Some years after Reb Shneur Zalman Gafni opened an English-speaking program in the Kfar Chabad yeshiva, the hanhala wanted it out. But the Rebbe insisted that it remain part of Tomchei Temimim so that they have a real yeshiva experience.
After the Six-Day War, there was a tremendous awakening of English-speaking Yidden who wanted to reconnect with Yiddishkeit and study Torah.
In the fall of 5729 (1968), the Rebbe advised the Kfar Chabad Tomchei Temimim to set up a special program within the yeshiva, and suggested that Reb Shneur Zalman Gafni head it.
“After a couple of years,” Reb Shneur Zalman relates, “I began to feel that the yeshiva’s hanhala were not so happy with the non-conformist students in my program. So, I went to see the Rebbe to discuss setting up a separate institution for them, apart from the yeshiva.
“But the Rebbe would not agree, and urged me not to move out of Tomchei Temimim. The Rebbe said that we should gear our program towards those who were ready to accept the demanding yeshiva schedule, not those at first grade level, so to speak. To offer a real yeshiva experience to these students.
“The Rebbe instructed me, “Ich vil ir zolt hodeven chasidishe bochurim un chasidishe yungerleit – I want you to nurture chassidishe bochurim and chasidishe yungerleit.”
“If you do this,” the Rebbe urged, “it will be the perfection of Tomchei Temimim!”
From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash
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