On Sunday the 28th of Iyar, talmidim of Darchai Menachem, together with their parents, grandparents, relatives and friends gathered together to mark the culmination of six weeks of learning Mishnayos and Tanya Be’al Peh, as a present to the Rebbe in honor of his 117th birthday on Yud Alef Nissan.
Beginning on Chof Beis Shevat talmidim earned points by memorizing lines of Mishnayos, Tanya, Siddur and general Torah topics from the MBP Handbook (courtesy of Rabbi Sholom Heidingsfeld of Cheder Menachem of Los Angeles).
The program’s database (courtesy of Rabbi Dovid Zirkind of Baalpeh.org) managed the constant flow of information and emailed parents regularly on their son(s) progress. In Yeshiva, a beautiful MBP board was updated regularly, giving everyone a visual update on their progress.
A catalog with over 200 seforim (courtesy of CGI Florida) allowed talmidim to use their points to choose seforim, based on their final point total.
On Sunday, the 28th of Iyar, the annual MBP Awards ceremony took place in the 935 shul. Family and friends joined the Yeshiva’s faculty in celebrating the talmidim’s gift to the Rebbe and their achievements. The crowd erupted in applause upon discovering they had surpassed last year’s efforts in each category: 10 Perakim Tanya and 1,334 lines of Tanya; 3 complete mesechtos, 32 Perakim Mishnyaos, 287 Mishnas and 1,974 lines of Mishnayos. A total of 12,081 lines of Torah were gifted to the Rebbe!
Rabbi Eyal Bension, dean of Darchai welcomed everyone and congratulated the talmidim for their achievements. Sharing how the learning of Mishnayos by heart was something dear to both the Frierdiker and Rebbe, he encouraged everyone to further their achievements in limud HaTorah.
Following a video showing talmidim presenting their gift of MBP to the Rebbe, the top 3 talmidim were called up: 1st place Baruch Dukes (from Rabbi Raskin’s Kita Hey), 2nd place Mendel Spritzer (from Rabbi Lifshitz’s Kita Zayin) and 3rd place Chezki Pinson (from Rabbi Sarue’s 6th grade).
Each talmid was then called up, one at a time, to receive their seforim while a multimedia presentation highlighted their achievements. Fathers and grandfathers were invited to the stage to take a photo taken by Yossi Forster of the 8th grade.
A special thank you to everyone who helped make the day’s event the success it was: the Yeshiva’s administration and faculty, Rabbis Fitche Benshimon, Yossi Teleshevsky, Mendy Weiss, Levi Parnes, Mendel Osdoba, the Abraham family and MLP Productions and the Baron family.
The Yeshiva wishes everyone much nachas. It is the hope that our gift has given the Rebbe much-deserved nachas. May what the Midrash says, “אין כל הגלויות מתכנסות אלא בזכות המשניות” come to fruition, with the coming of Moshiach, now!
