For the past 31 years, Mrs. Henya Laine has organized a weekly women’s shiur through the summer months.
After the histalkus of Rebetzin Chaya Mushka, Mrs. Henya Laine decided to start a weekly women’s shiur to take place over the summer Shabbosim. The Rebbe would farbreng until about 3:00 pm, and at 5:30 pm, women were invited to meet at Congregation Anash on Montgomery Street for an uplifting class.
“When I wrote to the Rebbe about the shiur,” Mrs. Laine told Anash.org, “I received so many brachos! Originally, the shiur was organized for the Shabbosim between Pesach and Shavuos, but many women asked that it be continued over the summer.”
Finding speakers to come week after week during the summer months was a colossal undertaking, but Mrs. Laine stepped up to the task. The shiur takes place every Shabbos from after Pesach until Rosh Hashana. From 5:30-6:15 pm, Rabbi Michoel Seligson teaches Hayom Yom, halacha, and explanations on the Tehillim.
Following Rabbi Seligson’s shiur, a different speaker addresses the crowd each week on topics related to the chapter of Pirkei Avos being studied.
“In the shiur’s early years, it was so packed that there were ladies standing on the steps outside of the shul,” recalls Mrs. Laine. “After Chof-Zayin Adar, people took notice and additional women’s shiurim were started all around Crown Heights. Nowadays, there are 30 to 70 women in attendance each week.”
This Shabbos, Rabbi Nochum Kaplan will be speaking on the week’s Pirkei Avos following Rabbi Seligson’s regular segment. The shiur will be held, as it is every week, from 5:30-7:00 pm at Congregation Anash, 770 Montgomery Street (front entrance).