Cheder Menachem of Mount Pleasant Hits the Ground Running

It’s now official: Cheder Menachem is a groundbreaking success.  Pun most definitely intended.

That’s because the pre-Bar Mitzvah students at Cheder Menachem—the first cheder of its kind in the United States—are simultaneously discovering new inner fields of growth in ruchniyus and personal responsibility while also learning to work the good land with their hands.

Cheder Menachem is a farm school program, invoking the classic Chabad Chosid of yesteryear who made a parnasah with physical activities while spiritually being counted among our Rebbeim’s finest Chasidim.

Over Elul, the program’s opening class of talmidim davened, learned, and gained a rich range of vocational skills and experience working on and around Cheder Menachem’s farm.

From Seder Chasidus, Chasidishe davenings and Nigleh shiurim in the mornings through woodworking, light construction/maintenance and, of course, tending to the animals in the afternoons, the talmidim are “exceeding parents’ expectations,” reports founder Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Smith.

“Some parents expressed wonderment whether this could be pulled off,” says Rabbi Smith, “But this is really happening!”

But don’t take it from Rabbi Smith.  Here’s how one positively-impressed and astonished mother put it simply: “We see a tremendous change in our son.”

Cheder Menachem now invites the greater East Coast Chabad community to consider their program for their pre-Bar Mitzvah sons who need that out-of-the-box chinuch experience, combined with a good dose of “TLC,” to prepare them socially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually for entry into adulthood.

The program provides a full day of high-standard chinuch in Nigleh and Chasidus (including a strict no-technology policy), a wealth of vocational skills training courtesy of local farmers and contractors working with the Cheder, three healthy (no-junk!) square meals prepared on site a day, and a dorm under the caring supervision of Rabbi and Mrs. Yechiel and Nechama Zirkind, the house couple who also respectively serve as magid shiur and cheder cook.

“We’re up and running with our talmidim, and it’s been very successful,” proudly declares Rabbi Smith.  “We’re letting parents who are considering alternatives for their sons know that now, during Tishrei, is the opportunity and the time to switch over to Cheder Menachem—it will give your Bar Mitzvah-aged son benefits to last a lifetime!”

Register now!  Space is limited.  To register or for more information, contact Cheder Menachem of Mount Pleasant now at 201-250-5385 or office@chedermenachemmp.org.  You can also visit www.ChederMenachemMP.org.

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