Born and bred in the Country Club area of Teaneck, and a product of local schools, Ari Solomon knows of what he speaks when he assesses the contribution an early morning kollel provides to the Teaneck community. As he explained, “The ‘Hisorerus HaLev’ Teaneck Morning Kollel for Working Men was created to fill a void that has existed within the community for many years. The Teaneck Jewish community is very successful, B”H, in terms of livelihood. Thanks to its proximity to Manhattan, it has become a hub for Orthodox individuals who work full time jobs in the city. However, what happens often when working full time is that little time is available for religious and spiritual growth in Torah studies after leaving the yeshiva environment. We hear countless stories of those who leave their homes early to travel to work and return late in the evening, leaving very little or no time to pursue their Torah studies. Even if they listen to shiurim while traveling, the personal connection and love of learning is often missing.”
Four months ago, a group of local young men came up with a creative response to this need with the founding of the “Hisorerus HaLev” Kollel (HHL) which meets at the Yeshiva Gedolah of Teaneck, Yeshivas Beis Mordechai, under the leadership of Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eliyahu Roberts. With the inception of the HHL Morning Kollel, men at all levels of learning are invited to partake in a thriving, warm and welcoming beit midrash environment before going to work.
From the time of its initiation, the kollel has grown to over 50 regular, daily attendees between 5:25-7:50 a.m. Among these regular attendees are current high school students who are motivated to rise early for the experience of learning with baalei habatim who inspire them through their enthusiasm and excitement at Torah learning. Solomon himself provides a tefillah chabura to these high schoolers based upon the popular “Shearim BaTorah” composed by Rav Shimshon Pincus, a”h, which approaches davening through a relatable, contemporary lens. A new component is the daily Daf Yomi shiur which will be offered by Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Roberts at 7:15 a.m. to be followed by a second Shacharis minyan at 8 a.m.
As the kollel is constantly attracting new participants, there is a need to subsidize the program through sponsors and other sources of funding. This funding will go toward gifting the daily participants with small stipends as motivation to wake up “at the crack of dawn.” The funding will help in bringing in additional rebbeim to offer shiurim on a wide range of topics. It will also provide monetary rewards for succeeding on optional bechinos and will help defray advertising costs to spread the word about the kollel.
The kollel group came up with the concept of a weekly newsletter to be distributed in the over 20 shuls in the area. Calling the two-page weekly publication “Kedushas Business,” the team sees the newsletter as serving several key purposes. Part one of the newsletter will provide insights into the parsha, commentary on business-related issues as gleaned from the parsha and an inspiring real-life story to illustrate the ideas conveyed in the parsha. The second page of the newsletter will offer a spotlight section through which local owners can highlight their businesses. These spotlight articles will enable business owners to describe their enterprises to wide audiences throughout the Bergen County community. The articles will include discussions of the Torah guidance that goes into running a successful business. Spotlight sponsors will help support the different initiatives of the kollel. The third issue of “Kedushas Business” will be available in your local shuls this Shabbat, Parshas Balak.
The success of the kollel is evident in the comments by two current participants: Yaron Schneider shared, “Ever since coming back from Israel, I have always wanted to do Daf Yomi, but for whatever reason, it has been very difficult for me to actually begin. The Kollel’s creation gave me the motivation and the opportunity to actually start learning the Daf every day in an amazing environment and at the perfect time before work. Now I look forward to learning the Daf daily. I fully credit Kollel Hisorerus HaLev with my motivation to begin the Daf and am so grateful for its presence in our community.”
Or Mossaiov, who writes many of the divrei Torah for the publication “Kedushas Business,” commented, ”Being surrounded by like-minded, growth-oriented chevra has been really key in creating an inspiring community that continues to push me to grow in my Avodas Hashem. My day is exponentially better having started it off on the ‘right foot’ in a beautiful yeshiva environment.”
The Monday through Friday daily schedule of Kollel Hisorerus HaLev is as follows::
5:25-6:15 a.m.: first seder
6:15 a.m.: first Shachris
7:05 -7:50 a.m.: second seder
(7:05 a.m.: high school tefillah chabura with Ari Solomon)
(7:15 a.m.: Daf Yomi with Rabbi Roberts)
8 a.m.: second Shacharis
To learn more about Kollel Hisorerus HaLev and the weekly newsletter “Kedushas Business”
Visit www.linktree.com/hisorerushalev
Email: [email protected]
Call or WhatsApp: 201-937-3346
By Pearl Markovitz
