There’s a well-known clip of a boy passing by the Rebbe for dollars. He asks, “Should I go to yeshivah? I don’t know.” The Rebbe answers, “Certainly. Every Jew must go to yeshivah, for at least one or two years.”

People often ask, “Are you learning in yeshivah to become a rabbi?” No. We learn Torah because we’re Jewish.

Very few shluchim have the time to teach a baal teshuvah all the halachos and minhagim we absorbed over years, not to mention help him become independent in Gemara, halachah, and Chassidus.

And yeshivah is not just classes. Especially in Lubavitch, it’s an environment. It’s the air you breathe. It’s the clarity many of us still miss years later.

Chabad Houses can have an amazing energy, especially on Shabbos and at a farbrengen; but people come and go. Real change happens with steady immersion, like a pickle sitting in brine.

I remember R’ Itche Nemenov describing how in the early Lamed’s R’ Mule Azimov would bring lots of young men to Brunoy. Only a fraction stayed long term, but that’s where the early French baalei teshuvah were formed.

Most shluchim believe in sending people to yeshivah. The problem is timing and focus. You can’t suggest it the way you offer tefillin. You build trust. You learn together consistently. You watch growth. Then you bring it up, once, twice, many times if needed. Push too early, and he’ll think you’ve lost it. Wait too long, and he’s graduated or gone somewhere else.

And besides, it requires so much focus on one person, when you have a whole community to care for.

So what’s the move?

Maybe he can think you’re a little crazy. It’s not so bad.

Or introduce him to JITI.

Jewish Internship and Torah Institute is built as a bridge. It combines a real summer internship with in-depth Torah learning. Through our network, participants secure a summer internship in their field, while evenings and weekends are spent in a yeshivah setting.

For a shliach, that changes the conversation.

• You’re helping him get a summer job.
• It’s not branded as “yeshivah.”
• He’s not sitting in class all day.

But in practice, he’s learning over two hours a day, living through seven consecutive Shabbosim filled with farbrengens, and spending two full months in a serious, warm Torah environment.

JITI is for the guy who isn’t ready to sign up for a full-time yeshivah but needs a real taste of it.

If someone on your campus or in your community is ready for yeshivah straight up, there are outstanding Lubavitch institutions in the US and in Eretz Yisroel. If he’s not there yet, JITI might be the step that gets him there.

Last summer, under the name Torah Trade Center, we piloted this model and saw how well it worked. This year, we’re building it out properly as JITI.

See for yourself → JITI.CA

If you know a college student who could benefit, please send him the flyer and have him take a look. Or you can contact us at [email protected]