When Morah Channah Hecht, Limudei Kodesh teacher for over 25 years at Yeshiva Primary, invited me to attend her students’ Chumash party, I was happy to come, but I had no idea how moving it would be.
It was a gray and gloomy morning on the last day of January, when I drove to Yeshiva Primary to experience a spiritual double-header with the beautiful Chumash party for Rebbetzin Channah Hecht’s class, followed by an amazing siddur party for Morah Mazal Sulimanov’s Mechinah class.
It was especially meaningful for this writer, as I have been implementing the writers workshop program at the school for more than a decade, and it was so special to see what the students learned this year in Limudei Kodesh. In Yeshiva Primary, students are taught according to levels in Limudei Kodesh, and many students come to the Yeshiva directly from public school.
First, parents gathered in the ballroom of Yeshiva Primary, and the students from Rebbetzin Hecht’s class, wearing Torah crowns and Torah decorations, marched to the stage in time to the beautiful piano music played by Morah Yocheved Abramovitz, Limudei Kodesh morah at Yeshiva Primary for over 15 years. She accompanied their inspiring songs during the whole program.
Rebbetzin Hecht thanked Hashem for this auspicious time. She thanked Rabbi Zalmen Deutscher (Founder and Dean of Yeshiva Primary), Mrs. Judy Klein (Principal), and Morah Abramovitz. She also thanked the parents and students.
She pointed out that the Hebrew word bein (son) has the same root as boneh (build). Our children are the building blocks of our future generations. When the Torah was given at Sinai, Hashem asked who will be the guarantors to keep the Torah for the future? “Your children will be the guarantors. They are our legacy.” She shared that she treats her students the way she would want her own children to be treated. The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that each child is a diamond, and when they are taught in yeshivah, the diamond sparkles. She shared that this is a wonderful class, with lots of achdus and lots of feeling when they daven and learn. “I thank Hashem for the z’chus to teach them mitzvos and to help them become proud Torah Jews.” She said, “Our students are all stars.”
Rebbetzin Hecht shared the story of a man who wanted to convert. He asked Shamai, the Sage, to teach him the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Shamai sent him away, feeling he was being joked with. Then the man approached and asked Hillel, the Sage, who told him that if you want to know it fast, then the essence of the whole Torah is to love your fellow Jew as yourself. [All the rest is commentary; it needs to be studied.]
The students then performed a famous story about two brothers. One was rich and one was poor. They lived on different sides of a mountain. They each brought stacks of wheat for the other in the middle of the night secretly, because each worried that his brother needed it. In the morning, they were both surprised to see that they still had the same number of sheathes of wheat. The next night, they both reached the top of the mountain carrying more wheat and they realized what happened, and they hugged each other. Hashem saw their good deeds and he selected this spot of love and chesed to build the Beis HaMikdash. He appeared to David HaMelech in a dream and told him that this was the spot for the Beis HaMikdash.
This teaches us how important it is to Hashem that we love one another.
The students sang many meaningful songs that taught important lessons like being proud to be a Jew. They also sang “Sh’ma Yisrael.” One song that the children sang taught important ideas such as “I believe and trust in Hashem. You are never alone. He’s holding me tight, and every step is planned.”
After this, one student read the beginning p’sukim from Parshas Lech-L’cha. Rebbetzin Hecht asked the students if it was hard for Avraham to leave his father’s house, and they said yes, and she asked why he did it. They said it was because he had faith and trust in Hashem. Rebbetzin Hecht taught that “it is in our DNA to believe and trust in Hashem.”
Next, she shared that Jewish women light Shabbos candles with full trust in Hashem. Their candles light up their homes and light up the world. “A little light takes away a lot of darkness.”
The students sang “Ani Maamin” and concluded with singing “Mizmor L’ David,” which Rebbetzin Hecht explained they say every day, and they pray that the Israeli soldiers will be safe, the hostages released, and am Yisrael will have peace.
Next, Rabbi Deutscher said that this is not a show or play. Rather, it reflects the values and excellent chinuch that the children receive every day at Yeshiva Primary. Moshe told Hashem that we have guarantors for the Torah, and they are our children. He taught that it’s important to pass our heritage from generation to generation. We, in this generation, are doing the same mitzvos that our great-great-great-grandparents performed. He told the parents and grandparents that they are making sure our guarantors follow through.
He held up a Chumash for the students to see how it has commentaries on the sides and the text in the middle. He taught about the various commentators, like Onkelos, Rashi, and the Baal HaTurim. He spoke about each of these. Then, he taught the students the proper way to treat a Chumash. “It’s special and unique. Put it down carefully.” He praised the achdus of the students, and he pointed out the values they have learned. “They really feel what they’re learning. “
He told the parents: “You acted on your decision, and you are the true guarantors of the Torah. He thanked all the moros and Mrs. Klein.
After the presentation of the chumashim, it was time for the second special celebration. The Mechinah class received their siddurim as Rabbi Deutscher handed a new siddur to each student individually. Rabbi Deutscher told the students that we ask Hashem for everything, and we ask Hashem to give us a life worth living.
The students sang “Adon Olam,” and “Shalom Aleichem,” and “Acheinu.” There was something so beautiful about hearing these children, who came from public schools, singing with so much feeling. It was hard not to get emotional.
After this, Rabbi Deutscher asked the children what public school each had attended and how it was different from Yeshiva Primary. Most of them came this school year so they only had five months of yeshivah. Their answers were truly eye-opening.
One boy said he is in sixth grade, and he came from PS 96. He said the academic subjects are the same, but one subject is different. In yeshivah, there is Hebrew. “I came here five months ago, and I can already read Hebrew.”
Another sixth-grade student said, “It’s different, because the yeshivah teaches better things than public school. In public school, she said, they read inappropriate books. “Here we learn more important things!”
A fifth grader who came a few years ago, shared that they taught “inappropriate stuff” in public school. He recalled a book they read when he was in kindergarten that was all about redefinition of marriage.
Another boy shared, “This school serves healthier lunches, and they teach better things.”
Rabbi Deutscher expressed the feeling that Mrs. Klein and the other teachers also experience – that it is a privilege to be in this school, teaching these children.
By Susie Garber
Rabbi Zalmen Deutscher shared that the school was founded in 1969. “The objective was to take children in public school or children starting yeshivah in kindergarten and afford them a fantastic general education and to expose them to their beautiful Jewish heritage. We wanted the students to know that they are part of a chain going back 3,000 years.”
Morah Yocheved Abramovitz, Limudei Kodesh morah at Yeshiva Primary for over 15 years, shared that every year at Yeshiva Primary is so exciting, with new opportunities to teach Jewish children about Torah and mitzvos, as well as the Hebrew language. She noted that she loves hearing that her students share their weekly parshah sheets at the table on Shabbos, and she loves seeing their excitement about all the Jewish holidays. “The holidays are such an exciting time at our school, with Chanukah celebrations, a Purim masquerade and carnival, and much more. Yeshiva Primary offers such an enriched education, that by the time the students graduate, they are ready for any yeshivah high school.”
Rebbetzin Channah Hecht, Limudei Kodesh morah at Yeshiva Primary for over 20 years, noted that “it is a wonderful school with lots of individual attention. It is a warm environment and kids make a lot of friends here. It changes their lives.”
