Yeshivat Birchat Yosef in Kiryat Herzog celebrated its 15th anniversary this
past summer in a gathering of hundreds of emotion filled graduates.
Twenty years ago, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Tifrach Yeshiva, Rabbi Yaakov Friedman, shlit"a with encouragement from Rav Shach, zatza"l, chose two of his choice students: Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Segal, shlit"a and Rabbi Eliezer Tzur, shlit"a and along with Rabbi Avinoam Postvitsky, shlit"a a Ponevezh student established the Yeshivat Birchat Yitzchak in the development town of Ohr Yehuda. The town was a spiritual desert whose inhabitants were thirsty to hear the words of Hashem. The yeshiva prospered and grew in numbers and in its quality influencing the town to make positive changes without recognition.
Five years later, the yeshiva was packed from the amount of students who requested entry to the yeshiva. Rabbi Friedman, shlit"a who saw the spiritual changes that a Torah atmosphere had on the whole area chose a group of 27 of the Yeshiva's best students and established another yeshiva in the neighborhood of Kiryat Herzog which borders Pardes Katz. Under the auspices of Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Segal and Rabbi Eliezer Tzur, the yeshiva began to transform the area into one of strengthening of Judaism. Rabbi Yaakov Segal named the yeshiva for his great grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Segal,zatza"l author of the book "Torat Leviim" and sixth generation from the Vilna Gaon who was a community Rabbi in many Russian cities, Rav in Chicago, a lecturer in Yeshivat Ner Israel, Baltimore, USA and the first Grand Rabbi of Nes Ziona. It was the influence of this grandfather that determined Rabbi Segal's methods of education amidst love, closeness and encouragement which penetrates the soul of the student. Rabbi Segal also created the name for the son of this great grandfather named Rabbi Baruch Segal,zatza'l, a Torah scholar who passed away suddenly, calling it "Yeshivat Birchat Yosef".
In addition to the uniqueness of the Yeshiva that of being in an area that very much requires the light of Torah, it also hosts hundreds of students from various backgrounds and geographical areas. The students come from Yerucham and Be'er Sheva in the south up to Teberias and Tzefat in the north, and b"h, and all become great Torah scholars, build splendid Jewish homes and work as Yeshiva lecturers, Rosh kollels, mashgichim and authors of Torah books. All of the graduates are outstanding in their ambitions for true greatness, fear of Hashem and purity. Many of the students come from poverty stricken homes where not only the parents are not able to financially support them but the Yeshiva also helps to marry them off and give them financial help as married Torah scholars.
Presently learning in the Yeshiva are approximately 90 students and more than 40 excellent Kolel yungerleit who add to the known atmosphere of the Beit Midrash.
The yeshiva Rabbis and teachers were chosen from those who specialize in teaching through love, patience and encouragement. Due to this emphasis many of the students found their place after having hopped from one yeshiva to the next for lack of fulfillment until finding it in this yeshiva. The strive for reaching yirat Hashem and the emphasis on faith and proper Jewish views together with the correct amount of encouragement brings out the strength of each student.
The wonderful staff includes well-known lecturers: Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Segal, shlit"a- Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Baruch Medan, shlit"a- former Rosh Yeshiva of Sderot, the Mashgiach- Rabbi Avraham Rabinowitz, shlit"a, Rabbi Yoel Kenig, shlit"a- former Rosh Yeshiva Karlin, Rabbi Moshe Roth, shlit"a, Rabbi Yosef Tzikinowsky, shlit"a, - son in law of Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein,shlit"a, Rabbi Chanoch Reisman,shlit"a, Rabbi Moshe Zilberstein, shlit"a, Rabbi Michael Mazouz, shlit"a, Rabbi Hillel Meltzer, shlit"a, Rabbi Eliezer Labeh,shlit"a, and Rabbi Yitzchak Meizels, shlit"a.
Although the level of spirituality in the yeshiva is b"h very high the opposite is found in the material aspects of the yeshiva. For many years, the students lived and studied in a rental building that was too small for its numbers. In the year 5756, through miracles a building was acquired for a beit midrash and cafeteria and the debts have continued to grow since then. And still the students lived in a dormitory that leaked in the winter and was too sunny in the summer bringing suffering all year long. Last year, after receiving a donation of $100,000(and an additional $100,000 contributed by the yeshiva) we were able to acquire a new dormitory with sleeping space for nearly every student. B"h, the growth in the yeshiva continues and we are in need of more expansion in order to allow more students to benefit from our dedication.
Especially after the generation of the Holocaust when almost all of our Torah institutions were destroyed!
Because our debts are so large we are being kept from making the necessary expansions!
