By Chaim Gordon
, that the Kollel is named for him. An
impressive crowd of Bnei Torah attended the yahrzeit gathering at Bais Hamedrash
Khal Primishlan, the home of the Kollel.
Harav Shlomo Herbst Shlita, Rav and Av Bais Din of Bais Hamedrash Premishlan opened the asifa. Harav Herbst Shlita spoke about the honor it is for them to have the Kollel in their Bais Medrash, and how they enjoy upon entering the Bais Medrash to hear the strong Kol Torah coming from the Avreichim in the Kollel.
The next speaker was Moron Hagaon Hagodol Harav Elazar HaKohain Kahanow
Shlita Rosh Yeshivah, Mesifta Torah Vodaath, the son and Talmid Muvhok of the
great gaon and tzaddik Rav Uri Meir .
The Rosh Yeshiva delivered a profound halacha shiur of his father ,
and spoke of his gaonus and tzidkus. How at twenty years old he was boki
in the whole Torah, and how he was then honored as a great gaon in Yerushalayim
and when later he had to leave Eretz Yisroel, Hagaon Harav Yosef Chaim
Sonnenfeld
accompanied him till Yaffo. Upon arriving in New York in the early part
of the century he was one of the first great Roshei Yeshiva’s in Yeshiva and
Mesifta Torah Vodaath. He was the Posek and Rosh Harabonin of Williamsburg,
Brooklyn and laid the foundation for it to become a Torah community. The Rosh
Yeshivah also mentioned what the great gaon Harav Ahron Kotler
said at the shloshim of rav Uri Meir kWmz that he was a veritable gaon and
tzaddik hador and talmid b’yodua the whole
torah was in his mind and grasp.
The last speaker was Harav Eliyahu HaKohain Kahanow Shlita, the Rosh
Yeshiva of Kollel Gevoha Imrei Kohain, and grandson of Harav Uri Meir . He
spoke of the greatness of this grandfather
and what Hagaon Harav Yaakov Kamenetzky
said at the levaya of Harav Uri Meir ,
that if one were to learn all the Sifrei Mussar that are available today they
would not reach his madreiga in tzidkus.
,
in whose name the Kollel was founded.
It was in 1948 that Hagaon Harav Uri Meir
published his first sefer on Shas Mishmeres Hakohanim together with his son
Hagaon Harav Elazar Kahanow Shlita, the Rosh Yeshivah of Torah Vodaath, who was
mechaber the second chelek on Mesechta Kiddushin. Then in 1959 Rav Uri Meir
published his second Sefer Imrei Kohain on Mesechta Psochim, for which the
Kollel is named. Both Seforim were received with great awe and appreciation in
the Torah world.
This week to the joy of the Torah world, the third chelek of Zichron Betzalel by the Rosh Yeshiva of Torah V’daas, Hagaon Rav Elazar Kahanow Shlita, was published, and in it was reprinted the Mishmeres HaKohanim and Imrei Kohain on Psochim. This third chelek of Zichron Betzalel is in the same derech of gaonus and Yashrus as the previous two chalokim, dealing with the most important pertinent Halacha shailos of the day. When the first two Chalokim were published in 1991 they were praised highly by Moron Hagaon Harav Shach Shlita as amongst the most outstanding sifrei Halacha of our time and will be studied for generations. Included in the third chelek is the Sefer Ner Rivka on Hagoda and mussar.
The Rosh Yeshiva is also
known in the Torah world for his previous seforim on Hilchos Eretz Yisroel,
Toras Hashvi’is and Pri Ha’aretz. The Rav of Yerushalayim, Raban Shel Kol
Bnei Yisroel, Rav Zvi Pesach Frank kWmz, gave both seforim a very prominent and
important haskomah calling Horav Kahanow Shlita a great gaon who will eventually
be the gaon hador. The known posek hador, Hagaon Harav Henkin , had kept two
sets of the seforim on hilchos Eretz Yisroel from the Rosh Yeshivah
next to him to consult with, before rendering a psak halacha on hilchos
Eretz Yisroel.
