Susie Garber

On Sunday evening, May 24, United Kollel streamed a powerful pre-Shavuos event with three star-studded speakers. The first speaker, HaRav Shlomo Miller, Rosh Kollel and co-founder of Kollel Avreichim Institute for Advanced Talmud Studies in Toronto and head of the Toronto Beis Din, began by imparting that “marbeh Torah, marbeh life. We have a purpose in life.” Even with the batei midrash, Torah is still alive. Everyone is still learning. He shared a d’var Torah from Parshas BaMidbar that the numbers counted were all round numbers, to teach us that every Jew is alive for a purpose – “especially now, when your learning is bringing down the Sh’chinah.” When you are learning by yourself in your house, then Hashem is your chavrusa. When it is difficult to learn, we have a higher elevation in learning. Now we can really appreciate learning in yeshivah. “When we return to our batei midrash, it will be like rebuilding a beis mikdash m’at.”

Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, well-known speaker, shared a life-changing, invigorating shiur, live-stream, on behalf of TorahAnytime and Chazaq on Monday evening, April 27.

“Good morning, time for school.” The usual phrase that gives our children security and comfort of a normal routine has changed. But thanks to incredibly gifted, creative, and dedicated educators, teachers are teaching and children are learning.

On Monday evening, April 27, Emet hosted an informative, inspiring, live-stream shiur by Rebbetzin Devorah Kigel attended by over 100 women. She shared practical hands-on ideas to help couples with shalom bayis while in quarantine. She called it practical tips for surviving and thriving. She began by stating that “the best way to deal with this challenge is to really live in the moment as much as possible.”

On Monday evening, May 4, Rabbi Benzion Klatzko, founder of Shabbat.com and well-known speaker, shared valuable Torah thoughts and ideas on chinuch during this challenging time. “There’s a calling – a demand. Hashem wants us to become better people.” Rabbi Klatzko imparted, “We have a great test, which is: Can we be patient now?”

On Sunday, April 19, Agudath Israel of America and United Task Force hosted an uplifting and informative live-stream lecture with Dr. David Pelcovitz. Dr. Pelcovitz began with ideas about general anxiety. He noted how right now we are dealing with an invisible force. First, you have to say to yourself that feeling anxious is a totally normal reaction to an abnormal event. This fear is my body doing its job. “Be kind to yourself,” he emphasized. The normal reaction in this situation is to go into a “fight or flight” response. The key is to be compassionate to yourself. “Create a space in yourself for fear, and remember that we are not defined by this fear.”