(Courtesy of PTI) Rabbi Aharon Sklar will be the annual scholar in residence at Yeshiva Ner Boruch-Passaic Torah Institute (PTI) on Thursday, February 6 at 8:15 p.m., at which time he will speak to young professionals. He will address the entire community several times throughout Shabbos Parshas Beshalach, February 7-8 during davening and an oneg.
Rabbi Sklar is the founder and rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Toldos Tzvi, a kollel and beis medrash program for English speakers in Jerusalem. He has a lifetime of experience teaching in multiple yeshivas. He has taught young men and boys of widely varying backgrounds, always meeting the student where they are in their learning and patiently bringing them to an advanced level of competency. His unique approach is to methodically derive halacha from the part of Gemara the student is learning. It’s a common occurrence to see him learning one-on-one with a student, developing not only the sugya but also a lifetime relationship long after the student finishes.
One student, Passaic’s own Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim, rosh yeshiva of PTI, tells a story when he was in a beis medrash program in Israel under Rabbi Sklar, then in a different yeshiva. “We had been working for weeks to finish a mesechta by Shavuos. It was a three-day yontif for me and another bochur with Shabbos and Shavuos combined.” Rabbi Sklar’s Shavuos was a single day, living in Israel, but two days for Rabbi Bodeheim and other Americans. “We came up 30 dafim (pages) short by Shavuos.” Rabbi Sklar had Rabbi Bodenheim and the other bochur stay in his house learning for all three days. “We were literally learning 10 dafim a day amid a busy household as [Rabbi Sklar] alternated between sitting by our side one moment like, and taking care of his small children running about the next. That’s real dedication!” It cemented a bond that has lasted to the present, with Rabbi Sklar making annual visits to PTI.
It’s a lesson that Rabbi Bodenheim brings to PTI and Neve women’s program, with five levels of learning for hundreds of men and women, from the complete novice to the advanced kollel scholar, and dozens of programs day and night all week.
PTI is located at 441 Passaic Avenue, Passaic, New Jersey. For PTI’s full schedule visit https://pti.shulcloud.com/ or contact PTI at 973-594-4774 [email protected]
