A Different Kind of Week: Custom Yeshiva Experience for Students on Break

The vision was simple: let students experience Yeshivah life firsthand. The idea for this program was hatched when Rabbi Moshe Plotkin called us up and said, “I have five guys who have a week off. Let’s give them a taste of real learning.” This is exactly the type of call we love getting from shluchim. It allows us to work together to shape an experience that is perfect for the specific students they know, tailored exactly to their level.

For half the day, the students lived like bochurim, and in the afternoons, they shifted into hands-on learning mode. The day began with Chassidus, led by the young and sought-after Mashpia, Rabbi Tzvi Dubinsky. The students then joined an engaging, beginner-level minyan where some students put tefilin on for the first time, followed by Hadar Hatorah classes and one-on-one learning. JJ Hecht and Eliel Louis, the yeshiva’s super-charged Talmidei shluchim, were the students’ guide throughout the week.

Each afternoon, after a packed leaning schedule the group headed out to explore Jewish life in motion. They heard from renowned shadchan Rebbetzin Shaina Katz at the Shidduch House, learned from sofer and Hadar Hatorah hanhala member Rabbi Velvel Fishman, and enjoyed a rooftop farbrengen with successful Chassidic businessman Rabbi Shalom Feldman. They also explored iconic Crown Heights institutions and stores, such as House of Glatt, Kol Tov, Zlatah Wigs, Primo Hatters & Kapota, Raskin’s Fish Market, Judaica World, Kehot, and much more.

This was the first Shavuos celebrated by many of the participants. They enjoyed seudahs with Rabbi Efraim Mintz from JLI, Mashpia Berel Korf, and others. Tahalucha took us to a small basement minyan in Williamsburg that was full of song and then to the magnificent central Pupa shul. Students agreed that it was like being transported into a new world. The end of Yom Tov was spent in 770 together with a sea of chasidim singing soul stirring nigunim. The program closed next day with a Kinus Torah, where everyone was able to share something they had learned or experienced throughout the week.

This powerful program happened because of one phone call from a shliach. His students got an authentic Yeshiva experience, learned about their Jewish heritage, and came home with a stronger Jewish identity. Hadar Hatorah is here for you to create the next Yeshiva experience for your students, feel comfortable to be in touch:

WhatsApp: 718-735-0250 or email: [email protected] Coming next is Torah Under the Sun summer program in the Catskill Mountains at Camp Shaloh! HadarHatorah.org/Summer