Mar Cheshvan 5766
We hope this Alumni Newsletter finds you and yours in the best of circumstances.
The time that has elapsed since our last newsletter has in no way diminished our interest in maintaining contact with you in order to know how you are doing and to keep you informed on what is doing at Ohr Somayach.
After working out the technical details, which were responsible for the break in this contact, we are launching a major effort to connect former talmidim to one another and to the yeshiva.
With Hashems help we hope to achieve this goal through a multifaceted effort:
- An Alumni Reunion is being planned for this coming June. Details of time and place will be forthcoming. Please contact us if you would like to help organize this special event.
- Reinstating our On-Line Alumni Directory, which will provide all former talmidim with their fellow alumni's personal information including e-mail addresses. The information on-line will only be made available at the request of the alumnus.
- Reviving the regular publication of the BYachad Alumni Newsletter.
In order to achieve these goals we must have your cooperation. Please send us as soon as possible the details of your address, phone numbers and e-mail address. (Dont forget to inform us any time about a simcha in your family.) Once again, this information will be made available only at the request of the alumnus.
The technical problem, which has sometimes prevented your information from being updated on-line, has been overcome and we look forward to an efficient connection.
News From Ohr Somayach
New Board Of Directors
The Rosh Hayeshiva, Rav Nota Schiller, has succeeded, with the help of some of our outstanding former talmidim, in creating a Board of Directors of the Friends of Ohr Somayach with headquarters in New York. Its members, a majority of whom are alumni, are (in alphabetical order):
Neil Auerbach, Sid Borenstein, Avrohom Chaim Grossman, Yaakov Kaplan, Jake Koval, Danny Lemberg, Boruch Mytelka, Yosef Neumann, Shmuel Rothman and Shmuel Dov Vogel.
This new Board is dedicated to providing the support for maintaining and expanding Ohr Somayach activities in Eretz Yisrael and throughout the world.
Campus Facelift
Thanks to a generous gift from Mrs. Gloria Martin of Miami Beach, in whose name the central campus of Ohr Somayach Jerusalem has been dedicated, we have been able to give our thirty-year old yeshiva buildings and the surrounding area a major facelift.
It is certainly an expression of kavod haTorah to ensure that the esthetics of the exterior of our yeshiva buildings match the spiritual glory of their interior.
Fourth Annual Yom Iyun in Chicago
The overflow crowd in the auditorium of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Illinois on Monday, September 26 was testimony to the ongoing popularity of the Annual Yom Iyun sponsored by Ohr Somayach. This year the featured lecturers were Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz, Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Breitowitz and Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb. They addressed the topic "The Value of Living and Living Together - Relevant Issues in Life and Relationships"
New York Lecture with Rabbi Akiva Tatz
Over 1,000 people came to hear Rabbi Tatz speak on "Teshuva - Recreating the Personality" on Sunday September 18 at the Young Israel of Queens Valley in Kew Garden Hills, NY. After the lecture, people were able to meet Rabbi Tatz personally and speak with him at a reception. The chairman of the evening was Mr. Eli Glaser of Queens.
Third Ohr Somayach Pesach Mission
Ohr Somayach has reserved the entire Jerusalem Pearl Hotel, just minutes away from the Kosel and all the major attractions of Jerusalem. Daven and learn with Jewish families from around the world!
The Ohr Somayach Pesach Mission will feature shiurim by:
Rabbi Nota Schiller; Rabbi Mendel Weinbach; Rabbi David Orlofsky and other distinguished faculty members of Ohr Somayach.
For questions about the Mission, or rates contact:
Jordan Rose
pesachmission@gmail.com
Phone: +1-416-568-0340
Fax: +1-416-443-1419
For Registration contact:Travel Deal Israelshlomo@traveldealisrael.com
Phone: +972-2-999-8440
Fax: +972-2-999-5877
Toll Free (US only): 1-866-376-6716
Jewish Learning Library
Ohr Somayach is currently servicing the largest number of English-speaking talmidim in its history. In order to reach those who have not yet come to us we continue to provide hundreds of thousands with weekly Torah material on our Ohrnet magazine on the Ohr Somayach website.
The newest effort of outreach is the launching of the Jewish Learning Library. An exciting series of books are currently in various stages of preparation and publication, all of them authored by Ohr Somayach rabbeim and alumni. People, including some alumni, who are taking advantage of this opportunity to simultaneously provide much-needed financial aid for the yeshiva and valuable reading material for the general public, are sponsoring these books. Following is a partial list of the books that will be published by the Jewish Learning Library:
Love Of The Land- A two-volume presentation of what our sacred sources say about the Land we all love, complete with some of the most beautiful photographs of Eretz Yisrael ever collected in one book.
TalmuDigest- A six-volume work based on the Weekly Daf, which the Rosh Hayeshiva, Rav Mendel Weinbach, has been offering for the past decade on the Ohrnet Website. On each seven pages of the Talmud there are features, which give the reader on any level of familiarity with Jewish learning a feel of what the gemara is about in a user-friendly manner.
Seasons Of The Moon - Profound insights on the months of the year accompanied by original, beautiful black and white photographs all the work of alumnus Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair, today a maggid shiur in the yeshiva.
Question Market- A multi-volume collection of the questions about Judaism which have been answered by our Ohrnet staff.
Shabbat Kodesh Shelf- A companion for the Shabbat table which offers a shelf-full of material - parsha insights, zemirot explanations and Pirkei Avot selections for enriching the Holy Day in one book.
If you, or anyone you know, have an interest in sponsoring any of these books, you can request and receive all details by contacting Rabbi Eliezer Shapiro (es@ohr.edu) at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem.
We look forward to hearing from you and getting together with you.
