was why shaidim, demons were created by the Ribono Shel Oilam on Friday bein hashmoshos to demonstrate the result of an uncompleted job. We had the zechus of visiting Harav Chaim Pinchos Sheinberg Shlita, as the venerable Rosh Hayeshiva was hosted in the Olympia neighborhood. We all crowded into the room as the aged Rosh Hayeshiva gave us berochos. He quoted the Pasuk, mi hoish hachofetz chaim ohaiv yomim lirois tov, and explained that in order for one to succeed, he needs to be an ohaiv yomim one who loves days and appreciates the value of time. It was inspiring to see the elderly Rosh Hayeshiva, who is renowned for his extreme hasmodo and diligence, talk so passionately about the value of time. In anticipation of the Yom Tov of Chanuka we were privileged to hear a shiur from the rosh kollel of our partner kollel, Rav Dovid Baum Shlita. With an enormous bikius and multitude of sources, he discussed the various opinions whether there is a requirement of simcha on Chanuka and if the seudos eaten have the status of a seudas mitzvah. We then heard words of chizuck from the sgan rosh kollel, Rav Leor Rigovsky Shlita as he explained the concept of ufortzu chomos migdolai. He quoted a mishna in maseches Midos that states the Yevonim breached a flimsy wall called the soreg and eloquently explained that one of the elements of their theological war was to disprove our ability to have a personal relationship with Hashem. This fragile wall is what transformed the Bais Hamikdosh into a reshus hayochid and thereby created an intimate haven for us to serve Hashem. Once Chanuka arrived, we took a break from our regular limud of maseches Kidushin and focused on the sugyas of Chanuka in maseches Shabos. On the last night of Chanuka, The Rosh hosted a Chanuka mesiba in his house with the rebitzins (plural, a special thanks to the three junior rebitzins for participating with their contributions) legendary fleishiga spread. Also special thanks to the anonymous donor who made a major contribution to the mesiba, insuring that there was nothing to beef about. We heard a vort from Ben Zion Blech on the topic of hodoa and the proper method of giving thanks. The guest speaker was Rav Ahron Basch Shlita, menahel of Yeshiva of Spring Valley who, with an array of divrei Torah and stories, eloquently delivered a fundamental lesson in Avodas Hashem that can be learnt from the Chashmonaim. The approach of Avodas Hashem has to be one light at a time. We cant be deterred by our surroundings and have to be resilient in our mission to ignite one flame after another and we will eventually prevail and illuminate the world as the Chashmonaim did.

10 Golar Drive Monsey, NY 10952 P: (800) 636-6776 F: (845) 406-9191 mzeyeshiva@yahoo.com

ALUMNI NEWS
Even our alumni have started a winter zman. Rav Ari began giving a shiur in maseches Beitza before shachris every day for the alumni, that is Baruch Hashem nicely attended. Membership is not needed, as we have our regulars, guests and the I will be there tomorrow guys. Our annual alumni Chanuka mesiba location was upgraded to the Sisu vSimchu ballroom to accommodate our growing alumni BH. The environment was festive and we all especially enjoyed the auction as the wrapped gifts were full of surprises as usual (even though nobody brought shorts). We heard warm words from Rav Menachem Schmeltzer shlita as he compared each and everyone of us to the Chashmonaim as we incorporate ruchniyus into our lives. We would like to publically thank Ezra Beren and Ushi Schwartz (alphabetical order) for sponsoring and coordinating the event. We also would be remiss if we failed to mention the anonymous donor of the donuts. Thank you Ari Mandel for all your behind the scenes work. We thank all of you that attended and all those that pledged at the auction to benefit the yeshiva. We really appreciate it. Also, very special thanks to Matis Steinberg who shlepped his stuff to Brooklyn and to the Monsey mesiba to get the house hopping. Thank you; youre the coolest D.J. in the world. We are planning some shiurim in Brooklyn in the near future and will keep you posted when a definitive date is set. We would like to thank all those that offered to host the shiurim in their homes; we hope to take all of you up on your offers.

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10 Golar Drive Monsey, NY 10952 P: (800) 636-6776 F: (845) 406-9191 mzeyeshiva@yahoo.com

NURTURING GROWTH IN DIFFICULT TIMES

What now? is a question that haunts a bochur returning to America after two or three years of optimum learning in Eretz Yisroel. He has chosen to pursue the path of Zevulon but knows and feels the need to be rooted in the tents of Yissochor. Where is the Makom Torah that will allow me to pursue my academic goals and yet help me remain focused on my primary goal? Where will I still feel so connected to Hashem, His Torah and Klal Yisroel to be able to stand proudly as an Eved Hashem for the rest of my life? Will I be able to find a Rebbe that understands me, inspires me and respects me because he genuinely cares? Or am I on my own? And thats frightening.

Since its inception in 2005, Zichron Erez has been the answer to those questions. Rav Chaim Zev Levitan, a veteran mechanech, saw the need and answered the call of the many wonderful bochurim who felt unprepared to continue their quest to sustain and continue their aliya Al Admas Naychar - on the foreign soil they spent their youth in. BSD, the Yeshiva and its exceptional Rabbeim have created a lifeline for those bochurim that has endured the test of time. The transition, even partially, between the Yeshiva world and the increasingly dangerous outside world, has felled many fine young men. Our focus is to train, to fortify our bochurim, to enable them to endure the nisyonos that a Torah-true Baal Habayis will have to triumph over in the future.

business connections
We are promoting businesses and services of our alumni. Please make an effort to patronize these businesses and lets try to keep it in network. If you are interested in JV Armour Personal Protection advertising your business Specialist in future editions, please 1- 888- Nightwatch Jthug@jvarmour.com email us your info.
GRAFISHDESIGN 718.633.1016

Director of Marketing

Ari Mandel

3512 Quentin Road Brooklyn, NY 11234 am@qualityny.com

Tel: (718)338-8500 Ext. 692 Fax: (718)906-0910 Cell: (917)292-3124