On Motza’ei Shabbos, Parshas MiKeitz, more than 300 friends and talmidim of Yeshiva Madreigas HaAdam assembled to celebrate their 24th Annual Dinner in the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills. As always, the presentation and program were magnificent. A gala feast catered by Upper Crust, along with a marvelous sushi bar from our wonderful benefactor Kevin Cohnen, of Eden Wok of the Upper West Side, ensured that everyone had a wonderful and enjoyable malaveh malkah, which they enjoyed without delay, thanks to the tremendous courtesy that the Yeshiva of Central Queens showed in offering our guests the use of their parking lot.

Rabbi Gilboa Merdinger, our illustrious Dinner Chairman, directed the program eloquently and succinctly. Representing the distinguished rabbanim of Hillcrest, who all came to honor the yeshivah, Rabbi Asher Schechter of Congregation Ohr Moshe opened the program with special words of hope and brachah for our brethren in Eretz Yisrael and led in the recitation of a perek of T’hilim.

Introducing the keynote speaker, the Rosh HaYeshiva, HaRav Moshe Faskowitz shlita, declared that at a time, like now, when we are all saddened and shaken, and our familiar, though false, sense of security shattered, we must reinforce our faith and bitachon. While we could not celebrate Simchas Torah on October 7, tonight we celebrate. In fact, we need to celebrate.

Rabbi Faskowitz proceeded to recount his experience in Eretz Yisrael at the start of the Six-Day War:

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Early, on the morning of June 5, 1967, while walking outside my yeshivah, the Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, the sirens suddenly blared. I quickly ran back to the yeshivah, where to my amazement I saw approximately 200 woman and little children already assembled on the steps of the yeshivah. Almost all of them were poor, non-religious Sefardim whose young husbands were in the army. They had rushed from their homes, desperate to find safe refuge.

I then observed an older man at the entrance wearing a volunteer civil defense uniform, yelling in Hebrew “Ha’k’nisah asurah b’hechlet!”– “Absolutely no entrance allowed.” The basement in the Mir is not a qualified shelter; it is not properly sandbagged or protected!” he yelled.

In that moment of chaos, at the top of the steps, stood this small and young Sefardi mother. She had a little girl of about seven holding onto her right hand, a little baby tucked under her arm. A toddler was also grasping her other hand.

And this tiny mother was yelling at the officer at the top of her lungs, the veins on her neck bulging:

“Lamah atah lo meivin? Anachnu rotzim rak ba’yeshivah! Tein l’hikaneis! Rak ba’yeshivah anachnu rotzim!!”

Why don’t you understand? We want only in the yeshivah! Let us in! We want only in the yeshivah!!

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At that grim and frightening moment, these desperate women and children knew what we all must understand. The only true safe haven and place of refuge is “rak ba’yeshivah.”

That is why we need to celebrate, come back, and join together with our Yeshiva, continued Rabbi Faskowitz. During this percolating madness of anti-Semitism and painful suffering, am Yisrael must declare ‘rak ba’yeshivah!’ Only by clinging to our Yeshiva will we endure and emerge in glory.

Rabbi Eytan Finer shlita, the Keynote Speaker, followed with a brilliant and entertaining presentation, beautifully explaining how the enthusiasm and passion that a yeshivah exhibits distinguishes it as a bastion of ruchniyus: that the talmidim and rebbeim must be relentless in their pursuit of growth in Torah and yir’as Shamayim, never to be satisfied and always seeking more, to be hungry to grow as a ben Torah regardless of one’s profession or life’s pursuit.

He brought the Gemara in Megillah, which says that in the future, incredible shiurim will be delivered to multitudes of talmidim in the greatest and largest coliseums and stadiums built by non-Jews. The reason we will go to grand places built by non-Jews, explained Rabbi Finer, is that a lesson may be learned from the champion athletes who perform there. Their supreme excellence is only because they push hard, not only during their exhibitions, but even during every moment that they practice, they passionately pursue excellence. If they are so dedicated to d’varim b’teilim, to mundane and truly meaningless pursuits, how much more so we must have intensity and ambition for Hashem’s Torah.

Rabbi Finer sprinkled his beautiful message with a plethora of stories and anecdotes that kept everyone mesmerized throughout.

Concluding the program, Rabbi Binyomin Grossman, Rosh Yeshiva of Madreigas HaAdam of North Miami Beach, made a dedication to the memory of Jonathan Roth z”l, an original talmid of the Yeshiva, who passed away shortly before Rosh HaShanah.

For 24 years, Yeshiva Madreigas HaAdam has contributed immensely to the Torah landscape in Queens and the collective Talmud Torah of klal Yisrael. Their hundreds of talmidim, musmachim, and members of the Korori Family Kollel have tremendously impacted the broader Jewish community. The Rosh HaYeshiva shlita has valiantly strived to extend the legacy of his hallowed great-grandfather, the Alter of Novardok, and his grandfather Reb Avrohom Yofen zt”l; HaRav Avraham Yitzchak Berman shlita, the Menahel and Rosh Kollel, continues to be a rebbi, leader, and inspiration to so many; Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Nierman shlita continues to produce the finest musmachim; and Rabbi Emil Korori shlita inspires the kollel to achieve the lofty levels of Torah b’iyun and shmaatsa aliba d’hilchesa.

We pray that Hashem allows the Yeshiva to continue its avodas ha’kodesh lichvod Shamayim.