The Annual Grand Mishnayos B’al Peh Ceremony of the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva took place last Sunday. A total of 160 students proudly sat on the bleachers in the new gym, celebrating their achievements in learning lines, Prokim and Mesechtos of Mishnayos and Tanya B’al Peh.
388 Talmidim were awarded Seforim and other Judaica prizes, reflecting the impressive accumulation of 445 Prokim Tanya and 918 Prokim Mishnayos learned, amounting to an astounding 128,508 lines of Mishnayos and Tanya B’al Peh.
Temimim Menachem Mendel Hakohen Blau and Meir Teleki earned a crown, which is 15,625 points in the ChabadKid Mishnayos B’al Peh system.
Temimim Menachem Mendel Hakohen Kleinman, Dovid Mordechai Hirsch, and Menachem Mendel Goldstein, were tested on 12 Prokim Tanya B’vas Achas.
All the Talmidim, led by 4 soloists performed a brand-new song “Eretz Achas.” The song reminds us of the powerful reality of the effect our learning Torah helps our brothers in Eretz Yisroel.
“Our uniform might
Look different in type,
But all of us together
We are fighting one fight.
One in our heart,
We each do our part,
Fighting for a victory of light.”
(Excerpt from the new song)
Below is an excerpt from the speech by Hatomim Menachem Mendel Hakohen Blau, who learned the most Mishnayos B’al Peh in the entire Yeshiva, based on a letter of the Rebbe (Igros Kodesh Vol.1 #132):
When the Frierdiker Rebbe initiated a campaign to learn Mishnayos by heart, the system was to divide the entire Mishnayos among many people. Each week, the participants would learn around three Mishnayos by heart.
When explaining and encouraging Yidden to join, the Frierdiker Rebbe said that this is not something for a specific type of Yid; this is plain Yiddishkeit.
The Rebbe was charged with running this campaign, and when a great Kabbalist, Rabbi Greenglass from Montreal, asked the Rebbe in a letter to explain the reason for learning Mishnayos by heart, the Rebbe provided a detailed explanation with five points:
The Influence of Air: The air we breathe affects us both physically and spiritually. Just like food needs to be clean, pure, and kosher, so too does our air.
Changing the Air: We have the ability to affect the air around us. Saying words of Torah physically changes the air.
Learning by Heart: When you are in a shul or yeshiva, you have your seforim to learn from. But when you are in a store or on the street, you also need pure air, even more so than in shul or school. Therefore, you need to learn by heart.
Why Mishnayos by Heart?: Mishnayos are something with which you need to be familiar. The words themselves hold many secrets. Even when you think you understand the Mishnah, you still need the Gemara to explain the reason for the words chosen. Mishnayos is something that everyone is familiar with and should know by heart.
Why Specifically in Our Time: It is said that Moshiach will come in the merit of the Mishnayos. The reason is that it says one who learns Mishnayos will be taken out of Gehenom. As the Midrash relates, when someone is judged to go to Gehenom, he calls out to each Shevet to save him but gets no answer. Finally, he calls to Asher and the reply is, “Did you learn Mishnayos?” If he says yes, he is immediately redeemed.
Gehenom is associated with Golus, and Mishnayos will take us out of Golus because in Gemoro everyone agrees with the Mishnah. This shows that it is one Torah from one Hashem to one nation, leading to a time of Moshiach when we will see that there is one land given to one people with one Torah from Hashem.
It was a truly inspiring event with a large turnout of parents and grandparent that came to see their children and grandchildren being honored for the hard work and investment they made over the year.
The Mishnayos B’al Peh program is based out of the new state-of-the-art Tzivos Hashem room, sponsored by Rabbi Yossi and Mushky Teleshevsky. During every recess and at every free moment, Talmidim can be found in the Tzivos Hashem room learning and getting tested on Mishnayos B’al Peh or filling out their Tzivos Hashem missions on the dedicated tablets.
The Mishnayos B’al program in Yeshiva is known as ChabadKid.com, an innovative system that tracks the Mishnayos B’al Peh progress of each student, fostering healthy competition and reminding them when it’s time to review what they’ve learned. The ChabadKid system is used by Chabad Yeshivos all around the world.
Browsing the ChabadKid website sorted by class shows a testament to Rebbis who tirelessly invested and encouraged their Talmidim to learn B’al Peh. “The credit for this year’s unprecedented success is largely due to these dedicated Rebbis,” Rabbi Teleshevsky acknowledged at the event.
