More than 60 students, parents, and faculty from Yeshiva Har Torah celebrated a “Winter Family Learning” at the Queens Jewish Center this past Motza’ei Shabbos. Families from Great Neck, West Hempstead, and Queens experienced a musical Havdalah, divrei Torah, and Chanukah Bingo in Hebrew and English.
Located in Little Neck, Yeshiva Har Torah has 820 students from Pre-K through eighth grade, said the Rosh HaYeshivah, Rabbi Gary Menchel.
With an electric acoustic guitar, the Principal of Yeshiva Har Torah, Rabbi Hal Levy, began the evening with a musical Havdalah “to bring the holiness of Shabbos into the rest of the week.” He hoped it would be “inspiring and uplifting.” His three sons attend Yeshiva Har Torah and were at the event: Shalom (5th grade), Noam (1st grade), and Ami Chai (Pre-K).
Rabbi Judah Kerbel of the Queens Jewish Center spoke of two types of miracles on Chanukah. One is the miracle of the oil and the other is the Maccabees winning the war. Quoting Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Kerbel said, “It’s not just supernatural and crazy and unexpected that are miracles, but there are miracles that happen to us every day that are natural miracles.”
“The fact that we wake up every day and that our bodies work and function the way they do, and the fact that we have everything that we need – we shouldn’t take those for granted. Those things are also from Hashem, and those things are miracles.”
We thank Hashem in the brachah of Modim for the miracles every day. “It teaches us the importance of being able to thank Hashem for what we have.”
Rebbetzin Eliana Kerbel of the Queens Jewish Center is also the Assistant Principal of grades 3-5 at Yeshiva Har Torah. Her hope in helping plan the program was “to engender a feeling of a close-knit community in Queens around Torah learning and a love for Judaism.” Her general vision of education at Yeshiva Har Torah “is a warm, personalized, and rigorous education catered to each individual child.”
Rabbi Menchel spoke about having both humility and striving for greatness.
When Hashem changed the names of Avram and Sarai to Avraham and Sarah, their name changes were permanent. Hashem uses both names of Yaakov and Yisrael after Yaakov struggles with an angel all night long.
“Yaakov and Yisrael represent two different elements, two different midos, two different characteristics,” said Rabbi Menchel. “Yaakov comes from the word eikev, heel. It represents the midah, the characteristic of humility. A person who is humble. Your heel. You step on your heel.” “Yisrael represents the heights a person can reach.”
“We need to strive for greatness, but we can never forget that along the way, we have to be humble.” We should not be boastful or get too impressed with ourselves both as individuals and as a nation.
Avraham and Sarah left their pasts behind when their names were changed by Hashem. “Yisrael complimented Yaakov so that both of those midos, those wonderful midos, come together to achieve greatness.” “We need the Yaakov and the Yisrael, combined, to reach our full potential as individuals and as a nation.”
Rabbi Menchel described Yeshiva Har Torah’s approach. “We’re very individualized, try to understand the needs of individual children, and meet and engage all different types of learners in meaningful learning.” Core values like compassion, strength, and connection to Hashem are taught. “There’s an overall emphasis of midos, of character.”
Jonathan and Kiki Schner’s daughter, Eliyanah, is in first grade at Yeshiva Har Torah. Jonathan likes how they teach a “strong Jewish education, a love of Israel, and their English curriculum, as well, is strong, as with the Hebrew. His daughter learns Ivrit b’Ivrit.
As a working mother, Kiki likes the after-school programs her daughter takes: dance, science, and STEM classes. “She comes home happy.” Teaching the midah about respecting others “is very, very important at the school.”
Their six-year-old daughter Eliyanah said that she likes school because she “learns more” and has lots of friends. Her three-year-old sister attends Pre-K at Beth Jacob with plans to go to Yeshiva Har Torah.
Four Israeli women doing Bnot Sherut – service to the Israeli Army at Yeshiva Har Torah – played Chanukah Bingo in Hebrew and English with the students. Their names are Avital Edry, Aviya Golozar, Neta Katzover, and Yael Shalom.
This is the third year Israelis have done Sherut Laam (Service to the Nation) at Yeshiva Har Torah.
This is the sixth annual event that the Queens Jewish Center and Yeshiva Har Torah have done, said Jonathan Herz, Vice President at the shul, and a parent of two children at Yeshiva Har Torah with a third starting in fall 2025.
Crayons and coloring on paper, as well as pizza and snacks, were also part of the fun.
By David Schneier