This year, Shomrei Torah’s flagship Torah Tuesday initiative is celebrating the completion of 10 years of learning on Sunday April 10. At the anniversary event, David Karpel of Fair Lawn will be honored. Karpel has been a big promoter of Torah Tuesday; according to Torah Tuesday coordinator Mendy Aron, he has always been there to help out, and his suggestions on learning topics have been invaluable.
In addition, Jules Nachtigal of Paramus will be receiving the new Hillel award. Jules has an almost perfect attendance record at Torah Tuesday events and learns constantly lishma.
Torah Tuesday has a long history. Ten years ago, on Lag Ba’omer, a minyan of men started a Tuesday-morning learning group at Shomrei Torah in Fair Lawn, NJ. Many months prior, Mendy Aron had approached Rabbi Benjamin Yudin, ma’ara d’asra of Shomrei Torah, about starting this group. Rabbi Yudin was very interested in giving the class, and suggested that Aron reach out to other retirees in Fair Lawn to gauge interest in the potential program. Rabbi Yudin said that he would not mind learning with Aron every Tuesday, even just as a chavrusa, but it would be better if more people would attend.
Aron came up with the idea of having an upscale breakfast served prior to the learning, with the notion of “serve [food] and they will come,” and that is how it all started.
Over the years, Torah Tuesday has expanded from one day a week to three days a week, and has a once-a-month Sunday program. In addition, Torah Tuesday has started an Adult Education Program. It has hosted many book signings featuring Rabbi Benjamin Yudin of Shomrei Torah; Yosef Mendelovitch, a Soviet Union Refusnik; Rabbi Neil Winkler of the Young Israel Fort Lee and Rabbi Ron Yitzchock Eisenman of Ahavas Israel Passaic.
Looking to expand the program into more areas of interest, Aron and others developed a requirement for any potential new Torah Tuesday event: An element of Kedusha had to be infused into the program. For instance, when Torah Tuesday went to Yankee Stadium to see a game, Rabbi Markowitz gave a shiur prior to the game on “Who does Barry Bonds’s 70th home-run ball belong to,” from a halachic perspective.
When Torah Tuesday ran a “Chopped” contest to determine the best and most creative cook in the shul, it hosted a Kashrus shiur in the middle of the contest, given by Rabbi Daniel Senter. Months later, during a Table Tennis Tournament the initiative raised money for 20 different charities. It also went on to host a special breakfast that gave tribute and recognition to the Musmachim that grew up in Fair Lawn.
Torah Tuesday’s numerous functions have all been developed with the same overall concept: “Let’s have the gashmius (physicality) but let’s have it with some ruchnius (spirituality)!”
For more information about the anniversary event, which is open to the public and costs $25 to attend, email Aron at [email protected]. Beyond the event, the Torah Tuesday regular programing at Shomrei Torah (which is open to the public at no cost) features Rabbi Yudin on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; assistant Rabbi Andrew Markowitz on Tuesday and Howard Nuer on Monday. There are also special guest speakers on once-a-month Sunday. All Torah Tuesday programming is open to men and women from all communities.
