Yitzhak Eitan 

After 129 horrific days, former Israeli hostage Louis Herr (70) was rescued in a daring special IDF nighttime operation. Later he relayed, “I haven’t even seen things like that in the movies. I said to the soldier sitting next to me, ‘Say, are you sure we’re not in a movie?’ I had to pinch myself to see that I was awake. That it’s not just another one of my dreams.”  

Louis was rescued together with Fernando Merman (60) after they were imprisoned in an apartment in Rafah in Gaza, even after their family members had been released. In an interview with Channel 12 News, Louis spoke about his experiences when he felt in total crisis mode and his experience during the dramatic rescue. 

Family Members Kidnapped Then Separated 

Louis is not the only member of his family who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak by Hamas on October 7th. Along with him was his wife Clara (62), Clara’s brother Fernando (60), and sister Gabriella Leimberg (59), along with Gabriella’s daughter Mia (17). Even Gabriella’s dog, Bella, was kidnapped. The females were released after 52 days in captivity. 

“When they were released, they [our captors] told us that the next day, or within a maximum of two days, we would be leaving,” Louis recalls. “Soon [the captors said] we’ll be done with the women and children and that’s it, starting with the men. But when the IDF shelling started, we said, ‘That’s it, we’re not going out.’ “Louis recalled,  “I thought people were busy with war, themselves. That the whole nation is stressed about everything that is happening around us. I argued with Fernando about it. He told me, ‘There must be an organization like this that shows them what to do and who to turn to. Hamas warned us that a drone would catch us there and Netanyahu would send a plane to bomb us. As if what he wants is to kill all the hostages so as not to make a deal.’”  

Fear Turned to Joy 

Describing the first moments when members of the Shin Bet security agency and the police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit used explosives to breach the second-floor apartment where the two were being held, Louis said, “Suddenly there was an explosion. The first thought was that the building had been blown up by the IDF. I rolled off the mattress, specifically in the direction of the terrorists.  Suddenly, they [our rescuers] shouted, ‘Louis, here!’ They grabbed my leg and said [in Hebrew], ‘IDF, IDF! We came to take you home.’ They lowered our heads and lay on top of us [to protect us]. It was madness. I haven’t even seen such things in the movies.” 

As they brought the hostages out of the apartment, one of the Shin Bet operatives noticed that Louis was barefoot. He picked him up and carried him so he would not get cut from the glass on the floor. He then took off his own shoes and tied them on to Louis. The shoes went with Louis to Tel HaShomer Hospital and the operative finished the operation without shoes. 

After Louis and Fernando were raced out of the apartment where they had been held, they were whisked into armored vehicles to a makeshift helipad deep in Gaza, then transferred to a military helicopter, which took them to Tel HaShomer Hospital.  

In the Aftermath  

Reflecting on his life after being rescued, Louis said, “Every time I find [out about] another friend of mine who was murdered, or situations I didn’t know about [it’s so hard for me]. There was a scene at a rally [calling for the release of the hostages] where a boy wearing a hoodie hugged my daughter, Natalie, as if he knew her. He turned to me and said, ‘It’s great that you’re here. My cousin was on the team that rescued you.’ I was happy and said, ‘Oh great, tell him…’ But he stopped me and said, ‘He was killed a week ago.’ It broke me completely.”

Pnina Souid 

Recently, the Mitzvah Man was looking to pray Minha with a minyan. In the Brooklyn community, everyone knows the place to find a minyan is at the Bnai Yosef Synagogue, fondly known as a minyan factory. 

When the Mitzvah Man entered the shul, he noticed an elderly man sitting in the lobby, collecting tzedakah. During the tefillot, from 3:30 to 4:10, the man asked over and over, “Can anyone drive me home?” No one offered. 

The Mitzvah Man decided that he would volunteer to drive the man home after he finished praying. He approached the man who told him, “I live in Boro Park, my knees are not good. It is painful to walk, and it is cold outside.” 

The Mitzvah Man thought, Boro Park is not exactly around the corner, but he did not want to pass up this opportunity to do a hesed. It was well worth the inconvenience.  

In the car this elderly man told him that even when he finds a ride home, often it is not door-to-door, so he must find two other connecting rides. It usually takes him two hours to get home. 

“So, why do you come here?” the Mitzvah Man asked. 

“Because many men come here to pray and there is a man who gives me a lot of money!” 

In a respectful manner the Mitzvah Man asked him, “How much money?” 

“Ten dollars.” 

