2nd Day of 13th Yarchei Kallah in Yerushalayim

Today, they’re not so tired, they’ve already eaten breakfast and they’re not expecting any phone calls from the U.S. They all have chavrusos, the avira d’mach’kim of Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, a sevivah that’s conducive to learning, and top-tier shiurim throughout the day. Let’s now immerse ourselves in the yam shel Torah and shteig.

These are the sentiments that have been echoed by over 200 lomdim here in the Yarchei Kallah beis medrash as we continue our coverage at day two of Agudas Yisrael’s Yarchei Kallah in Yerushalayim.

Ein mezarzim ela limezurazim — the participants were treated to parparos shel chochmah from Harav Yaakov Avrohom Cohen, Chaver Beis Din of Harav Nissim Karelitz, shlita, who delivered a fascinating shiur b’hilchesa on the inyan of Shabbos elevators. He delighted the olam with keen insights into the sugya of meleches machsheves, especially highlighting the differences between the factors which govern hilchos nezikin and hilchos Shabbos. He quoted Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s chiddush  that the performance of a meleches Shabbos by means of koved or mishkol does not constitute an issur.

The shiur iyun with Harav Dovid Cohen, Rosh Yeshivah, Yeshivas Chevron, was now only just under an hour away, and this was critical preparation time.

And critical it was. The ris’cha d’Oraisa in the beis medrash was palpable. What a sight to behold: lomdim of all ages, from all walks of life, excitedly engaged in the sugya d’kalla. Such contentment, such hana’ah ruchani — what a breath of fresh air!

Harav Cohen’s shiur probed ever deeper into the sugya d’kalla. Harav Cohen examined the chilukim between psik reisha d’nicha lei and psik reisha d’lo nicha lei. He then highlighted some of the important differences between the two, demonstrating an amazing breadth and depth of insight into the sugya.

Harav Nissan Kaplan, a noted maggid shiur in Yeshivas Mir, Yerushalayim, delivered a fascinating halachah shiur that turned the Gemaras, Rishonim and Acharonim we’d been learning so far into halachah l’maaseh. He challenged the lomdim, citing multiple practical applications of the sugya d’kalla that affect our daily lives. Harav Kaplan clearly defined the parameters of the sugya and shed light on the halachah l’maaseh. This shiur was lively from beginning to end, with participants excitedly interjecting at numerous points. Participants lined up for over two hours after the shiur to ask questions.

The lomdim were then addressed by the Biale Rebbe of Yerushalayim, who delivered a profound and magnificent message extolling the virtues of baalei batim worldwide coming to drink from the springs of Toras Eretz Yisrael.

The olam was then zocheh to hear wonderful divrei chizuk v’hisorerus from Harav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Mir. He emphasized the importance of limud haTorah and the pivotal role it has played throughout the history of Klal Yisrael. The participants were especially glad to witness the continuation of a time-honored tradition of the Mirrer Rosh Yeshivah addressing the Yarchei Kallah.

The women’s program was treated to a shiur by one of the leading members of the kiruv movement in Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Dovid Refson, at Neve Yerushalayim in Har Nof, followed by an inspiring shiur given by Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi. In the afternoon the ladies were hosted by the Belzer Rebbetzin and then taken for a tour of the Belzer beis medrash.

This article appeared in print on page D30 of the January 16th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.