The Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program at Yeshiva University offers serious Talmud and other Judaic studies on a daily basis. Currently a smicha student at YU, Avi Rosalimsky, of Teaneck, age 24, serves as the program director of SBMP as well as a bekius rebbe for ninth-grade students at MTA. In his capacity at SBMP, Rosalimsky looks for ways to incorporate chesed into the students’ learning program. Two weeks ago, groups of students from several shiurim at SBMP were accompanied to Teaneck, often with their rebbeim, to help construct the sukkot of individuals and families who were unable to do so on their own. Armed with physical tools as well as the detailed halachot of sukkah-building garnered from their study of Masechet Sukkot this year, the students helped put up approximately 15 sukkot in the Teaneck, Bergenfield and New Milford areas.
Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Weinberg, mashpia at Congregation Beth Abraham, who serves as mashgiach of SBMP and SBMP rebbe commented, “It is amazing to see how the students of Yeshiva University so deeply appreciate the importance of a well-rounded avodas Hashem. Not only do we study Hashem’s Torah with great passion but we also know that it must be fully absorbed into our lives and the lives of others. We are grateful for the opportunity to assist others in their preparation for the Yom Tov of Sukkot.”
SBMP student Efraim Schachter from Boca Raton, Florida, one of the students involved in the Sukkah-building chesed, enthusiastically endorsed the program. “I was taken aback and filled with pride when Rabbi Schnall told us that on our last day of shiur before Yom Kippur, we would come together to do what we can to make sure that all of am Yisrael has the opportunity to sit in a sukkah. This initiative sent the message that Torah is not a part of us that is reserved solely for the beit midrash. Rather, it is who we are and how we choose to spend our time outside the Torah learning. Figuring out together how to build the sukkot and putting it into action was also a great ‘gibushi’ experience for the chevra of the shiur.”
Ariel Lavian from Great Neck, an SBMP student and participant in the program, was full of praise for the initiative. “Going to a shiur to help build someone’s sukkah was awesome. Not only was it great to bond with the chevra in an environment outside the beit midrash, but I also really enjoyed the actual sukkah-building itself. I’ve been living in an Orthodox Jewish family for the past 19 years, but this is the first time I’ve actually participated in this special mitzvah.”
Recipients of the chesed initiative were located through postings on TeaneckShuls and referrals by local rabbis and neighbors. Everyone assisted expressed genuine gratitude to the students.
Naomi Kraus, one of the recipients of SBMP’s chesed initiative, expressed her gratitude. “What they did was such a chesed for those of us who need a sukkah over Yom Tov but can’t put one up on our own. We are so grateful for the help.”
Aside from his role at SBMP, Rosalimsky is immersed in chesed throughout the year. As a volunteer for Chai Lifeline, teen program director at Congregation Beth Abraham, division head at Camp Kaylie and boys’ head counselor at Camp Malchus, Rosalinsky is an inspiration to many young people.
By Pearl Markovitz