The Mitzvah Man handed the man a $20 bill. He was ecstatic! 

“You drove me straight home and you gave me the largest donation that I ever received!” 

He is a nice man, just poor, with knees that don’t work the way they used to. 

Why are we sharing this story? 

Because, if you pray in Bnai Yosef and you see this man asking for a ride home, please consider doing so. Certainly, it is not easy and is time-consuming to drive all the way to Boro Park. If you can’t drive him home a great option is to send him home in an Uber.  

Your act of hesed will give him a greater quality of life and will also be a Kiddush Hashem. 

In addition, if you want to give him a $20 bill, it will probably be the largest donation he received that day. Of course, any amount is acceptable. 

If you pray at Bnai Yosef, please look out for this man. He is sweet, humble, and appreciative. 

Let’s always keep our eyes and ears open for hesed opportunities

Rabbi  Daniel Doron Levy  

Recalling the Ten Makot (plagues) that Hashem performed in Mitzrayim is the highlight of the seder for every child. The pasuk where we learn of our obligation to share the story of leaving Egypt with our children uses unique terminology. In Shemot (10:2), the word “hitalalti,” meaning “made fun of” is used. The Rambam explains that the damage Hashem rendered with His ten plagues was a display of His revenge for all of Paro’s wicked decrees against the Jews. The Rambam cites the pasuk from Tehillim: “The one who sits in Heaven will degrade them. Hashem will laugh at them.” Essentially, Hashem made a mockery of the Egyptians. According to Rashi and the Rambam, part of “Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim” is discussing this irony. 

The Be’er Yosef (Rav Yosef Salanter) elaborates on this commentary as follows. When Hashem commanded Moshe to warn Paro that Egypt would be plagued with locusts and grasshoppers, He prefaced it by saying that He would harden Paro’s heart. Up until this point Paro had been relatively respectful while interacting with Moshe, but at makat arbeh (the plague of locusts) Moshe and Aharon were, by then, not in Paro’s favor. After makat choshech (the plague of darkness) Paro’s hostile behavior continued as he warned Moshe: “Get out of here. Be careful. I do not ever want to see your face again.”  

Paro Changes His Tune 

Interestingly, in his time of need, the mighty king of Egypt, who purported to act like a god, ran through the streets in the middle of the night screaming, “Where is Moshe? Where is Aharon?” The Jews, his former slaves, were laughing at a man they despised and had feared just months ago. As makat bechorot (the killing of the firstborn) descended, Paro screamed, “Get up and get out and serve your Gd as you asked!” 

Let us recall that Paro  bargained with Moshe numerous times. At first he refused to let the Jews go completely, and then he relented slightly, asking, “Who do you want to go?” He agreed to let only the men go and pray before hardening his heart again. But now, a desperate Paro not only totally acquiesced, but he was also ready to send animals for sacrifices! He begged, “Please pray for me not to die, as I am a firstborn.” Is there a bigger irony than that? Elaborating on these details is an integral part of our fulfilling the mitzvah of Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim – the obligation to share the story of leaving Egypt with our children. 

For a long time, Paro believed himself to be a god. After all, the Nile River came to his feet and he provided food to his humble servants and to the whole land of Egypt. During makat arbeh (the plague of locusts), however, all the grains of the field were destroyed and a terrible famine was felt throughout the land. Paro’s pride was severely damaged, as “the mighty provider” proved to be powerless to feed anyone. The once superior Egyptians were now hopeless subjects with nowhere to turn. They came to realize that their “mighty Paro” was an imposter, a mere mortal, a human being, totally helpless to save even himself. He, like all of us, was subject to the mercy of the one true Gd, Hashem. Sharing these amazing insights with our children and depicting how Paro’s ego was deflated will enhance our fulfillment of the mitzvah of Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim on Pesach. 

The Egyptians’ Reaction  

After makat barad (the plague of hail) descended, Mitzrayim looked like a war zone. The grass was ruined, broken trees blocked all the roads and walkways, and the crops of flax and barley were decimated. The Egyptians were shocked by the mass destruction before them, but the fact that wheat and buckwheat remained offered some consolation. Miraculously, these crops were spared from this horrific plague. 

Alas, even Paro’s small pleasure quickly turned to sorrow as the plague of arbeh eradicated all rest of the crops in sight. HaRav Shlomo Homner, who wrote Sefer Eved Hamelech, describes how the Egyptians prepared salted and pickled grasshoppers for dinner. They filled their storage houses with these delicacies only to be disappointed yet again when the grasshoppers flew away. The Jewish people laughed at the Egyptians and teased them saying, “How many grasshoppers did you eat today?”  

