B'YACHAD! - #6

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B'YACHAD - TOGETHER, the Electronic Alumni Newsletter of Ohr Somayach

Issue #6 -- Rosh Hashana 5756


Contents
  • Spotlight on an Alumnus
  • News about Ohr Somayach
  • Messages from Alumni
  • Simchas & Announcements
  • Topic of the Month
  • How to contribute to B'Yachad
  • Subscription Information
  • Ohr Somayach Home Page

  • Spotlight on an Alumnus

    Rabbi Label Lam

    To look at Rabbi Label Lam, you might never believe that his championship pitching for the Eastchester High School baseball team won him a full-ride scholarship to Colgate University. But then again, you might.

    For the past 6 years, Label's been playing on the Ohr Somayach team, throwing mostly "straight-balls," in daily meetings with Jewish business people and community leaders. Opening a Chumash, Gemmora, or Pirkei Avos, Label offers his learning partners traditional Torah ideas, highlighting Torah study as the key to Jewish continuity.

    Label's fastball is known to come across with a bit of 'English':

    • "You can use Roman numerals but not Roman 'new morals'..."
    • "On Shabbos, I have a Bereishis (voracious) appetite!"
    His sensitivity to words, his unique way of taking a good thought and making it a part of himself, is what originally impelled him to study in Ohr Somayach Monsey 13 years ago. On his first visit, says Label, one of the Rabbis was discussing 'bringing G-d into your world' - "G-d's not in your world," said the Rabbi. "You're in G-d's world." That thought turned Label's world upside down.

    Label learns half-day in a Yeshiva in Monsey. Together with co-manager Mrs. Lam, he heads his own club of 'little leaguers.'


    Cool News - Hot Plans

    Though glowing with warmth, the Ohr Somayach Beis Midrash will soon be a cool place to be. During the summer break, drills whirled and hammers banged, while workers installed central air conditioning in the Beis Midrash and Ezras Nashim. Hopefully, the cool air will stoke the fiery enthusiasm during learning and davening, and help keep the oil burning when it's hot outside.

    That's not the only improvement in store: Renovations of the Carla Schoen Introductory Program facilities are now underway. The sweeping renovations include lowering the floor in Stark Hall, expansion of Belzberg Hall to include dormitory room 14, and connecting the Stark and Belzberg Halls with an internal staircase (until now the introductory classes were divided between Stark Hall below and Belzberg above, with access between the two from outdoors and around the building).

    This development spells new beginnings for the Belzberg Computer Room. The room has long been home to communications of all sorts, connecting Ohr Somayach Jerusalem with its affiliates and friends the world over. Publications such as Torah Weekly and Ask the Rabbi, newsletters and E-mail regularly pass its portals. E-mail to students is printed out in Belzberg, and most recently, the summer JLE students had access to the room and were thus able to send as well as receive E-mail. The renovations will send the boys of Belzberg searching for a new place to plug in. "We're hopeful this situation will be very short term," says Rabbi Moshe Newman, Director of the Ohr Somayach Computer Department. This building expansion will also hopefully be an opportunity for our publications and Harbatzas Torah to continue to grow in an expanded, new and improved environment.


    MESSAGES FROM ALUMNI

    Rabbi Finkelstein of Montreal, via Chaim Becker wrote:
    Ohr Somayach Montreal has been operating for 4 years and has made a significant impact on the Jewish community. Our student body, numbering 35, consists of both married and single men devoting a minimum of one seder a day at the yeshiva. Classes in Talmud, Chumash, Nach and Halacha begin at 6:15 a.m. and continue until Mariv at 9:30 p.m.

    Richard (Avroham Yakov) Stolbach (343 Route 306, Monsey, NY 10952) wrote:

    I am an Ohr Somayach alumnus and will be visiting Israel with my wife and youngest (5 months) of 7 children. This is my first trip to Israel in 14 years so I'm really excited about visiting Ohr Somayach! B'ezrat Hashem, I'd like to learn there for 2 or 3 days. Also, does anyone know how to contact the following people: R. Yisroel Berman, R. Sholom Eisemann, Dovid Illions, Dovid Charlop? Please send me address, phone, and/or E-mail address for them if you have them.

