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1 Adar I 5763 - February 12, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Avos Ubonim Generates Spiritual Warmth During the Winter Months
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

Not even the blustery winds of winter could douse the warmth and the ruchniyus generated by over 42,000 Israeli talmidim who jammed nearly 700 shuls and yeshivas from Kiryat Shemoneh to Eilat during these past few months as part of the revolutionary Avos Ubonim learning program.

Avos Ubonim's "secret ingredient" for success is its relaxed weekly one-hour chavrusa-style atmosphere for boys and their fathers. Building or strengthening the familial bond between a son and a father is the essence not only of "productive learning" but also of familial tranquillity.

Derech eretz kodmoh laTorah. In today's fast-paced world, finding quality time -- even an hour -- is a major factor in determining the mental and spiritual integrity of the family unit.

Avos Ubonim, which is only six years old, rapidly discovered that Israeli children from across the religious and economic spectrums are not only motivated by the relaxed and gentle learning atmosphere, they are also energized by the generosity of the organization.

In fact, the positive word of mouth (sheim tov mishemen tov) generated by excited talmidim and fathers alike, even caught Avos Ubonim's hard-working staff off- guard.

"As part of our winter program, we gave a daily diary/luach (yoman) to each and every talmid. It is an invaluable link between all of the youngsters and a reminder of their weekly devotion to their studies," Avos Ubonim, Director Dovid Herskowitz claimed. "We had ordered 40,000 copies of the yoman just before the winter started, which was 3,000 more than what we thought needed, as we expected around 37,000 talmidim. But we were overwhelmed by the response to our learning program. We had almost 43,000 talmidim at our winter weekly sessions, meaning that we had to reorder another 3,000 copies of the yoman for Israel and a few hundred copies were even sent for talmidim who are part of the Avos Ubonim network in places like the USA, Holland, France etc. Much to our delight, we have had an enormous demand for our programs. Our yoman is what you would call a best-seller!"

This "volcanic eruption" of learning, as Rabbi Herskowitz likes to call it, is akin to the revolution created by the Daf Yomi project, which has spread all over the planet. Avos Ubonim is moving rapidly in the same direction with a daily demand to open new branches, not only in Israel but all over the globe. The organization is expanding to meet the demands of young Jewish boys who are not only "hungry" for enjoyable learning, but are yearning to feel the love between a father and his son as they study the holy texts in unison.

Well what is your next project?

Besides plans for producing the luach in English, Spanish and French for next year, we are currently putting all our efforts into Yeshivas Mordechai Hatzaddik on Purim led by Rabbi Naftali Meir Falk where we are expecting a record turnout of at least 50,000 children! More about that next time.

 

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