FROM THE ROSH HAYESHIVA
I WILL NEVER FORGET THE PHONE CALL I RECEIVED from a mother in Queens. “Is
this the school for disabled children?” she inquired.
I held my tongue and, instead of explaining to her that, no, this is a regular,
healthy, world-class yeshiva for boys that makes an effort to accommodate and main-
stream a small number of children with learning and physical challenges each year, I
replied, “Yes, what can I do to help you?”
Yeshiva Darchei Torah is growing by leaps and bounds, bli ayin hara. Concomitant
with the burgeoning growth of the Far Rockaway and Five Towns area, our student
enrollment has increased in all divisions, from nursery through Beis Medrash.
But another, more fundamental growth is taking place, not in quantity but
in quality.
From its earliest days, our Yeshiva has focused on twin goals: achievement in
learning and growth in middos. This has meant that while we encourage and empower
each talmid to reach for the stars academically, shteiging in Torah and succeeding in
limudei chol, we place an equal emphasis on his development as a mensch, as a baal
middos. The two go hand in hand, as both are required to produce a true ben Torah
and talmid chacham: the whole picture.
How do the rabbeim, menahelim, and moros imbue middos tovos in their
talmidim?
Of course, there are the inspiring shmuessin, vaadim, and stories shared in the
classrooms and Beis HaMedrash. And there is the stellar role model that every Darchei
educator personifies in his or her conduct and demeanor. But there is another ingredi-
ent at work here.
At a parlor meeting for Yeshiva Tiferes Tzion, Rav Shlomo Kanievsky, shlita, a son
of Maran Rav Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, related, “[My father] asked me to relate that the
Chazon Ish was the founder of the yeshiva, and that when he opened it, he made an
effort to see to it that there would be at least one boy with a disability in every class.
He felt that if the other boys in the class grew accustomed to helping a friend move in
and out of the classroom, wash his hands, and so forth, it would serve to inculcate the
trait of chesed within them.”
I feel strongly that Yeshiva Darchei Torah has experienced hatzlacha and Siyata
diShmaya of a supernatural degree not despite of but because of our openness to
children who need more attention. Whether it is a bachur confined to a wheelchair,
who is wheeled and cared for by his friends day and night; or an elementary-school
child who is forced to attend public school but is welcomed by his peers to a regular
Darchei classroom every Sunday and legal holiday so that he can feel like a real yeshiva
boy; whether it is a talmid with dyslexia who gets tutoring in the Rabenstein Learning
Center or a yasom or child from a single-parent home who gets the special, private
attention he needs from his rebbi and menahel as they strive to fill some of the void in
his life—these children with challenges are not only the beneficiaries of chesed. They
are givers, lifting up the entire yeshiva with them! Because when a so-called “regu-
lar” boy leaves his comfort zone and does chesed with a child less fortunate than he,
he becomes a bigger mensch, he becomes a bigger baal chesed, and he therefore
becomes a bigger talmid chacham. He attains shleimus, the whole picture.
I am proud to work for a mosad where talmidim are given these opportunities, and
where they grab them with alacrity.
May we see nachas from all of our children.
Rabbi Yaakov Bender
BEDARCHEI HATORAH
WINTER 5780/2020
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