Oholei Torah Students Learn 25,979 Lines Of Tanya

25,979 LINES OF TANYA MEMORIZED IN THE TANYA BAAL PEH HEVRON LEARN-A-THON

Students who thought they could only memorize a few lines, memorized a few pages. Those who expected to learn a few pages, learned a few Perakim. During recess the hallways became filled with Talmidim practicing their lines while older Bochurim Farhered those ready to add more lines to their total. All this took place from Chuf Daled Teves until Rosh Chodesh Adar, for the Tanya Baal Peh Hevron Learn-a-thon of third through fifth grades in Oholei Menachem, in which sponsors specified a set amount for each line memorized. The money will be given to the Rebbe’s Shliach in Hevron, Rabbi Danny Cohen, for projects for children in the Holy City of Hevron, the first Chabad capital city in Eretz Yisroel. The website chevronlearnathon.com was set up to facilitate the sponsoring of lines. The site will remain active until the final testing is done.

“The advantage of this particular Baal Peh contest is that the students retain all the material they learn,” explains Rabbi Pinchos Rapoport, principal of Grades 3-5. “Unlike most Baal Peh programs where a child is tested on a few lines and then moves on to the next few lines, in this contest, the boys were given incentives to constantly review the lines they already learned. As the program reaches its final stage, each Talmid will be re-tested on all the material he has learned.”

For Yechezkiel Yerushalmi the re-testing means repeating 663 lines of Tanya and Shneur Majesky will be tested on 651 lines.

Each week reports were posted in the Yeshiva hallways to let the boys know how many lines each boy had learned; which boys made the biggest increase during that week; and the total value of the lines in terms of money pledged to Hevron. Amongst themselves the students enjoyed competing, as individuals and by class, to see who could increase by the most lines each week. The actual total number of lines that were memorized during the program is 25,979.

Many generous friends of Oholei Menachem and of Hevron, donated prizes to inspire the boys to learn more lines. In addition to the prizes from the community, such as: free pizza at Kingston Pizza compliments of Shlomo Lehrer and at The Kretchme, compliments of Yossel Mochkin; plus oodles of Toffuti treats and drinks… in addition to all this, Shliach Cohen sent key chains, caps and T-shirts all the way from Hevron, imprinted with pictures of Maaras HaMachpela and the name Hevron. But the most coveted prize remains the Chitas from Hevron with a leather cover, engraved with a picture of Maaras HaMachpela.

During the contest, pictures of the Holy sites of Hevron adorned the halls of Oholei Menachem. There were pictures of children learning in Maaras HaMachpela, pictures of the resting place of Rebbitzen Menucha Rochel – the daughter of the Alter Rebbe who lived in Hevron in the 1800’s – and pictures of soldiers putting on Tefillin. There were even pictures of soldiers learning Tanya in front of Maaras HaMachpela and at the Kollel Menucha Rochel, taken especially to show the students of Oholei Menachem appreciation for their hard work and persistence.

As a special surprise, each participant received a postcard from Hevron sent by Rabbi Cohen, praising them for their learning Tanya and through that learning, benefiting the children of Hevron. “Kol HaKavod to the Talmidim of Oholei Menachem, true soldiers in the Rebbe’s army. I salute them,” said Rabbi Cohen, himself an officer in the IDF. “The children of Hevron will be benefiting directly from children in Crown Heights learning Tanya. What an amazing way to prepare for Moshiach!”

In addition to the prizes and surprises, the students were provided with learning tools to help them to memorize as many lines as possible. The most popular learning tools were the CD’s of the Perakim of Tanya, spoken by Rabbi Levi Garelik in a student-friendly fashion, recorded Mr. Yonasson Hackner and copied by fifth grader Mendy Karp of Kol-Avrohom.com. The design and printing for the CD covers and the many other printed paraphernalia for the Learn-a-Thon was designed by Gershon Eichorn of Spotlight Design and printed by Eli Friedman and Meshulam Rosenblat of Virtual Imaging.

More than 1,000 CD’s were given out to the students in the Yeshiva as well as to others who heard about the CD’s and wanted to learn from them. The CD’s were divided into tracks to make it easy for the Talmidim to find the place they were up to and not have to start at the beginning or search for a place on a tape. Some of the Rebbes in Oholei Menachem put aside a few minutes each day to play the CD’s in the classroom. The children would say the Tanya along with the CD, first with the text open and looking in, next with the text open but not looking in the whole time and finally saying it with the text closed… each child at the level he himself was comfortable with.

Eight grade Bochurim gave up their recess to Farher the Talmidim. When asked how he felt about using his own recess to test boys in their achievements of Tanya Baa Peh, Shmuel Slonim, a descendant of Rebbitzen Menucha Rochel, said he felt it was a great Zechus, a great merit, to be able to be involved with the learning of Tanya by children.

With each line they memorized, the Talmidim earned Tanya dollars, currency designed by Avremel Reinitz of Beis Moshiach, with pictures of the Alter Rebbe and our holy places and well known P’sukim, such as “Who is Rich; One Who is Happy with His Lot.” The dollars started as singles and two dollar bills, but before long fives, tens and twenties were minted. The dollars will be legal tender for the prizes at the end of the Learn-a-thon. Oholei Menachem Adminstrator, Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld – who over decades has been the driving force to establish the foundation and spiritual infrastructure for many projects such as this Learn-a-thon – spoke about the advantageous qualities of the project: “There have always been a small group of boys who would lead their class in Mishnayos Baal Peh. There was no incentive for other boys to learn because they knew which boys would walk away with the prizes. But this contest is different. Each child gets his own sponsors. These sponsors usually know the tendencies of the student and gauge their amount per line accordingly. So a boy who is expected to learn very few lines, might be sponsored for $10 a line. When this boy memorizes his few lines, he is eligible for a Tanya dollars and prizes, but even more important… he knows that the money he earns will be going to Hevron. This is a tremendous boost for self esteem!

“One pleased parent told me that her son would never learn more than a few lines,” continued Rabbi Rosenfeld. “But with this program he has learned a tremendous amount of Tanya Baal Peh.

“The main thing is making school a place the children want to run to and to make learning Torah an Avoda of love with a strong connection to the Rebbe.”

In addition to personal sponsors, generous Chassidim, friends, family and members of the community, have agreed to sponsor those boys who were unable to get sponsors on their own.

At the end of the first stage of the project, Shliach Cohen called the ten boys who had memorized the most lines. “I wanted them to know,” said Cohen, “that the money coming from this project is different from other money. All our Rebbeim cared so much about Hevron, and for children in the Rebbe’s Shunah to memorize the Tanya of the Alter Rebbe and turn that into funds for Hevron, these funds are for sure going to help us B’Gashmius and B’Ruchnius. In the merit of their learning and on behalf of Rebbitzen Menucha Rochel, I invite all the boys to come visit Hevron. You will be our most honored guests.”

Yossi Lieberow from Flatbush is in Rabbi Goldstein’s fifth grade class. He memorized 329 lines. “I learn both at home and at school. I do it because it makes you smarter and it is important for the Neshama.” Yossi’s classmate Nissan Wilmovsky has learned 371 lines. He says, “Every Jew is supposed to learn Tanya. It is the right thing to do.”

The Tanya Baal Peh Hevron Learn-a-Thon is a project of Oholei Menachem, under the direction of Rabbi Velvel Karp. It was made possible by the Rabkin family in honor of the memory of Eliyahu ben Avraham Aaron and Meir ben Eliyahu.