When A Bochur Considers Transferring To a New Yeshiva
“It’s not easy to find the right yeshivah for your son,” said Rabbi Mayer Preger, father of a graduating bochur at Mesivta Lubavitch Miami, to the assembled crowd.
He was speaking to the 82 bochurim and their fathers at their chag hasiyum event, marking another wonderful year of learning and growth.
They had just heard from several bochurim who highlighted the great strides they had taken in their learning and their achievements. Like Rami Antian, a bochur in shiur alef, who noted, “When we first started learning morning Chassidus, we were having very little chavrusah time. By the end of the year, we were learning all the material independently.”
They had also enjoyed a performance of nigunim by the Mesivta’s shiur alef nigunim orchestra, led by Mr. Aron Margolis. The bochurim have taken either music or safrus lessons as an elective for forty-five minutes a week, and this moment was the culmination of a year of honing their skills.
They had been gifted a beautiful booklet written by Rabbi Menachem Rappoport’s shiur gimmel bochurim, containing many of the pilpulim from the sugyos they learned in his shiur.
Many bochurim also made siyumim on the mesechtos they are learning in seder and over 20 bochurim completed one or more additional mesechtos during their own recess time.
And finally, the staff had been thanked by their grateful students: Magidei Shiurim Rabbis Moishe Schurder, Shuzy Karp, Levi Sharfstein, Menachem Rappoport, and Yaakov Brafman; General Studies principal Mrs. Judy Kitchner; eltere bochurim Rabbis Schneur Pruss, Sholom Ber Gerlitzky, Tzemach Sanowicz, Meir Blezinsky, Shua Slavin, Mendel Majeski, and Yosef Yeroshalmi; the bochurim shluchim who worked tirelessly on organizing programs, mivtzoyim, and farbrengens: Menchie Bluming, Yossi Harlig, Moishe Zweibel, Yossi Freundlich, Eitan Libersohn, and Arik Deren; the dorm counselors who also served as shluchim to LEC Elementary and Middle Schools: Mordechai Rubinstein, Doniel Benjamin, Zalman Turk, and Uziel Neparstek.
Now, Rabbi Preger was speaking on behalf of the parents. “There are so many different details that go into deciding on a yeshiva,” he continued. “The bochurim, the hanhalah, the atmosphere, the location—it’s got to be the right fit.”
That’s why, as his son’s first year in Mesivta was drawing to a close, he was considering transferring him to a different yeshiva, a new one that a good friend of his was opening out of town. “Even though Mendel was having such a great, successful year, we nevertheless thought that perhaps this option could be even better for him.”
So he asked his son what he thought, if he felt it might be beneficial for him to make the transfer.
“My son said, ‘For such a question, we need to ask the Rebbe.’”
“‘How should we do that?’ I asked.
“‘Of course, we must go to the Ohel,’ Mendel answered.
“Okay, I said, “and how would we get our answer?”
“Without hesitation, Mendel immediately responded, “Der Rebbe vet gefinen a veg—the Rebbe will find a way!”
“When I heard his response,” Rabbi Preger told the crowd, “I immediately knew that a yeshiva that imparts that level of hiskashrus and connection to the Rebbe is the perfect place for him to stay. And, baruch Hashem, the next two years were abundantly successful!”
Mesivta Lubavitch Miami continues to grow, not just in size and academic quality, but in physical space with a new $7 million campus soon to be completed.
“We wish our graduates a hearty mazel tov on completing their Mesivta journey and much hatzlacha in their next stage of learning,” says Rabbi Motti Schurder, menahel of Mesivta Lubavitch Miami with Rabbi Eily Smith. “We look forward to welcoming our new and returning students for another year in Elul, with Hashem’s help.”
