Young Shluchim Meet Their “Big Brothers”
Most weeks, Mendel sees Berel on a screen.
Mendel, a Young Shliach homeschooled in Southeast Asia, learns each week with Berel, a Bochur in Yeshivah thousands of miles away. They learn a sicha, talk, and spend time together. For Mendel, the calls connect him with another person who understands what it means to grow up on Shlichus.
This past Thursday night, he could finally sit across the table from him.
Around them, hundreds of Young Shluchim filled the Oholei Torah cafeteria. Boxes of glazed donuts sat beside printed learning booklets and prizes. Boys who knew each other from weekly calls, online classes, and farbrengens spotted familiar faces across the room and met in person.
Ach Sheli, MyShliach’s mentorship program, pairs boys ages 9 to 13 on Shlichus with older mentors for weekly learning. The boys learn at their own level, but over time, the chavrusa often becomes much more than a learning partner.
“The learning gives them something meaningful to do together, but the relationship goes beyond the sicha or mishna,” said Rabbi Avremi Wolvovsky, Director of MyShliach’s Ach Sheli Initiative at Merkos 302. “The mentor becomes someone the boy knows he can talk to, ask questions, and turn to.”
For a Young Shliach who may live far from other boys his age, having a mentor who calls every week can make a real difference.
The same is true for the 230 boys who join MyShliach’s Yeshivas Erev each night. From their homes around the world, they log on to learn, farbreng, and spend time with one another. During the Kinus, those same boys sat side by side in Oholei Torah and learned with the teachers they usually see online.
MyShliach keeps those connections going in other ways too. Boys can join farbrengens and classes through its online portal, while the MyShliach Tzeitung, a biweekly magazine, highlights the lives and activities of Young Shluchim in communities around the world.
For a boy who may live far from other Young Shluchim his age, the Tzeitung gives him a chance to see what other shluchim kids around the world are doing in their communities.
“MyShliach’s goal has always been to connect Young Shluchim with a global community of friends through Torah learning and innovative programs such as Ach Sheli,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, Executive Director of Merkos 302.
On Thursday night, those long-distance relationships became much more tangible. Chavrusas leaned over the same pages, classmates sat side by side, and boys who had spent months learning together from afar could finally share the same room.
“Computer screens came to life when the many virtual chavrusas sat together on Thursday evening,” said Rabbi Mendy Shanowitz, Director of MyShliach at Merkos 302. “When they return home and get on their weekly call, it’s as if they’re sitting across from each other again.”