In a similar fashion, the wild animals left the land after makat arov so that the Egyptians should not benefit from the animal skins. Measure for measure, Hashem mocked the Egyptians, who ridiculed the Jews during their enslavement in Egypt. 

May we merit seeing true justice as Hashem shows us the final redemption and His name is sanctified before the world. Amen! 

Every Pesah some people get very sick because they do not take their medications due to a concern that they might contain hametz. However, according to the halacha, this practice is incorrect. 

There are three different biblical prohibitions regarding hametz: we are not allowed to eat, to derive benefit from, or to own hametz over Passover. Even a small amount of hametz is prohibited. We must either get rid of hametz before Passover or sell it to a non-Jew.  

But does this also apply to medications that may contain hametz?  

Taking Medication for Acute or Chronic Conditions 

Today’s column will focus on incapacitated people taking medicines for acute or chronic conditions. Generally speaking, halacha recognizes three categories of illness: 

• A person who is so sick that his life may be in danger. 
• A person whose illness does not endanger his life, but he is bedridden or incapacitated (for example, due to the flu, a migraine, or arthritis).  
• A person experiencing some discomfort, but who can generally function normally (for example, one suffering from common colds, mild headaches, or heartburn). 

A person who has a life-threatening illness and the only cure involves some violation of hametz, must avail himself of this option. Saving a life takes priority over the prohibition of hametz. A person with a serious, even if not immediately life-threatening, health condition – such as cardiac, lung, or kidney disease, diabetes, mental health illness, or any serious chronic condition must continue taking their medication as usual during Passover. They most certainly should not stop taking their meds and should not even substitute them for something else without explicit authorization from their doctor. Even if there is a non-hametz alternative but the doctor feels there is some risk involved in changing from the regular medication, the regular medicine should be taken. On the other hand, a person experiencing only some discomfort must find a non-hametz alternative. 

Non-Life-Threatening Conditions 

When it comes to non-life-threatening conditions, it becomes a bit more complicated. 

The prohibition of eating hametz applies to foods, and hametz loses its technical status as food when it becomes so inedible that even a dog would not eat it. But even though one may own or derive benefit from such hametz, there is still a Rabbinic prohibition against eating it. This is because at some level, it is still considered to be food, considering we are talking about items that we are interested in consuming. This principle is known as “Achshevei,” which means that our interest in eating this item upgrades its status as food. However, Hacham Ovadia, zt”l,  (Yehave Daat 2:60) explains that Achshevei does not apply to items consumed solely for medical reasons, even if there may be hametz ingredients mixed in, so long as the medication is swallowed and is tasteless. Under these circumstances, the item no longer qualifies as a food at all. Similarly, Hacham Ben Zion Abba Shaul (Ohr Lezion 3:8:2) maintains that since this is only Rabbinically prohibited, a bedridden person may ingest bitter-tasting medications that may contain hametz. 

The problem arises with sweet-tasting medications, liquid medications, or vitamins, that may contain hametz (such as glucose or alcohol derived from a hametz source [even products that are described as gluten free may still be problematic]). For these, a non-hametz alternative should be found unless there is a life-threatening situation. Regarding children under bar/bat Mitzva, an authoritative rabbi should be consulted, as there are many factors to consider in each case.  

All of this only applies to oral medications. Artificial nutrition or medications provided through an IV or PEG and are not ingested orally, are not considered food that is being eaten. Therefore, they pose no general kashrut concerns and no bracha is recited prior to using them. However, aside from eating, we may not benefit from or even own hametz even if it is not eaten. Therefore, these types of products should be sold to a non-Jew before Passover. If, however, no alternative can be found, and since the products are no longer owned by a Jew, they may still be used on Passover for medical reasons even if they might contain glucose or other hametz-derived products. 

Topical medications such as creams, ointments, and lotions are usually inedible and may be applied on Passover. The same is true of injectable medications, inhalers, nasal sprays, eye drops, suppositories, and alcohol-based sanitizers, as they are all inedible and are never consumed orally. 

Rabbi Yehuda Finchas is a worldwide expert, lecturer, and author on Medical Halacha. He heads the Torat Habayit Medical Halacha Institute. His latest book is “Brain Death in Halacha and the Tower of Babel Syndrome.” To contact Rabbi Finchas, email rabbi@torathabayit.com. 