One of the great hatzlochos of Kollel Imrei Kohain is the pilpul chaverim and chaburah’s that are said in the Kollel. Every week two avreichim say a chaburah to their fellow kollel members which with their labor and toil in Torah they have composed. The Kollel now plans to gather together all the chidushei Torah that have been said in the Kollel and publish it as a service to the Torah community. It is hoped that it will be in print in time for the annual summer yarchai kallah which the Kollel hosts for the Torah community.
The kollel is also planning to expand the amount of avreichim in the kollel. Due to the great hatzlocha of having a highly motivated Kollel in Brooklyn this has attracted many avreichim who want to join the kollel. Being that the Kollel gives every avreich a respectable stipend every month, enabling him to continue his learning in the Kollel, the Kollel is trying to accommodate as many avreichim as financially possible. There are many in the community who have expressed their desire to share in the expansion of the Kollel by sponsoring the stipend of one avreich for a month or for a longer period of time. Those who want to have the zchus of being part of this noble project can call the Kollel office at 718-377-7897, or write to Kollel Gevoha Imrei Kohain at 721 Ave L, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230.
By Chaim Gordon
Founding of Kollel Brings Great Promise to Torah Community of Brooklyn
To the joy of the Torah community in Brooklyn, Kollel Govoha Imrei Kohain was founded in Elul of 1997. Its inception however started many months before when a group of prominent Bnei Torah felt there was a need for a Kollel in the Brooklyn, New York area exclusively for highly motivated avreichim. A kollel where the standard and intensity of the learning is exceptional and the atmosphere of Torah is one that the avreichim could reach their full potential in becoming gedolei Torah and Manhigim for Klal Yisrael. They felt the need for this type of Kollel had become a necessity in the last few years with many avreichim coming back from Eretz Yisroel to live in New York and many avreichim moving in from Lakewood to New York — all with the same common goal of continuing their higher level of learning and growth in Torah in a highly motivated Kollel. At the same time this would give recently married avreichim from the New York area looking to stay in New York, a Kollel that would give them the opportunity for growth in Torah in an atmosphere of fire and vigor generated by the Torah being learned there.
They approached Harav Eliyahu Kahanow Shlita, a noted Talmid Chachom and Marbitz Torah for many years in New York area Yeshiva Gedolahs to undertake the formation and to head this Kollel. In a short time, a group of outstanding, highly motivated avreichim were selected to start the Kollel. The Kollel then found its home in the Bais Medrash of Khal Premishlan on 510 Ave. M, near Ocean Parkway in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Since then ,the sweet Kol Torah of the Avreichim has been flowing from this Bais Medrash all day. Many Bnei Torah from Flatbush and Boro Park come to learn in the Bais Medrash of Khal Premishlan because of the Kollel. They say the greatest public service a young man can do for Klal Yisroel is to study Torah. Torah is the lifeblood of the nation and Torah scholars are its heart. The more spiritual blood they pump to the rest of the nation, the better the nation’s spiritual health. Thus the greatest expression of love for the Jewish nation is deep, passionate, and committed study of Torah. They feel by coming to learn in the Kollel they can feel this passionate commitment to Torah. Kollel Govoha Imrei Kohain is very grateful and thankful to the Rav and Av Bais Din of Khal Premishlan, Harav Shlomo Herbst Shlita and the Kehillah for housing the Kollel in their Bais Medrash.
Shiurim in the Kollel Brings Out the Magnet of Torah
The magnet of Torah can be best described by the words of the Gaon and
Tzaddik Harav Chaim of Volozhin
in his Sefer Ruach Chaim on Pirkei
Avos. HaRav Chaim
writes as follows: “The more one learns, the more
one wants to learn. By means of the light that one has already attained, one can
see that there is yet more light, and can hope to attain that too.
