I
f you were to take a morning tour
of the Melohn Campus with your
eyes closed, you would encounter
a beautiful array of sounds—the
thunderous kol Torah emanating from
the Beis Medrash, the lively shiurim be-
ing delivered at Mesivta Chaim Shlomo
and the middle school, and the sing-
song of davening and Chumash in the
elementary school.
But perhaps the most important
sounds would be those ricocheting off
the hallways of the Harriet Keilson
Early Childhood Center, as the moros
and rabbeim instill fundamental skills
and concepts in their talmidim.
One of those distinguished rab-
beim is Rav Benzion Appelbaum, a
talmid chacham of singular talent who
has touched the lives of hundreds of
Yeshiva Darchei Torah talmidim.
Rav Appelbaum’s primary mission
is a critical one: to teach his Pre-1A
talmidim how to read lashon hakodesh.
Fluency in the language is the founda-
tion of a lifetime of learning, and this is
the year when each child must master it.
“Rav Appelbaum is very thorough
and works with each child individu-
ally,” enthuses Rav Shmuel Strickman,
the elementary school menahel whose
purview extends to Pre-1A as well. “He
cares about and worries about each
child. He really does a wonderful job.”
Rav Appelbaum’s classroom is a
vibrant hub of activity, with full-color
posters and large photos of gedolei
Yisrael adorning the walls. To teach
kriah skills, he uses the acclaimed sefer
Kriah Ne’imah, which utilizes a method
that is palatable to today’s children.
“We go through the Alef-Beis and
the sounds of the osiyos with a 30-day
system, introducing a new letter every
day,” Rav Appelbaum explains. “By
the end they know the Alef-Beis back-
wards and forwards. Then we intro-
duce the nekudos, after which we blend
the sounds. We work with each child
individually.” He emphasizes that each
boy’s “foundation has to be very solid”
to enable him to advance to first grade
the following year.
B
eyond his goal of arming each
talmid with the full set of kriah
skills—which he succeeds in at-
taining each year—Rav Benzion
Appelbaum brings a unique approach
to teaching, a product of his own ex-
perience and personal avodah. As Rav
Strickman describes it, Rav Appelbaum
“imbues his talmidim with Yiras
Shamayim. He gives them an apprecia-
tion and love for Yiddishkeit and a tre-
mendous awareness of the Ribono shel
Olam—and it’s done besimcha.”
Rav Appelbaum elaborates: “That
each talmid should know how to read—
that’s a given. But my goal that is more
long-term [in nature] is that the children
should have a very strong and healthy
relationship with Hashem.
“Yosef HaTzaddik had a very dif-
ficult life. Nevertheless, Chazal say that
in his own mind, he did not have a dif-
ficult life at all. Even though he was
thrown into a pit; ripped away from his
father and chavrusa, Yaakov Avinu, and
his family at the age of 17; thrown into
a jail for 12 years; [forced to serve] in
Potifar’s house, which in itself was a tre-
mendous nisayon—not once did he lose
his simchas hachaim, he never blamed
his brothers for [his ordeal], and he
succeeded in raising his children in the
degraded environment of Mitzrayim.
What was his secret?
“Rashi tells us: Yosef always used
to have the Name of Hashem on his
lips. That was how he withstood the
nisyonos.” Rav Appelbaum shares that
same palpable awareness of Hashem
with his talmidim, in a natural manner
that is neither overbearing nor artificial.
In Rav Strickman’s words, “It becomes
the vernacular in the classroom.”
Rav Appelbaum also emphasizes
middos tovos, focusing on traits such
as vatranus (yielding to the needs and
wants of others). “How are we sup-
posed to do the ratzon Hashem if we
don’t practice being mevater to oth-
ers?” he maintains. When one trains
himself to be mevater to his fellow man
he can more easily learn to bend his will
to Hashem’s will.
A
talmid of Telshe Chicago and the
Yeshiva Gedolah of Montreal
(where he learned under Rav
Mottel Weinberg zt”l), Rav
Appelbaum considers his own father,
Mr. Nota Tzvi Appelbaum, to be his
primary “role model in how to motivate
people to serve Hashem. Even though he
was never officially a rebbi or a teacher,
he’s made a major impact on my life.”
Rav Appelbaum’s father currently
resides in an assisted living facility. A vis-
iting psychologist was bowled-over after
observing and interviewing him for an
hour to determine his degree of depres-
sion. “My father scored a zero,” Rav
Appelbaum relates. As part of a stan-
dard questionnaire, the doctor asked Mr.
Appelbaum if he was bored. He replied
in the negative. “Bored? I’m very busy.
I’m a student,” he said, pointing to a pic-
ture of Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l and his
sefarim. “I am intoxicated with G-d.”
Asked to describe the uniqueness of
Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Rav Appelbaum
is effusive. “As in any organization, it
starts from the top and trickles down to
the bottom. In this yeshiva, Rav Bender
has — among his many tremendous
mailos — [the quality] that he allows
the rebbi to develop into the best that he
can be. Just like ‘Chanoch lina’ar al pi
darko’ [as pertains to children], a rebbi
is encouraged to teach al pi darko. He
allows each rebbi to develop his own
approach that best translates into the
success of his talmidim.
“He really allowed me to develop
into who I am today.” !
BEDARCHEI HATORAH
WINTER 5780/2020
19