Hashem has His laughs; King David testifies to this in
Tehillim. And I dare presume He is enjoying a sweet
revenge these days as Mordechai is repeating history and
gathering all Jewish children to study Torah. On Purim of
all days! And who is providing the grand prizes? A firm in
Austria, birthplace of one of the most fiendish Hamans the
Jewish people has ever known. And how are we overcoming the
latter day Haman and stamping out his name? Through a stamp!
Some explanation is begging. We are talking about a blessed
project called Yeshivas Mordechai Hatzaddik, which is the
highlight of an ongoing effort to perpetuate and promote
Torah study as the Torah has mandated -- from father to son.
Ovos Uvonim, Fathers and Sons, is today an international
movement with 240 branches in Eretz Yisroel alone, some
20,000 children gathering in shuls for an hour of
study each week -- together with their fathers! Naturally,
the chareidi enclaves in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak top the
list with 67 and 37 branches respectively, but the network
reaches from Keshet up in Ramat Hagolan, through Tiberius,
Afula, Zichron Yaakov, Migdal Haemek, Beit Shean and on
down, down to the deep south of Israel, in some of the most
unlikely places!
"One tree can produce a million matches," quotes R' Naftoli,
"and one match can burn down a million trees." The idea had
a very humble beginning in a "small hick town in America"
but it fired the imagination of a young man who transported
it to Gateshead, where it blazed. From there, the idea
crossed the ocean to Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem, and today,
Fathers and Sons study weekly in Switzerland, Belgium, South
Africa, England, some seven thousand children in the U.S.
and Canada, with new branches sprouting all the time, each
self-sufficient but all interconnected. It does everyone's
heart good to see the generations flocking (tzon
kodoshim) to the central locus of a shul -- Fridays
in summer, motzei Shabbos in winter -- ofttimes grandfathers
joining in for the sheer nachas and pleasure of Torah
study. Treats are distributed and points towards a
meaningful prize after a period of steady attendance.
The grand climax is on Purim, a day hardly conducive to
study, but if you think about it, a day which screams Jewish
survival throughout the ages through our clinging to the
Torah! And so it was, that after Ovos Uvonim had become a
fact of life in so many communities, Yeshivas Mordechai
Hatzaddik came into being. Of course, there were scoffers at
first.
"This year," notes Rabbi Naftoli Falk who runs the Ezras
Torah branch in Jerusalem (which gathers some 240 children
under one roof) and coordinates the entire international
project, "we've ordered 25,000 prizes for Israel alone. And
I am afraid that it won't be enough." The delicious irony --
this year's prize, a personalized stamp with interchangeable
letters, has been ordered from the international firm of
Colop based in Austria. Needless to say, this is the largest
order they ever received!
At $4.50 per gift, this runs into a large sum. But Rabbi
Falk's mentor, HaRav Arye Finkel, shrugs off the financial
burden with a smile. "I guarantee you'll cover it before
Purim is over."
Donors do not lack. There is a special feeling for this
project. One particular donor who had not had children for
twelve years, gave a substantial sum one year -- and was
blessed with twins nine months later.
Anyone interested in opening a branch (or giving a donation,
for that matter), can contact Rabbi Falk on his cellphone:
058-605373 or write to him at Ezrat Torah 19, Jerusalem,
95320.
