Although the snow is still coming down fast and thick, and the Russian winter is at its peak, the daylight hours are growing longer and Shabbos is ending later. This means that children who live farther away from the Moscow’s Marina Roscha neighborhood are having a difficult time arriving at the Central Shul in time for the weekly program of Avos Uvonim, so lovingly run by the shul’s dedicated gabbais every Motzei Shabbos.
This Motzei Shabbos, after the usual hour of learning, a special closing ceremony was held for the official winter zman of this program. First the gabbais thanked the dedicated melamed Rabbi Yeshayahu Gross, for his excellent leadership of the program for the dear children. He spoke about the situation in Eretz Yisroel and how it is the duty and privilege of each and every one of us to daven more, and say more Tehillim for the protection of our dear brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. The student Menachem Mendel Dickshtein was called up to say a chapter of Tehillim with everyone verse by verse.
The children excitedly greeted the Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who passed through tables where many students and their fathers filled the large hall with their studious Torah learning. When he spoke, he called the fathers and their children to increase in their Torah study, even outside of the official study program. He requested that the directors of Avos Uvonim prepare an additional study program that will encourage the children to learn with their families and fill their homes with the light of Torah.
The program’s highlight was the yearly raffle amongst all the students. This year the student Levi Pesach Stavropolsky won a round trip ticket to the Rebbe together with his father for the upcoming Chassidishe yomim tovim.
In conclusion, hundreds of children passed by the Chief Rabbi and received a beautiful new bag for seforim, along with a special bracha for success in their learning which he gave each one individually.
This project is just one of a variety of invested programs for the many children who come from diverse families and study institutions to the Central Marina Roscha shul in Moscow, run and overseen by its dedicated gabbais, under the leadership and auspices of the Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, creating a big Kiddush Hashem.
Photography: Levi Nazarov