Chaim Gold 

HaGaon HaRav Shimon Galei got up and grabbed the microphone. It was a totally spontaneous moment that left tears of emotion in the eyes of the thousands in attendance. It was in the middle of the Amud HaYomi Siyum at the Armon Hotel in Stamford. Hagaon HaRav Hillel David, shlita, had just finished speaking when suddenly, Rav Galei, grabbed the microphone and exclaimed, “Rabbotai! A siyum masechta is a time when there is a great eit ratzon in shamayim. Now is the time for all of us to daven for Klal Yisrael who are undergoing great difficulty and for all our personal tefillot as well.” 

Rav Shimon then began singing, “Shaarei shamayim Pesach,” a song where we beg Hashem to open the gates of heaven and shower us with bracha from His infinite otzar, treasure house of beracha. The tangible emotion and feeling of Rav Shimon reverberated throughout the hall and the crowd joined him, raising their voices in song. Soon, everyone was on their feet singing, davening. The emotion reached a crescendo and it was clear to anyone there that they were indeed tapping into a unique eit ratzon. The emotion, the tefillot, the tears that were shed, defy description.  

The truth, however, is that this exalted moment at the Amud HaYomi siyum was a microcosm of the eit ratzon that characterized the entire Shabbos Dirshu Convention this year.  

The inaugural Amud HaYomi siyum on Masechta Brachot, held on Thursday night in the Armon Hotel’s main ballroom, was a self-contained event that was open to the public, and the public came en masse.  

The event began with an important drasha delivered by Rav Hillel David, shlita, Rav of Kehillas Yeshiva Shaarei Torah, Yoshev Rosh of the Vaad Roshei Yeshiva of Torah Umesorah, and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel. 

Rav David brought out the unique qualities of the Amud HaYomi, explaining, “When one learns the amud well and reviews it, it is a different amud. This simcha is not just your personal simcha, it is OUR simcha, a simcha for all of Klal Yisrael!” 

The Nasi of Dirshu, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, then delivered a seminal drasha. Rav Hofstedter shared a personal childhood recollection. “I was one of the few children of survivors who merited a grandfather who survived. When I was a child, we would go visit my Zeidah on Friday night. He would reminisce about the world of Europe that was no more. He would talk about the suffering during the holocaust and with great pain in his voice, would ask, ‘What did the Yidden in America and Canada do when they were killing six million Yidden?’ In an agonized, heart-aching voice, he would ask, ‘Were they going to the ballgames?’ 

“As a child, I remember thinking about the suffering of the Yidden during the holocaust and remember feeling sorry for those Yidden who could have done something, and had to live the rest of their lives with the knowledge and pain that perhaps they didn’t do as much as they could have…” 

Rav Hofstedter reached the climax of his drasha and passionately asked the audience that was listening with bated breath, “I ask with koved rosh and pain, ‘What are WE doing, when r”l, thousands of our fellow Yidden are being slaughtered and killed?! What are we doing when there are so many fresh widows and orphans, children crying for their parents and parents crying for their children, wives crying over the loss of their husbands and mothers crying over the loss of their children??!’ 

“There is so much that we CAN do! Let us take some responsibility upon ourselves. Let us here now declare, b’lev shaleim, that we will invest every ounce of our strength, our neshama, our hearts and accept upon ourselves to learn the Amud HaYomi! From Dan to Be’er Sheva, from Monsey to Melbourne, from one end of the world to the other, there should be no place where the Amud HaYomi is not learned with clarity, with chazara. Let us now be mekabel as one man with one heart! In this zechut, may we merit to see that Hashem is King and greet Moshiach!” 

Language pales when trying to describe a Dirshu Shabbat. How can physical words encapsulate something so spiritual, so intangible?!  

On Shabbos Dirshu, every shevet of Klal Yisrael came together as one – Ashkenazim and Sefardim, bnei Yeshiva and baalei battim, Chassidim and Litvishe bnei Torah – with no boundaries, only unity, achdut forged by the power of Torah, the ultimate unifier of Klal Yisrael. Upon entering the lobby, you were greeted by the sight of a Chassidishe yungerman bedecked with a shtreimel and white socks, discussing a complex Tosafot with a Litvishe yungerman wearing a short jacket and a tie. It was so normal because superficial boundaries do not exist at Mattan Torah where everyone is k’ish echad b’lev echad. 

