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Tanya B’al Peh Champions Win Trip to New York

Miami, FL — It was a competition like no other, with a prize like no other.

Lubavitch Elementary School’s Tanya B’al Peh contest, for the first time since the school’s establishment, awarded free trips to visit the Rebbe in New York to eleven students who learned the most lines of Sefer Tanya by heart. The project, which captured the enthusiasm of the entire elementary school, resulted in a total of over 3,500 lines of Tanya learned by the student body of 275.

More pictures in the Extended Article!

Some students were motivated by the possibility of winning a trip to New York, having never been to Lubavitch Headquarters, or the Ohel, where the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, was laid to rest on the 3 rd of Tammuz in 1994. Others were inspired by the challenge of learning by heart as many lines as possible. Either way, students were willfully giving up there recess, lunch and PE breaks to be able to learn as much as possible.

The Tanya B’al Peh contest was instituted in honor of the Alter Rebbe, founder of the Chabad movement and author of Sefer Tanya, which is considered the fundamental text of Chabad-Lubavitch philosophy. The contest was also held in honor of the Lubavitcher Rebbe 105th birthday, and in memory of the three Israeli yeshiva students who recently lost their lives in a car accident on their way to do mivtzoyim—acts of encouraging other Jews to do the Torah commandments. The project began the day after their tragic passing.

Each day students in grades 1 – 6 patiently waited in line to be tested by one of the staff members, and have their points recorded. Even preschool students, who were not officially in the contest, after witnessing the excitement of their older siblings for the project, learned lines on their own and asked to be tested. According to Rabbi Yakov Garfinkel, project coordinator, one parent said, “ Tanya Bal Peh really does have an effect on a person’s surroundings. My preschoolers don’t stop rattling off Tanya, because of their older siblings.”

In the elementary school, students from as young as first grade completed an entire chapter. Any preconceptions one may have had of how young children are not fond of memorizing were proven false by the Tanya B’al Peh contest. With over 95 % of the student body participating, this was an effort to bring Moshaich that no child wanted to miss out on. To give a boost to those students for whom memorizing presents a significant academic challenge, the program offered an opportunity to get extra points through “ Tanya Dart Baseball.”

The goal of learning Tanya B’al Peh, as instructed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is to help spiritually purify the world with the intention of bringing Moshiach. Children of all ages, inspired by this objective, gave their best effort to stand by the Rebbe, with these words as their motto: “Yogaity u’matzosi, ta’amin ”—“If one says, ‘I have worked and I have succeeded,’ (only then) believe him.”

At the conclusion of the contest one child handed in his well-used and frayed Tanya on which he had written in bold letters: “I AM BRINGING MOSHIACH NOW.”

Contest winners from the elementary boys were 2nd grader Zevi Bortunk, 3rd grader Menachem Mendel Rubin , 4th graders Menachem Amar, Menachem Benacoun, Sholom Dovber Korf, 5th grader Levi Goldstein and 6th grader Levi Rosenfeld .

Girl winners were 2nd grader Rivka Rosenwasser, 3rd graders Rivka Donin , Esther Rosenfeld , and 5th grader Mimi Eig.

The message was clear, the children responded, and many of them were awarded the chance to stand by the Rebbe and say “Mission accomplished.”

The Lubavitch Educational Center is part of the Friends of Lubavitch of Florida network of 127 Chabad centers throughout the state of Florida. Through the tireless effort of its director Rabbi Benjy Korf and principal Mrs. Chaya Sara Dalfin the Lubavitch Educational Center has become a beacon for South Florida Jewish education.

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