Two years ago, on March 26, 2020, an exciting NCSY farbrengen was scheduled with Rav Moshe Weinberger for New York and New Jersey teenagers and their college-aged advisers. Due to the onset of COVID-19, this event was one of the first NCSY cancellations during that season, leaving the structure of an incredible program waiting patiently to be revived. Just two years later, on March 24, 2022, with a few adjustments, a renewed farbrengen with Rav Weinberger brought meaning and inspiration to over 400 yeshiva high school boys from the New York and New Jersey area.
The newly renovated auditorium at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School in Teaneck was set with hundreds of seats, a dais for Rav Weinberger, NCSY leadership (including NJ NCSY Regional Director Rabbi Aryeh Wielgus, and New York NCSY CEO Rabbi Gideon Black) and heads of school, and the Holy Brother Band stood ready on stage. The dimmed lighting and soft background nigunim set the tone as buses of teens piled in, leaving standing room only, and an event that was meant to begin slowly, instinctively burst into dancing as Rav Weinberger entered the room. The feeling was electric, everyone knew exactly why he was there: to get a Taste of Freedom (as the event was named) in advance of Nisan and Pesach.
The farbrengen served as a unique moment of achdus, uniting teens from DRS, Ezra Academy, Frisch, HAFTR, Heichal HaTorah, JEC, Kushner, MTA, North Shore, Ramaz, Rambam Mesivta, SAR and TABC. Rabbi Jonathan Kroll, principal of SAR High School, commented, “Our boys, who are so used to competing against other schools, found great joy dancing and learning arm in arm with students from all over the yeshiva league.” The sense of unity and achdus was palpable in the room, as one freshman from North Shore Hebrew Academy similarly remarked, “I never thought I could sing and dance with hundreds of guys I never met and feel like we’re all brothers.”
When reflecting on the event, Rabbi Aryeh Stechler, rosh yeshiva and dean of Heichal HaTorah, highlighted a similar takeaway from the event: “I commend NCSY on uniting hundreds of boys from all the local yeshivas to dance, sing and grow in their avodas Hashem together. While each yeshiva focuses on their own method of chinuch, it is critical to come together from time to time and remind ourselves that the primary goal of all our yeshivas is connecting the next generation in a deep and meaningful way with Hashem.”
Following an introduction from NCSY’s National Director of Education Rabbi Josh Grajower, Rav Weinberger addressed the audience. His message, surrounded on each bookend with music, singing and dancing, was inspiring and timely for the crowd. At the outset of his message, Rav Weinberger referred to the concept of 36 hidden righteous Jews—ל”ו צדיקים נסתרים, and announced that he believed there were many more such righteous Jews than that—in that very room. Instead of reading the word “נסתר” as hidden, Rav Weinberger taught that there are Jews who experience a “סתירה” or destruction of the very “buildings” that they worked so hard to build. When we fail or falter, instead of those moments bringing us down, they can serve as opportunities to rebuild and not give up. We can all become righteous Jews, said Rav Weinberger, by not allowing our failures to deter us from dreaming up an even greater version of who we are.
As we transition from Purim to Pesach, this evening provided a taste of freedom from distracting factors in our teens’ lives, allowing them to focus on their relationship with Hashem and each other instead. It was a night of torah, tefilla, achdus and inspiration.
By Rabbi Jacob Bernstein