Climactic Melava Malka and Siyum on Masechta Bava Kama 

After an entire Shabbos replete with chizuk and simcha, a Dirshu participant related, “I felt so full, so satisfied from all that I had seen and heard. Still, the Gemara says, that even when someone is satisfied from a seudah, there is always room for something sweet and the melava malka and siyum were sweeter than sweet!” 

Prior to the explosion of climactic dancing at the end of the melava malka, the assembled had the zechut to hear inspiring messages from the chairman, HaRav Zev Smith, shlita, Hagaon HaRav Dovid Goldberg, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Telshe, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, Nasi Dirshu and HaRav Nissan Kaplan, shlita.  

Rav Dovid Hofstedter made an impassioned plea that we rededicate ourselves to Torah with every fiber of our being.  

“It is not enough to perfunctorily learn Torah just to be yotzeh. We don’t just do the daf in a short amount of time. A Yid has to have a kesher with Torah, a deep, unbreakable bond with Torah! That is the essence of a Dirshu Yid! It is our responsibility to make a true kesher with Torah, not a blatt here, a blatt there, but to really understand, learn, chazar and retain what we have learned. That is why we are here!”  

Rav Nissan Kaplan hailed the Dirshu family for their unique bond with learning and their desire to learn and retain. “But,” he said, “there is still more to be done!” 

He called on the lomdei Dirshu to try their utmost to learn without breaks. The quality of the learning and its ability to impact the nefesh is infinitely greater when done with retzufos.  

Rav Kaplan also called on lomdei Dirshu to invest special effort in tefillah and chessed. With the power of Torah, tefillah and chessed, our kehillah kedoshah of Dirshu can invoke such rachamim and transform the entire world! 

“The Taam of This Shabbat Will Remain!” 

Perhaps Rav Moshe Weinberger expressed the feelings of all present when he said during shalosh seudot, “I was introduced as the neilah of the Shabbat, the last speaker of the Shabbat. I beg to differ. I am the afikomen of the Shabbat! Chazal say, we eat the afikomen so that the taam, the taste of matzah should remain in the mouth. The taam of this wonderful Shabbats will remain in our mouths for eternity!”

Rabbi David Sutton and Dr. David Katzenstein, LCSW-R 

Before Adam HaRishon sinned, evil existed outside of him. The Etz HaDaat, the Tree of Knowledge, from which he was forbidden to partake, was a tree of good and bad. According to the Rambam, before Adam ate the forbidden fruit, while he had freedom of choice, his choice was between true and false, not good and evil. This is because evil was not inside of him.   

When we look at a sizzling steak, our mouths begin to water, our desires are aroused, and we want that steak. Before he sinned, when Adam HaRishon saw a sizzling steak, no craving was awakened.  

As the Nefesh HaChaim posits, there was no passion or concept of desire. It was like reading the nutrition information listed on the outside side of a food package. For example, if he was looking at a package of chocolate chip cookies, Adam would not even see a picture of the luscious chocolate chip cookie on the front of the box.  He would merely view a nondescript white box with dry nutrition facts: how many calories, how many carbs, how much sugar, and so on. When viewed in this manner, it’s just a question of true and false. If there is too much sugar in there, then it is not good for us and we will not eat it. It is a purely analytical way of looking at the box and making a decision. So, too, the mouthwatering steak did not make Adam’s mouth water. His decisions were not based on desire.  

It was only after Adam ate from the forbidden fruit that evil entered inside of him. And after this, sin, which is evil, entered inside of us.  

To illustrate: You are in your cozy bed, enjoying a blissful dream, when suddenly you hear the loud, incessant beeping of your alarm. One voice moans, “Oy, I want more sleep.” But then another voice interrupts, “You have to get out of bed NOW, or you’re going to be late.”   

Rav Gedaliah Schorr makes an interesting point. The voice that says, “I want more sleep,” is speaking in first person, whereas the voice that says, “You have to get out of bed,” is talking in second person. That means that we identify with our laziness.   

Another example: You are at a simha and you just finished a satisfying meal. As you head to the dance floor, you pass the sweets table and you tell yourself, “I really want that tiramisu.” But there is another voice inside you that counters, “Oh, no, you don’t. Sorry, Charlie. Don’t you remember you are on a diet?”  The voice of desire speaks in first person, while the voice of reason speaks in second person.  

What is happening is that we are identifying ourselves with our detrimental traits, with the evil. There are many voices inside of us, and we have to figure out who the real us is.  It is confusing. But it is our task to sift through  the many thoughts in our heart, and to make sure  that the counsel of Hashem will prevail. It is up to us to eliminate the static.  

