As part of the Bat Sheva Mitzvah campaign, talmidim of Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Queens were recognized for their countless hours of learning Tanya Ba’al Peh this year. The students got up early every morning for the “The Hashkem Program” so they would be successful for this project.

For well over a decade, Rabbi Mordechai and Mrs. Shterney Kanelsky of the Bris Avrohom Center in Hillside, New Jersey, have been encouraging extra learning and mitzvot to be done in memory of their infant daughter, Bat Sheva, ob”m, who passed away in 2003.

One of the projects is to have the talmidim of the yeshivos study Tanya Ba’al Peh.

The boys were awarded with an overnight trip that included bowling, swimming, BBQ and a bonfire at the house of Rabbi and Mrs. Kanelsky. The trip was concluded with a festive brunch.

Rabbi Shmuel Newman, who is the boys’ teacher and mashpia, came specially to farbreng with them. Rabbi and Mrs. Kanelsky shared with the boys their childhood years under the regime of the Soviet Union and self-sacrifice of their parents to give them the proper Jewish education. The Kanelskys concluded: “You boys have a golden opportunity to study and succeed without any interference.”

One of the stories that Rabbi Kanelsky shared was that as a child in Russia he was learning Torah and Chasidus underground, as well as learning Tanya by heart. He was privileged with his father to come to the Rebbe for the first time in 1970. On his first yechidus (private meeting) he was tested by the Rebbe on Tanya ba’al peh.

The Kanelskys expressed their thanks and gratitude to Rabbi Mendel Scharf, the dean of the yeshiva, for his dedication and devotion to the boys of the yeshiva, both spiritually and physically.

For information on upcoming activities, visit their website at www.brisavrohom.org and on Facebook at facebook.com/brisavrohomhillside, or call their office at 908-289-0770.