As students continue to develop new and increased opportunities for Torah learning, RTMA recently launched its new Lunch ‘n Learn program. Participants meet during their lunch period on Tuesdays and Thursdays to delve deeper into the weekly parsha, halacha and various topics in Jewish thought, and the program is proving popular.

“Students are grabbing every opportunity to ‘chap’ more learning,” said RTMA assistant principal Rabbi Noach Sauber. “It is really beautiful. “These and other student-led initiatives give the boys a real sense of ownership over their own learning, Judaism and destiny. It activates their minds while inspiring their souls.”

Yitzy Zwickler, a senior from West Orange, said, “I feel elevated spiritually by choosing to use my free time connecting to Hashem.”

One of the sessions focused on what is gained when someone says birkat haTorah. “The boys wanted to know,” said Rabbi Yisroel Rich, RTMA director of student life. “So we learned that, as Jews, we are special, because as the blessing on the Torah says, we were chosen from among all of the other nations to receive the Torah.”

He continued, “We then delved into the passage in the gemara, which describes how the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because the Jews of the era did not make the proper birkat haTorah before learning, and that we must realize that no matter where we live or in what era, we are chosen and destined for greatness because we have the Torah. And that is what this Lunch ‘n Learn is all about.”