    Eliyahu Johnson wrote:

    I spent a few years at OS and its sister institution in Zikron Ya'akov. I can't quite imagine OS with computers. When I lived there we didn't even have heat! Can someone there recommend some good commentaries by rishonim on Avodah Zarah? Thanks! And zei gesund!

    Ohr Somayach and the staff of B'YACHAD wish all its readers a Kesiva v'Chasima Tova


    Simchas & Announcements

    Mazel Tov to:
    • Rabbi & Mrs. Reuven Lauffer on the birth of a girl
    • Rabbi & Mrs. Asher Wade on the birth of a girl
    • Mr. & Mrs. Harry Rothenberg on the birth of a girl
    • Mr. & Mrs. Dovid Weiss on the birth of a boy
    • Mr. & Mrs. Yedidya Anflick on the birth of a girl
    • Mr. & Mrs. Zalman Robbins on the birth of a girl
    • Mr. & Mrs. Pinchas Urszuy on the birth of a girl
    • Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Kinzer on the birth of a boy
    • Mr. & Mrs. Shea Ambush on the birth of a boy
    • Mr. & Mrs. Scott Sohl on the birth of a girl
    • Mr. & Mrs. Yosef Goldfarb on their marriage
    • Mr. & Mrs. Yosef Mendelsohn on their marriage
    • Mr. & Mrs. Uri Oran on their marriage
    • Mr. & Mrs. David Winter on their marriage
    • Mr. & Mrs. Avi Zaitchek on their marriage
    • Eric Fisher on his engagement to Miss Sarah Lea Lippins

    Topic of the Month
    'TESHUVA'

    "And you will return to Hashem your G-d" (Devarim 30:2)
    There is nothing greater than repentance. (Bamidbar Rabba 2)

      Selected quotations on this topic:
    • Repentance is so great that it hastens the Redemption. (Yoma 86a)
    • Fortunate is the one who repents when still youthful. (Avoda Zarah 19a)
    • Said The Holy One blessed be He: "My children open for Me one opening of repentance the size of a pin prick and I will open for you openings through which even wagons can enter." (Shir Ha'shirim Rabba 5:3)
    • The prime foundation of repentance is the separation from a sin and the [firm] resolve not to return to the wayward act, so that even The Omniscient could attest that there will never be a repetition of that sinful act. (Rambam Hilchot Teshuvah ch.2)
    • Repentance requires a conscious internal choice - it is a mitzva which cannot be performed without full and earnest intent. If a person focuses on the point of truth which he recognizes in the depth of his heart, then he can accomplish true repentance. Even a tiny spark of that truth brings a person to Teshuvah. (Michtav Me'Eliyahu, vol.2, p.78)

    We'd appreciate your sharing with us other sources or your own thoughts on this topic.


    How to Contribute to B'YACHAD

    The only way we can have up-to-date information is if you provide it. Please send us your comments, suggestions, announcements, and ideas via one of the following methods:

    E-Mail:
    address your message to: info@ohr.edu set the subject to "B'YACHAD"
    Fax:
    972-2-812-890, Attn: B'YACHAD
    Post:
    Yeshiva Ohr Somayach, ATTN: B'YACHAD
    22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103, Jerusalem 91180 ISRAEL

    Editor: Rabbi Reuven Subar
    General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
    Contributing Editor: Chaim Salenger
    Production Design: Lev Seltzer

    © 1995 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission.

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    Ohr Somayach Institutions is an international network of Yeshivot and outreach centers, with branches in North America, Europe, South Africa and South America. The Central Campus in Jerusalem provides a full range of educational services for over 685 full-time students. The Jewish Learning Exchange (JLE) of Ohr Somayach offers summer and winter programs in Israel that attract hundreds of university students from around the world for 3 to 8 weeks of study and touring.
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