TAMPA, Fla.— Supporters of Mosdos Pnei Menachem pledged $72,275,000 in a single evening toward the planned Pnei Menachem World Torah Center in Yerushalayim, led by the Rosh Yeshivah, Hagaon Harav Shaul Alter, shlita.

Harav Nachman Wideslavsky, executive director of Mosdos Pnei Menachem, announced the total at the Motzoei Shabbos dinner that concluded the third annual Chavrusa Convention.

About 150 philanthropists from across the Torah world attended the convention. They spent Shabbos learning and in discussion with the Rosh Yeshivah and his brother, Hagaon Harav Doniel Chaim Alter, shlita.

The plans for the new center were presented at the convention. The complex will be built on Rechov Torah MiTzion in central Yerushalayim, on the former site of the Israel Broadcasting Authority headquarters. Designed by architect R’ Aharon Ostreicher, it will house a large beis medrash and a heichal for tischen, along with shtieblach and mikvaos. It will also have dedicated space for talmidei chachamim and mechabrei sefarim, a Torah heritage center, simchah halls and other communal facilities. The center is meant to serve as a hub of Torah and chassidus for thousands of Yidden from Eretz Yisrael and abroad.

Harav Yisrael Stern of London chaired the dinner. Twenty-six pillars of the future beis medrash were dedicated at $1 million each, along with several other major dedications. By the end of the evening, pledges totaled $72,275,000. The funds will be transferred in stages as construction moves forward.

In his address, the Rosh Yeshivah spoke about turning the former broadcasting headquarters into a makom Torah. “From the very place where kefirah was once disseminated, the pure voice of Torah will now emanate,” he said, expressing his hope that the center would fulfill the words “Ki miTzion teitzei Torah, udvar Hashem miYerushalayim.”

The Rosh Yeshivah presented the benefactors with symbolic golden pillars in appreciation of their partnership.

The full project is estimated to cost between $180 million and $240 million. Mosdos Pnei Menachem is planning more fundraising and preparing for the next stages of construction.