This is the place to get together, fabreng, and shmooyez.
If you have any questions, please send an email to ME.
Bulletin Board
Please feel free to add any announcements, for all to see
Links
"Don't Judge a book..." Rav Mordechai's book
Shmuel Jacobs "The Badchan Brothers"
Yisroel Boruchov's stuff is listed here and will also be here ("Achai V'reai" is on the top row)
Arye & Shabsi's "Jewish Links" site
Simcha Groffman's "Kinder Torah"
Chaim Friedman's "Silver Site"
Please email me if you have any more suggestions for links in this column.
Here are some updates...
Binyamin Pinkus has been appointed Director of Senior NCSY
http://www.ncsy.ca/team.htm.
Shlomo Menachem Sofer will shortly be moving to his permanent apartment in Beit Shemesh.
Benny Stone will shortly be moving to his permanent appartment in Prestwich, Manchester. Also, he'll be vising Yerusholayim, Lag b'omer time, for his sisters wedding. If anyone has ideas for "lodging" in the mattersdorf area, please e-mail him.
All their new contact information, will be updated in our "Contact Directory" as soon as we have it.
May we take this opportunity to stress, that our only source of information, news, and updates, is from YOU, x-torahore guys... so please, let us know of any Simchas, announcements etc. that you know about... And if you can, have a short look at our "Contact Directory", and if you have anything to add, please e-mail us. (The first thing to check, is if your own e-mail & phone number are showing correctly)
Message from Motty Hoffman via Menachem Gordon (through me):
Eli Pinnick's wedding is tomorrow night, Wednesday Jan. 22nd. 7:30 p.m. at Ateres Chaya on 14th Ave & 54th street. Reb Shiya will be there.
Here are some links to sites, run by Torah Ore Boys....
Shmuel Jacobs "The Badchan Brothers" http://www.badchan.com/
Yisroel Boruchov's stuff is here http://www.mostlymusic.com/artistdiscography.asp?artistid=907 and will also be at http://www.jewishjukebox.com/ (you can see "Achai V'reai" on the top row)
Simcha Groffman's "Kinder Torah" http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/kindertorah/index.htm
These sites will be permanently posted, in the "Links" section. Any additions are welcome, by e-mailing us...
In memory of our dear friend, Yitzchok Zelig ben Shlomo ZT"L, I am posting two articles that appeared in the Yated Ne'eman. I will also add a permanent link to these articles from the side of this site.
I wish you all a happy Channukah, may you be zocheh to see much simchas, nachas, and happiness by us all.
Article#1
With Weapons Of Faith
After returning to America and undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatments, followed by two harrowing 7-hour surgeries and months of convalescence, Yitzchok was told that the “monster” had been licked.
While regaining his strength he stayed in Brooklyn, close to his wife’s family. He used the opportunity to visit his elderly grandparents as often as possible. “He would come to visit us all the time, always with a sweet smile that made his face light up,” his grandmother recalled. “From when he was a little boy he had that special chayn. Just to see him made you feel happy.”
Less than a year after his ordeal, Yitzchok returned to Eretz Yisroel with his wife and children. It was a thrilling homecoming. He felt he had been granted a new lease on life, and the privilege of being able to return to his yeshiva and his chavrusahs filled him with boundless joy.
Friends say they can never forget the way he threw himself into his old learning schedule with a longing and a thirst that could not be quenched. The months he had been in “exile” had only sharpened and deepened his hunger for the Torah and ruchniyus of Eretz Yisroel.
Tragically, the persistent ache in his back turned out to be not a sprained muscle as he had thought but the return of the dreaded disease. The diagnosis this time was grim, but Yitzchok refused to relinquish his grip on faith. His roshei yeshiva, who knew of the discouraging prognosis the doctors had given him, were amazed at his resoluteness and serenity.
“He put his full trust in H-shem, that all would turn out for the best. He never missed a seder and he never came late,” testified one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Ohr at his levaya. “His hisgavrus was an inspiration to everyone around him.”
“In his quiet, modest way he reached for higher and higher levels of avodas H-shem. He would wake up long before dawn in order to have time to make hachonos before davening at neitz. He would take along a sefer to the hospital where he went for radiation treatments so that precious learning time would not be wasted,” recalled his brother-in-law.
