MY STRONG SOUL ◇ Founding Ceremony of the Mentoring Organization to Save At-Risk

On Thursday night, the eve of the 8th of Kislev, Parshas Vayetzei, a mentors' conference was held in our Beis Medrash (study hall) with the participation of our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days).

As is known, in recent years, the ship of Torah has been tossed about against the murky waves of the sea. The hazards of the times and the era threaten to sink the ship along with the Torah students, primarily the precious young men who have just stepped onto the deck and been exposed to the great world outside.

For this purpose, it was decided in our holy community by the activists involved in this sacred work to establish the "Nafshi HaChazaka" (My Strong Soul) organization. To this end, they convened the avreichim (married Torah students) of our community to explain the importance and necessity of establishing this organization.

The avreichim, who understood the importance of strengthening yeshiva students and connecting them to the study of the holy Torah to save them from the hazards of the times that beckon from the street at every moment, as well as reaching out and saving the souls of the at-risk youth who are going through whatever they are going through...

Those important avreichim took it upon themselves to be mentors at the founding ceremony of the "Nafshi HaChazaka" organization, as mentioned, with the participation of our teacher, the Rav shlit"a.

During the conference, the Rav shlit"a encouraged the avreichim to take upon themselves this merit to save the youth of our day and connect them to the study of Gemara (Talmud) with love and in pleasant ways:

"Now we have made a takanah (regulation) that everyone should study with a young man; every avreich should take a boy. Buy him ice cream, buy him a popsicle, buy him a treat, give him a candy, a sweet. It is possible to save all the at-risk youth. There are youth here whom we didn't notice. The Rav was in prison for two years, so many dropped out. But now it is possible to save them all. These boys are the greatest geniuses; they are the very, very smartest. Because they are so smart, it is hard for them to sit and study. But we must explain to them that the Gemara is just stories."

Furthermore, our teacher the Rav shlit"a, in his holy way, delivered his holy discourse for nearly forty minutes. Before you is a summary of the topics mentioned by the Rav shlit"a during his holy words:

1. Greek rule for one hundred and eighty years and their decrees until the placement of the idol in the Heichal (Sanctuary), from which the rebellion began.
2. The outbreak of the rebellion due to the decree they could not bear, and three years of war until Yehuda HaMaccabi entered Jerusalem.
3. The order of the battles with Apollonius, Seron, and Lysias, and Yehuda's stand against thousands of elephants and Greek armies.
4. Daniel's vision of the goat and the ram and the horn broken into four, as a hint to the division of the Greek kingdom after Alexander.
5. When the Tzaddik is absent, then "Tzion" (Zion) becomes only "Yavan" (Greece), and there lies the root of the power of the impurity of Greece.
6. The Ramban's question on the destruction of the Hasmonean house because they took the kingship when they were not from the family of David, according to the Gemara in Avodah Zarah.
7. The story of Alexander the Great and Shimon HaTzaddik: Shimon HaTzaddik going out in priestly garments, the recognition of his "image" that went before him in all the wars.
8. The plot of the Kutim (Samaritans) who incited Alexander against Israel, and the reversal of the judgment against them after the truth was revealed.
9. The prayer of Chana as the root of the light of Chanukah, as brought in the words of the Ari zt"l—drawing down the Or Ein Sof (Infinite Light) through her prayer.
10. "Chana [prayed] over Hashem"—that the prayer rises to a level where Hashem, as it were, prays within her mouth, meaning she prayed from above the Name of Havayah (the Tetragrammaton), blessed be He. This is the root of the Tzaddik's prayer.
11. The Tzaddik who no longer has a body, and in order to pray he needs a body (a mouth). So he takes our body on loan and prays through us.
12. Every avreich must study with a boy; it is still possible to save the at-risk youth. Explain to them that the Gemara is just stories: about Chuma the wife of Abaye, how the daughter of Rav Chisda—the wife of Rava—hit her with the lock of a chest (Kesubos 65). And about Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who stole the sword from the Angel of Death and jumped into Gan Eden (Paradise) (ibid page 17).
13. A discussion regarding a sword taken on loan when the borrower thought it was a cardboard sword but it was actually a gold sword.
14. Laws of deposits in silver, gold, and diamonds—the responsibility of the watchman versus the claims of the depositor and the practical legal implications.