It may be compared to one who enters a room in the royal treasury, which
is filled with all kinds of precious objects. There one sees a door leading to
an inner chamber and in it one finds yet another door to yet other inner
chambers. The closer one comes to the chamber of the king himself, the more
beautiful it is, compared to the chamber before it. Had one not entered the
outermost chamber, one would know nothing of other, inner chambers. So it is
with Torah. By means of the light one attains initially, one sees that there is
yet greater light and so on. Thus one desires to understand and attain more,
until one has attained all the mysteries of the world and its fullness.
The avreichim who toil and labor all day in Torah at the Kollel delve
into the inner chamber of Torah knowing the great light one can get by toiling
in Torah. The avreichim at Kollel Govoha Imrei Kohain are fortunate to hear
every week a shiur in Halacha from the great gaon and posek hador, Hagaon Harav
Elozor Hakohain Kahanow shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. The
Rosh Yeshivah’s shiur on Mesechta Shabbos which the Kollel is presently
learning encompasses lomdus and bekius
in many poskim and a great heikif to all parts of
halacha, opening for the avreichim the inner chambers of halacha till
halacha l’maaseh. The rosh yeshivah is known in the Torah world for his many
sifrei halocha, the last one being published just last week. It is the third
chelek of Zichron Betzalel which contains the reprinting of Mishmeres HaKohanim
and Imrei Kohain which the rosh yeshivah wrote together with his father, the
great gaon and tzaddik Harav Uri Meyer Hakohain
in 1948. Kollel Govoha
Imrei Kohain is named after the Rosh Yeshiva’s father, Harav Uri Meyer zt”l
whose last sefer Imrei Kohain on Mesechta Psochim was published in 1959.
The avreichim of the Kollel also hear a weekly shiur B’iyun on the first seder limud by the head of the Kollel, Harav Eliyohu Kahanow shlita, who is involved in the daily running of the Kollel together with his father the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. Harav Eliyahu Kahanow Shlita says the great hatzlocha of the kollel in such a short time and the warmth that the Torah community has shown the Kollel is due in large measure to the zchus of his grandfather Harav Uri Meyer HaKohain zt”l, for whom the kollel is named. He was one of the first great roshei yeshivas and poskim in America in the early part of the century and always gave so much of himself for the Jewish community.
The Kollel Govoha named after Hagaon Hoamiti Harav Uri Meir HaKohen Kahanow kWmz in Flatbush under Harav Reb Eliyahu Kahanow Shlita in its first year has exceeded all expectations. A large group of young outstanding Bnei Kollel have had great hatzlocha in the in-depth study of Shas Uposkim till Halocho L’maaseh under the shiurim of the Roshei Yeshiva.
The Kollel also organized a “Yarchei Kallah” for Bnai Torah to offer them a respite from their daily work, to quench their genuine thirst for Torah, in Torah group study and shiurim at the Bais Hamedrash Khal Premishlan where the Kollel is located.
The Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbonim who delivered shiurim at the Yarchei Kallah were Hagaon Harav Elozor Hakohain Kahanow Shlita, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, Harav Reb Yeruchem Olshin Shlita, Rosh Yeshiva Bais Medrash Govoah of Lakewood, Harav Reb Eliyahu Hakohain Kahanow Shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of the Kollel, Harav Reb Shlomo Herbst Shlita, Rav and Av Bais Din of Premishlan Bais Hamedrash, Harav Reb Yitzchok Alster Shlita, Rosh Kollel Boker of Bais Hamedrash Premishlan.
Many outstanding avreichem have expressed their desire to be enrolled in the Kollel in the coming year when Mesechta Shabbos will be studied in depth and Halacha Lemaaseh.
The Kollel will be interviewing new avreichem for the coming winter zman during the month of Elul. The telephone number to call in the evening is 718-338-6728.