Knowing how precarious his situation was, he developed a keen sensitivity to the value of each and every minute of life. He would bring along a shiur on tape to listen to while having an MRI taken. He couldn’t bear to see valuable minutes and hours of his life wasted, or not utilized to the fullest.
A cousin recalled that she caught the same bus with him every morning from Har Nof. “It was a twenty-minute ride and he literally never looked up from his sefer the entire time,” she said.
“That sefer was a special Chumash he learned from each day on the ride to and from yeshiva,” his wife explained. “When the bus ride became too painful for him and he had to travel by taxi instead, he was disappointed that the taxi ride was so quick, it robbed him of several minutes of his Chumash seder.”
A sister who was in seminary in Israel reflected on the many hours she spent in her brother’s home. “Especially after he got sick again, I was there constantly,” she said. “I saw so many things about him… how medakdek he was never to speak loshon hora. Once some people had come to visit him and the conversation turned to something a certain person had done or said and people were laughing. Ytizchok quietly slipped out of the room and came back only when someone changed the subject. Nobody noticed, but I saw how it hurt him to hear someone laughing at another person’s expense.”
His wife joked that she was always in the dark about family politics on her husband’s side because Yitzchok avoided loshon hora and never discussed others’ private matters.
Some of the unusual lengths he went to in pursuit of ehrlichkeit were discovered only after his petirah. One such discovery concerned a $95 charge by El Al for an overweight suitcase. The airline informed him at the early check-in that he would be charged at the gate the following day when he came to board the plane. Airline workers must have forgotten to file the information for when he passed through the boarding gate the next day, nothing was said about the overweight charge.
The incident was apparently forgotten by all. Only after the petirah did a family member chance across a copy of a letter written by Yitzchok to El Al Airlines. In the letter he wrote that a $95 charge was still outstanding for an overweight suitcase, and asked for a bill so that the balance could be paid up.
When matters worsened to the point where he was in danger of becoming paralyzed, he flew back to America for complicated, life-threatening surgeries. His suffering was indescribable but his Emunah and Bitachon sustained him.
The chemotherapy treatments made him so ill he couldn’t get off the bed. “He didn’t complain about feeling sick, but would cry to me that he felt so guilty for not being able to learn,” his wife, Chani, said.
When medical solutions proved ineffective against the relentless spread of the disease, Yitzchok battled on with the only weapons that truly count, the weapons of faith.
“Are you nervous? Please don’t be nervous,” he consoled his family. “I’m in H-shem’s hands. He knows what’s good for me.”
His dikduk b’mitzvos never faltered. He had always been makpid to wear a belt when he davened. Now, due to spinal surgery he could no longer bend or reach over to pick up his belt. “I came into the room and saw that he had made use of a long rod that was nearby, in place of a belt,” a family member said. “Even when he was so weak and racked with pain, he tried to maintain the standards of kedusha that were so important to him.” He had his own list of names of cholim that he davened for faithfully. The list started out small, but with his transfer from Lennox Hill to Sloan Kettering, its numbers jumped frighteningly.
Back in Eretz Yisroel, his many friends drove themselves to find zechusim for his recovery. A sheet was hung up in the Yeshiva Torah Ohr asking for volunteers to take upon themselves to learn a minimum of one hour a day without speaking a single mundane word.
“The sheet was crammed with at least a hundred signatures,” said a friend.
Friends made special minyonim by the kosel, where they begged for rachamim on behalf of a beloved chaver, and took on special kabolos as a zechus for him.
When his condition turned critical, family and yedidim crowded the hospital room, desperate to hold on to him. Their Tehilim, their prayers and tears shook the walls.
In anguish they said krias shema with him, watching with shattered hearts as Yitzchok took leave of those who loved and cherished him and returned his lofty soul to His Maker.
Article # 2
Tzaddik Be’emunaso Yichyeh
An Appreciation of RebYitzchok Zelig Hirsch z”l
By Avrohom Younger
Unfortunately, I never knew Yitzy Hirsch. But I’ll never forget him.
Why? Because he was a plain, average guy – like most of us.
Why? Because despite the fact that he was regular and normal, he was a ben alia and a mushlam.
He didn’t know shas by 15. He wasn’t giving shmuessen by 22. He was neither a rebbi nor a mashgiach, but he was influencing others years before he fell ill.
