More than 800 talmidim, parents, rebbeim, families, alumni and friends joined MTA to celebrate the learning accomplishments of all talmidim at its annual yeshiva-wide Seudat Preida and Siyum. Held via Zoom on Thursday, June 4, this exciting event featured siyumim made by MTA talmidim on three different masechtot, a musical performance by Baruch Levine, divrei bracha from Rav Asher Weiss and so much more. Parents, grandparents, incoming freshman families and MTA community members joined the celebration and watched the true love that MTA talmidim and rebbeim have for talmud Torah come alive on their screens. Despite the inability to celebrate in person and enjoy the signature ruach, singing and dancing that makes this everyone’s favorite event of the year, the tremendous joy and enthusiasm were still felt throughout the evening as the community joined together in celebration of another incredible year of learning. “This year in particular, our accomplishments are even greater,” said Associate Principal Rabbi Shimon Schenker. “Our talmidim and rebbeim overcame the obstacles caused by the coronavirus pandemic and they not only adapted to, but they thrived, in their new online educational environments and continued to achieve higher levels of both learning and spiritual growth.” The evening ended with each shiur separating into breakout rooms, where rebbeim hosted individual celebrations with their talmidim and families.

The yeshiva-wide Seudat Preidah and Siyum was also the culmination of the Rabbi Hyman Arbesfeld (‘49) z”l Scholarship Campaign. “When we celebrated our yeshiva-wide Seudas Preidah two years ago as the culmination of our first scholarship campaign, Rabbi Arbesfeld described his experience as a scholarship recipient at MTA,” explained Head of School Rabbi Joshua Kahn. “He communicated his passion for talmud Torah, as well as the importance of making this opportunity accessible to everyone. His sense of hakaras hatov was remarkable and he genuinely personified the sentiments he shared. It is a truly fitting tribute for our scholarship campaign to bear Rabbi Arbesfeld’s name and to think of him as we celebrated our Seudas Preidah.” The Rabbi Hyman Arbesfeld (‘49) z”l Scholarship Campaign concluded with a 24-hour fundraising blitz leading up to the yeshiva-wide Seudat Preidah and Siyum. Throughout the day, talmidim, rebbeim and faculty members worked the phones in MTA’s virtual call center to help raise funds and meet the yeshiva’s $800,000 fundraising goal. All gifts donated during the blitz were matched 1:1 by a generous donor. MTA also offered special blitz programs, including Lions Legends with Rabbi Mayer Schiller, presented by LionsLive, featuring a trip down memory lane to relive the MTA hockey glory days with all star alumni; MTA Alumni Scholar Hour, featuring 10 Minute Halacha with Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz (‘95) and a conversation with Rabbi Michael Taubes (‘76) and Rav Hershel Shachter (‘58). “Thanks to the generosity of our MTA community, we reached our $800,000 goal,” shared Rabbi Kahn. “We are grateful to all of our incredible donors and to our amazing talmidim, rebbeim and faculty for helping to ensure that all families have access to the MTA educational experience.”