This Shabbat (Parshat Balak), over 50 fellows of the Drisha Kollel will be visiting Teaneck for a Shabbat retreat, accompanied by Drisha faculty members Rabbi David Silber, Dr. Devora Steinmetz, Rabbi Jon Kelsen, Rabbi Daniel Reifman and Miriam Gedwiser. Fellows will daven at local shuls and come together for meals, learning, conversation and song.

The Drisha Kollel is an immersive learning community of men and women who dedicate one or two months in the summer to intensive Torah study. In addition to a full day of learning, fellows participate in hachana l’tefillah (preparation for prayer) workshops on topics ranging from mindfulness, to understanding the siddur, to songs, to chasidic texts about prayer. The Kollel also incorporates engagement with a key social problem—homelessness—in the form of both direct service and expert speakers.

The fellows are a diverse group of college students, recent graduates (including several rabbinical students and graduate students), and students returning from a post-high-school year in Israel. They hail from across the U.S. and Canada, the U.K, Australia and Israel, including several from Teaneck.

The Teaneck community is invited to join the Kollel for a shiur by Rabbi David Silber, founder and dean of Drisha and renowned Bible scholar, at 12:30 on Shabbat day at Congregation Zichron Mordechai (268 W Englewood Ave, Teaneck) on the topic of “Bilaam and Balak: A Biblical Comedy.”

Drisha faculty will also be speaking at local shuls: Rabbi Dr. Daniel Reifman, formerly of Teaneck and now of Yad Binyamin, Israel, will serve as scholar-in-residence at Congregation Shaare Tefillah (510 Claremont Ave, Teaneck) following davening (Shacharit at 9 a.m.).

Rabbi David Silber will also speak after the hashkama minyan (Shacharit at 7:30 a.m., shiur approx. 9:15 a.m.) at Congregation Keter Torah (600 Roemer Ave, Teaneck) on the topic of “Becoming Worthy of Blessings.”

By Miriam Gedwiser