He did more in 26 years than many others do in 70.
I didn’t know Yitzy Hirsch while he was alive, but I’ve been inspired by just hearing from people who did. And I am deeply indebted to the friends and family members who gave me a glimpse of this extraordinary young man.
I can’t do Reb Yitzchok Zelig Hakohen Hirsch justice, but – after speaking to people for hours and reviewing scores of pages of stories and memories – I would like to share some vignettes that I believe convey who he was – and what we can learn from him.
Who was Yitzchok?
As a bachur, he was the one who made it his business to buy a cake for each bachur on that fellow’s birthday. And when someone was once overlooked, he skipped most of his supper to make sure to get one.
He was the one who would be at seder on time – even when undergoing radiation therapy – and would learn straight through, without a break.
He was the one whose pursuit of emes knew no limitations. Whose Emunas Chachomim was absolute.
He was the one who changed the lives of those who knew him – and those who only now are getting to.
He is a lesson in what we – you and I – can achieve, if only we have the will and determination.
A Mentsch with a Golden Heart
Yitzy was an uncomparable masmid, but he was also an uncompromising mentch.
He knew that his wife was his partner in his achievements. So though he got up before dawn so he could squeeze in another seder, he watched the children before morning seder and during lunch to allow his wife to rest.
He was the one who bathed his daughter until she was seven months old.
And he was the one whose last words were a final “Thank you” to his wife.
But his chessed and sensitivity went out to everyone – family and stranger alike.
His sister was studying in Eretz Yisroel, and she mentioned to him that her teacher was facing a serious medical problem. Without knowing who the woman was, Yitzy immediately began a fund to pay for the teacher’s needs.
This wasn’t his only “case,” each one chosen in consultation with his Roshei Yeshivah and Rabbonim. When he went to collect money for these people, it was never for “his” cause but to help him raise money at Rav so-and-so’s request.
Like most married Bnei Torah in Eretz Yisroel, Yitzy and his wife struggled to make ends meet. They had arranged to bring some merchandise from America to sell, but then Yitzy heard that someone else in Har Nof was selling similar products. The young couple quickly abandoned their venture.
Yitzy, always looking for new opportunities to learn, joined an Erev Shabbos Kollel that offered a stipend. There was one catch — his Chavrusah was more comfortable learning near his own home. Yitzy changed venues – and, unbeknownst to his chavrusah – forfeited this “kollel check.”
As Yitzy was rushed from Eretz Yisroel to America the last time, he knew that he was headed for dangerous emergency surgery. When his sister began to cry, it was he who comforted her and tried to put her mind at ease.
Yitzy didn’t just love others, everyone who met him loved him as well. His friends were dedicated and devoted, and they did everything they could to be with him and help him.
It is no wonder that over 1,500 participated in his levaya, which was held in America but included a telephone hookup to Yerushalyim. His Roshei Yeshivah and friends there wanted – needed – to give kovod acharon to Yitzchok Zelig Hirsch, whose genuine Ahavas chaverim made everyone his chaver.
The Eved Hashem
To truly be an Oveid Hashem means to totally dedicate yourself to His will. And no one did that better than Yitzchok Hirsch.
Long before he ever got sick, his friends knew that he was an eved Hashem par excellence. Through his tefillah, through his dikduk b’mitzvos, and through his hasmadah, it was evident that he lived “Shivisi Hashem l’negdi tamid.”
He was always at seder on time. And there ready to learn.
Yitzy had an early morning seder with his brother-in-law Shlomie Kahn. Yitzy lived further away from the Kollel Boker than most of the other yungerleit, but he was there punctually every morning. He would arrive drenched with sweat, but he was there for business – no coffees, no small talk, no “unwinding.”
When he was undergoing radiation treatments in Israel, he scheduled them for bein hasedarim. He would return home, rest for a short while, and return to Yeshiva – in time for Second Seder. It took great effort on the part of his Rosh Yeshiva to convince him to take a longer break.
Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivah were Yitzy’s beacons along the path of life. He maintained close relationships with his Rabbeim and Roshei Yeshivah, and his Rabbanim here in the States.
His kavod Hatorah and emunas chachamim were exceptional. He wouldn’t make any move without consulting with gedolim, and once they gave their p’sak, he fulfilled their directives to the T.
