Thousands Attend Asifa on Technology for Boro Park Children

Few gatherings more justly deserve the title of what Chazal termed “an assembly l’shem Shamayim” more than the thousands of Boro Park children who came together to hear worlds of chizuk about the generation’s struggle with challenges arising from new technologies.

Held in City Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn and organized by the Ichud Hamenahalim and a group of askanim, the event brought together approximately 11,000 children from the fourth through eighth grades (kitos heh through tes) from nearly all of Boro Park’s chadarim.

“There was tremendous excitement,” one person who attended the event told Hamodia. “You stood in the parking lot and saw more and more busses coming with more and more heilige kinderlach getting off of them.”

The asifah was also attended by a large delegation of Boro Park’s leading Rebbes, Rabbanim, and marbitzei Torah whose presence highlighted the importance of the occasion.

The event follows a similar gathering held near Monsey last week.

Main speakers Harav Berel Tauber, R”M Yeshivas Ohr Torah, Monsey, and Harav Chaim Yaakov Rubin, Tsheshanover Rav of Boro Park. Both emphasized the pivotal role that children play in the generation’s struggles with the dangers posed by new technologies.

A central theme was that a child’s ability to hold himself back from engagement with improper devices is a measure of his inner strength and that by remaining pure of unwanted influences, a boy can live a life of what Chazal termed a “ben chorin,” one who is truly free.

“Children who came to this asifah didn’t just get chizuk from the drashos,” said the attendee. “The fact that they see they are part of such a big strong movement gives them the encouragement they need to strive for more and more kedushah.”