Halikut Winner Announced at Grand Banquet

The first place winner for the entire Halikut program was announced at a grand dinner at the conclusion of a full day program which included a test and a rapid-fire chidon competition.

Photos: David Katash/Anash.org

The first place winner for the entire Halikut program was announced at a grand dinner at the conclusion of a full day program which included a test and a rapid-fire chidon competition.

Over 300 bochurim from around the world qualified to take part in the Halikut Siyum this year, with finalists Mendel Gourarie of Detroit Yeshiva, and Meir Greenberg and Shneur Zalman Lifshitz from Morristown Yeshiva, competing for the grand prize – all of the Rebbe’s seforim.

At the start of the full-day program, the bochurim took the final test of this year’s Halikut program. The finalists then appeared in an on-stage competition where they were tested by chozrim Rabbi Nachman Schapiro and Rabbi Leibel Schapiro on a full sefer of Likkutei Sichos of the Rebbe, in a rapid-fire competition moderated by Rabbi Amram Farkash.

The program concluded with a banquet dinner addressed by Rabbi Yosef Lustig, with a keynote address by Rabbi Menachem Schechter. During the dinner, organizers announced that the first place winner was Shneur Zalman Lifshitz, and he would be awarded all the Rebbe’s Torah in Kehos.

Special thanks were given to the organizers of the Halikut program, a project of Vaad Hatmimim led with dedication by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Altein, together with Halikut’s organizers Tzvi Alperowitz, Boruch Ceitlin, Peretz Garelik and Mendel Goldman . Thanks were also given to all the shluchim of each participating yeshiva that made Halikut possible, especially Mendel Azimov, Levi Katz, Levi Sudak, Berel Marazow, Berry Zirkind, Schneur Wilhelm and Menachem Schmerling for all their tireless effort.

Now in its fourth year, the Halikut program is revolutionary in its effectiveness on bochurim’s learning. Each bochur takes three general tests which then qualify him to attend the Halikut Siyum, where the grand test is taken on all the Sichos at once. This in effect requires the bochurim to review the Sichos many times so that they remember all the details of the entire sefer.