One who experiences obsessive thoughts can find them so intrusive and convincing that it can become extremely difficult to differentiate between what is real and what is imagined. Experts on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) often help their clients by guiding them to separate their intrusive thoughts from reality.  

The refrain, “It’s not me, it’s my OCD,” aims to increase awareness into one’s psyche, while giving the client the capacity to identify when his brain is attempting to trick him into believing something that is highly unlikely to be true. Those keenly aware of this struggle can attest that there is no quick fix, but that they engage in an ongoing task of training the mind to observe itself. Essentially, to think about thinking.   

TAKEAWAY

  When we pass an ice cream parlor, and the voice inside us screams, “I want that triple-scoop sundae!” we can remind ourselves that it is not us, it is our desire stealing our voice, grabbing the microphone.  Then we can tell ourselves that no, we do not want to eat that ice cream, no matter how tempting it may appear.  

Pnina Souid 

Have you ever seen a gymnasium turned into a zoo?! If the answer is no, then you weren’t zocheh to attend the Hilchot Shabbat Expo at the Yeshivat Shaare Torah Junior High School on February 18th. 

Those who were fortunate enough to attend reported that the atmosphere at the gym-turned-zoo was exhilarating! It was hard to believe how a school gym could be totally transformed into an Expo full of amazing displays and real live animals, but that is what they did!  

Hands-on Approach to Learning 

The boys have been learning hilchot Shabbat, the laws of Shabbat. The Expo focused on malechet tzad, the prohibition of trapping and confining animals, which is one of the 39 melachot prohibited on Shabbat. The expo was put together to demonstrate what may or may not be done concerning malechet tzad. This hands-on approach has changed the way hilchot Shabbat is being taught and being learned.  

In learning about the melachot of Shabbat, the boys are not just involved in book learning and listening to their teacher. The learning has also been hands-on, guided by the creative curriculum developed by the Junior High School Menahel, Rabbi Rahamim Falack. Rabbi Falack’s boundless enthusiasm is contagious and has rubbed off on both the rabbanim and their students. 

Stations Set up to Delight and to Teach 

Upon entering the Expo, visitors were treated to a video presentation featuring students explaining in detail the various laws pertaining to melechet tzad. 

The Expo was set up with stations and posters explaining what was entailed in the halachot that they were learning. The general definition of the melacha was the work used to build the Mishkan. Animals were caught in order to make the leather and fur coverings of the Mishkan. 

Each station had a different type of animal. There were dogs, snakes, hamsters, goats, a sheep, a cow, roosters, a lizard that resembled a mini alligator, and birds. But the birds were not in cages!  A man known as the Parrot Rebbe, in a special frock and shtreimel, strolled around the Expo, placing birds on people’s shoulders and heads.  

Students manning their stations were happy to answer questions. The boys were all remarkably knowledgeable and whatever they did not know they offered to find out. 

At the farm animals station one could feed and milk the goats, and take a snip of the sheep’s woolly coat. All with assistance, of course. 

Parents’ Reactions 

Mr. Mayer Chemtob, a parent who attended the Expo exclaimed, “This brings Torah to life! Unbelievable. My son is very excited and opened his Gemara intrigued.”  

Another parent, Mr. Michael Solomon, said, “It was more hands-on than ever before. What an original concept!”  

“The melacha of trapping animals is clear to the students and is tangible to them. By engaging students in hands-on activities, we are able to create a deep learning experience and ensure that knowledge stays with them for the long term.  This is all their work,” said one of the school’s rabbeim, Rabbi David Mansour. 

Excitement All Around  

Everyone in attendance was excited. Who would have thought that it was possible to bring together so many live animals just to teach the boys a subject that is usually done in the classroom, with the teacher in front of the room and the boys following along in their sefer. 

At the close of the Expo came the finale, a Halacha Decathlon, testing the students’ knowledge.  

Rabbi Falack proudly reported, “They were asked applications to the laws that they had to apply on the spot! The Rosh Yeshiva and the posek, Rabbi Yosef Srour, were very impressed with the knowledge of the boys. They didn’t just say the law but gave the reasons behind it! All with confidence. So many boys really knew their stuff. We had about six boys that made it to the end! That’s called knowing your stuff.” 

Rabbi Falack concluded, “It was hard to believe that this project with immense detail would actually happen. Everyone has dreams, don’t dismiss them, just work at them diligently and you will be surprised that it will become a reality!  A special thank you to our YST Junior High rabbanim who worked alongside in this tremendous project.”