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Classmates Mourn Mashpia at 50-Year Reunion
Several classmates who studied at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Newark, NJ, which later relocated to Morristown, gathered at the home of their colleague Rabbi Yehudah Clapman in Crown Heights to reminisce about their time spent together in Yeshiva and remember their beloved Mashpia who just passed away, Rabbi Elimelech Zweibel, OBM.
The gathering marks 50 years since they arrived at the Yeshiva in the fall of 5727 (1966). It was Rabbi Zweibel’s second year at the institution, having arrived there to teach in the fall of 5726 (1965) as its first official Mashpia.
The former classmates also remembered their late colleague, Rabbi Shmuel Hecht, OBM, Shliach to Burlington, VT, who passed away 40 years ago at the young age of 30. They would often gather together on his yahrtzeit, Beis Adar Aleph.
The Yeshiva at Newark was created as an intermediary Yeshiva, meant to fill the two-year gap between the Mesivta at Bedford and Dean, from which students graduated at 16, and the central Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in 770 – which didn’t admit students below the age of 18.
BDE, Tremendous Gaon
I remember Rav Zweibel when I was in Morristown. He had what I would describe as a contemplative, strong, yet anav personality. He was a great Chacham in Talmud, and especially Chasidus.
Rabbi Y. Greenberg told a story that R. Zweibel was once asked where you can find a certain topic in Chasidus. He said like, “How should I know where it is?” The student then responded like, “Come one, really.” Then he relented and said, “You can find it in such and such sefer on such and such page.”