He once had a complicated she’eilah which he discussed with Rav Moshe Silberberg, shlita. The two – who had never before spoken – quickly formed a fast bond. When Yitzy later fell ill and was in Nyack Hospital, Rav Silberberg was a frequent visitor, bringing simcha and encouragement.
Each of his tefillos were infused with kavannah even before he got sick. And his relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu was only enhanced by his illness.
He had just gone through a 6-7 hour back surgery, when he realized that it was nearly shkiah. He tied a belt around his waist and, despite his pain, insisted on davening.
His brother-in-law, who was there at the time, couldn’t get over the sight of Yitzy standing, oblivious to the pain and discomfort, pouring out his heart to like a servant before his master.
When he learned, he learned as though his life depended on it. No word or phrase could be passed up – every word and nuance had to be fully understood. And he translated his learning into action. Whether it was a lesson from a gemara or an idea from a sefer machshavah Yitzy translated the abstract into the practical. Because it was the Dvar Hashem, and he was the quintessential eved Hashem.
Next door to Yitzy’s home in Har Nof was the minyan where he davened Shacharis.
As a Kohen, he ascended to duchan every day, together with other kohanim.
Yitzy learned that there was a shul some distance away that didn’t have a kohen – so he undertook the daily trip so that these Yidden, too, could have the berachos of bircas kohanim.
But there’s more – he learned that there may be a difference between one kohen duchaning and several. Yitzy was not satisfied until he got a psak from Rav Eliyashiv about how to proceed.
Even as he confronted his own illness, Yitzy never lost sight of others. A friend noticed that during Shemoneh Esrei Yitzy would inconspicuously take out a small piece of paper – with the names of others who needed a refuah.
The Mekabel Yesurim
Invariably, people who came to visit Yitzy left encouraged and heartened. Friends, family, Rabbonim, were all moved by his emunah and bitachon. Others going through similar circumstances drew strength from this amazing person.
During the shivah, parents of Yitzy’s friends recounted how happy and inspired their sons were when they came home from visiting Yitzy in the hospital. Other patients confided how it was Yitzy’s encouragement that kept them from losing hope.
But there one story that may best capture the essence of Yitzy Hirsch.
Yitzy’s first bout with cancer had him in America for about a year. Finally, after Pesach last year, he was able to return to Eretz Yisroel.
During the summer, he began to experience a sharp pain in his back, which was quickly diagnosed as a relapse. He was diagnosed on a Friday, and over Shabbos the decision was made to fly him in to America for surgery.
His cousin Elimelch Schon recalls what he saw that night: I was going to America with my family for BeinHazmanim. As we approached our seats on the plane, I saw Yitzy and his family there – and I was terrified.
I knew that it was only several weeks earlier that they had returned from America after a year of treatments. We were hoping that everything was fine now. Was it possible that something had gone terribly wrong?
One look at Yitzy’s face put me at ease. He was so calm and cheerful. He gave me such a hearty “Shalom Aleichem.” This man wasn’t acting sick. I convinced my self that they, too, were coming to the States for Av.
But my initial fears were confirmed as Yitzy softly explained that he was on his way to America for emergency surgery. He wasn’t even sure which hospital he would be going to.
Yitzy explained that he was delighted to see that I was seated near his family. Because of his health, he had to sit in Business Class, but his family was in Coach. He was concerned about who would be available to help his wife with the children over the course of the long flight.
I was dumbfounded. Here was a man rushing to America for and emergency operation. He wasn’t sure where he was going. He and his family were leaving with no prior notice. They had to pack up all their belongings and rush to the airport. Yet here he was, calm and reserved with only one concern: Who would help his wife.
His emunah was steadfast. And his only concern was for others.
A Rich Legacy
Yitzchok leaves behind a rich legacy. It is a legacy for all of us.
His friends have given some of these lessons form by establishing a night Kollel in Lakewood in his name. In Eretz Yisroel, they have dedicated the Erev Shabbos/ Shabbos kollel l’zecher nishmaso.
But Yitzy and, yibadel l’chaim tovim, his wife have given each of us a legacy and responsibility. They have shown that every one of us can scale great heights. And they have shown what we can do if we but realize our own potential.
Throughout his life, Yitzy always looked for the good in others.