Our monthly expenditure is $35,000 and our income is $25,000 so every month we amass another $10,000 to our debts. We have an outlined list of our expenses and income that is approved by an accountant and reported to the ministries of education and of religion and welfare. Together their funding doesn't accede $15,000 which is less than our expenses.
It's important to note that part of our students came to the yeshiva after bouncing from one yeshiva to the next due to lack of fulfillment and educators who didn’t have the knowledge to reach them. Our educators understand each and every student to bring out the potential in each one. We are including a few true stories of our dear students who learned and are still learning in our yeshiva to clarify the importance of the work that we do and the endless effort that each Rabbi strives to accomplish.
We are including a few emotional stories to show how we are able to help these needy boys through the heavenly help that we receive.
First story:
The young man, M.K. came to us after learning in 8 different yeshivot and being expelled from each one. He was labeled as hyperactive and undisciplined. His accomplishments were nil in learning and everyone around him suffered from his negative acts and speech. The first thing we allowed him was his freedom of self expression. He told us about his wishes and hobbies: photography, traveling, mountain climbing and that of debating. We encouraged him by telling him that his great strength shows that he is an important person and we guided the other students to be patient with him. At first, he still didn't make any accomplishments in learning but we continued to encourage him. We suffered for many long months due to his whims telling ourselves not to give up on him. After more than a year he began to show signs of frustration from his lack of learning and little by little we began to introduce him to the importance of Torah. The staff of Rabbis took turns in soul searching discussions with him and after we established his trust he was open to new ideas. Slowly he began to develop his abilities in learning until he became an accomplished group leader. He got married and established a beautiful home and has written many scholarly works of law.Second story:
young man, A.R. had a hard childhood since his parents did not understand him and always demanded from him far more than he was capable of accomplishing. His difficulties worsened when one of his teachers wondered at his total lack of understanding in his studies. He was very irritable until a friend gave him drugs to smoke. He would drink coffee with 8 spoonfuls of coffee in a cup. He became completely unfocused and short tempered and would hit anyone who would even slightly bother him. It was almost impossible to be near him. He came to us broken and shattered after being beaten by one of the Rabbis in his former yeshiva. The first thing we did was to shower him with love which was totally lacking for him. We always smiled at him of which he had never been the receiver. We earned his trust. His self image was so low that at times he would ask how it is possible for us to love him after all the terrible things he did. We told him that we don't judge on the past and we think of him as a newborn from the time he arrived in our yeshiva. Since then, he is trying to prove to us that he is a good person and able to learn and to behave properly so that he will become relaxed and truly likeable. He has made improvements in his learning and has made friends. Even though he is still on the path to recovery he believes in himself and knows that he is taking the proper steps to a future of self fulfillment.Third story:
The young man, C.M. is the son of a great Rav who expected greatness in learning from his son which caused the opposite to occur. The boy despaired of all Torah learning because of the pressure put on him. He became violent and rude and became a cause of fear to all who knew him. When he arrived in our yeshiva we gave him many responsibilities telling him that he is more mature than others his age. We continuously gave him more and more responsibilities and he reached the point of enjoying his capabilities. Now he is a boy who knows to help others mainly those like him with negative energies like he was at the beginning. We see him as a great educator in the future.Fourth story:
The young man, Y.B.S. was the middle child of 15 siblings. He felt that being sandwiched between so many others caused nobody to pay him any attention. He didn't learn anything in school and was always looking for attention in other ways. He loved animals- he raised dogs and cats and loved to go horseback riding. He came to us completely undisciplined. Instead of berating him, we found a horse kennel close to the yeshiva where he could continue his riding. Every so often we gave him work to do in the yeshiva so that he would have money to go riding. With this we started slowly giving him easy challenges in learning until he began to spend more time learning and less on his other activities. Now he is one of the better learners in the yeshiva and is helpful with others who come to the yeshiva with similar backgrounds as his. These are 4 stories out of many similar ones. We are in need of much financial help in order to continue forward in our achievements of saving more cherished souls of those to come. Please dear fellow Jews, There are people for whom are blessed with the bracha "Bless those that establish the works of this Torah" and there are those who actively participate in the upkeep of places of Torah that raise up those who were caused to fall in other institutions. We try our utmost to cover our large debts by raising money outside of Israel in addition to what we collect in Israel and still it's not enough! Rabbi Steinman, shlit"a the Yeshiva president who rules over all related issues, wrote an emotional letter on behalf of the yeshiva and included blessings to those who give support. Likewise, the Gedolei Israel have called for help for the yeshiva in recognition of its specialty. In the virtue of your participation in the yeshiva's existence, we bless you with all the blessings from the Torah in every word of goodness. In blessings of the holy Torah,Rabbi Mordechai Waltman-administrator