Certainly in shamayim he will be a meilitz Yosher for his devoted wife and partner, Chani, for his children Shana and Chaim Yehuda, and for his devoted family and friends who spared no effort to help and be with him.
And may he be a meilitz yosher for all of us as well, v’lo nosif l’daavah od.
We would like to thank the following people who contributed stories and insights for this article: Heshy Eissenberg, Yehoshua Gold, Shloimie Kahn, Reuvain Medelovitz, Elimelach Schon, and others.
Posted 11/12/2002 by Anonymous
By request of Shimy, I'm going to add my two cents...
As a start I would like to set up a corner, where everyone will have information about himself, where he lives, where he works/learns, his website (if he has one) etc. Firstly, this makes it a more interesting x-torah-ore site with more than just a list of names. Secondly, it serves the main purpose of us guys really keeping in touch. (That way, for example, as Nachum Langsner says, if I end up by mistake in Pennsylvania, I will have somewhere to stay, or when you need a cellphone in israel, you know where to come to... !!).
What do you guys think about this idea? Can anyone help setting it up ? Shimy claims (even though he's doing a great job so far) that he's not a progammer, and right now only uses the tools supplied by the site. Please post your thoughts in the "Comment" link below. Thanks.
P.S. Anyone who would like to post articles on the site, should contact Shimy to receive a username.
Mr. Hirsch, Yitzy's father, asks that everybody that has stories, anecdotes, or memories of Yitzy, please share them with Yitzy's family by sending an email to him at solhirsch@hirschcpa.com
If you would like to share anything here on the board, please send it to me and I will post it here on the site.
Also, if anyone has a digital picture of Yitzchok I would like to try and put one up on the side of this site. Again, please send it to me.
Mazel tov to Efraim Kaplan and his Kallah on their Chassuna last night.
I met some more ex-torah ore guys and this idea is starting to get stronger and stronger. I also had the opportunity to catch up with Rav Mordechai Dolinsky, who I haven't spoke with in a long time. He told me about his book - Don't Judge a book by it's Cover, for people involved in the parsha of shidduchim.
Rav Mordechai also mentioned that he will be having a "mesiba" at the house of Avrumi Flam in Lakewood on Motzei Shabbos. His address is 1501 Pine Park Avenue, Lakewood. You can also call Avrumi at 732-364-5975.
I also got a few new emails for our directory - Dovi Wachsler, Avi Finkel, Moshe Ingber, and Yehuda Tov will be added to the list shortly. As usual, if you have any other names and email addresses that I don't have yet, please email them to me.
Also, I have gotten a few comments from people that the name "Chabura" sounds too serious and people will not want to contribute. Rather, I should use something less intimidating like "Vort" or something along those lines. What do you guys think about that? Please post your comments in the comment link below. Thanks.
Thank you all for your great feedback.
Based on all the positive feedback I'm getting, a few things are clear.
1.You guys are interested in keeping in touch with all the "old chevra" from Torah Ore (and Sharei Chaim)
2. People have requested that we make learning and torah exchange part of this site
3. Many of you would like to see this site (or a part of it) dedicated to Yitzchok Hirsch, Z"L.
Therefore I have come up with the following idea, please tell me what you guys think.
"Virtual Chabura"
Here is how it would work:
Each week someone else "gives" the chaburah and it gets posted here. It can be on any topic, perhaps related to the weeks parsha, perhaps not, and then everybody makes comments, and discusses the chaburah of the week.
This will accomplish a few things:
1. It will be a tremendous zechus for all of us to continue learning LZ"N Yitzy's neshama
2. It gives us an area to get together and communicate each week
3. Adds some extra learning time to our limited learning schedules (some of us anyway.)
Please let me know what you think of this.
I'm starting to get mixed feedback about this site, so before I go nuts trying to figure out whether this is going to work or not, I'm going to turn this loose and let you guys decide.
If you would like to be an editor to post stuff to this part of the site please let me know and I will give you the rights to do so. Otherwise, please feel free to post any information on the Bulleting board on the left.
If you have any ideas you can either post them on the board or send me an email, and I will try to consider them all.
As Shabsi Cohen suggested, I am working on dedicating part of this site LZ"N Yitzchok Hirsch, please let me know if you have any good ideas.
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