Thousands of children from across Eretz Yisroel gathered in the main Gerrer beis medrash in Yerushalayim in the waning hours of Chanukah – after Mincha of Zos Chanukah— to depart from the yom tov of light with the fire of Torah.
In the coming hours, thousands of children would be tested on hundreds of dapim of Gemara that they had mastered by heart after numerous reviews. The sight would leave the thousands in attendance deeply impressed.
The event was called “Haragil b’Ner, and it took place within the framework of the program ‘v’Chol Banayich,” under the umbrella of Ichud Mosdos Gur, responsible for promoting mastery in Torah among the children of the chassidus.
The new beis medrash has had the chance to witness many events during the short time since it was built. Often, the announcement goes out “the seats are not intended for children” who must find their place in the aisles. This time, though, the children were the guests of honor.
Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Yosef shlit”a, the Rishon L’tzion, and Hagaon Harav Chaim Yitzchak Isaac Landa shlita, the rav of Bnei Brak, were the bochanim, administering the exam to the talmidim. For an entire hour, the two rabbanim sat with the children, amazed at their mastery of the material. The rabbanim asked and the children answered, with the crowd following along with bated breath.
“Which mitzvos,” one of the testers questioned, “is mentioned in the Gemara as something that Hashem also does?” Thousands of hands went up as the children vied to answer the question. And when the rav asked, “Which things carry a requirement to have a house of at least four amos?” the students began counting on their fingers the list of things that are mentioned in the Gemara.
Thousands of students, one mind.
The test concluded with a bracha from the rabbanim. Rav Yitzchak Yosef recounted some of the accomplishments of his great father, the Rishon L’tzion Hagaon Harav Ovadia Yosef zt”l. “I stood next to him during the levayah of Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahneman, the Ponovezer Rav, and the hespedim were in Yiddish,” he recalled. “My father did not understand Yiddish, so what did he do during the entire time of the hespedim? He recited from memory four masechtos of mishnayos, word for word.”
Rav Yosef then revealed a personal story he heard from his father. “When he was a child,” Rav Yosef said, “he had a difficult time remembering what he learned. What did he do? He reviewed endlessly. He was not interested in anything except his Torah learning—until the gates of Torah were opened to him and he enlightened the whole world.”
The rabbanim then benched the children who were tested and knew the material, as well as for all the assembled, followed by the emotional singing of songs which implore Hashem for success in Torah. “Avinu Av Harachaman, hameracheim, racheim aleinu…”
There were tears in many eyes hearing the pure children’s voices rise and fall as they begged for their eyes to be “enlightened in Your Torah” and their hearts unified in love and fear for Hashem.
A major patron of this project who refused to be named here said: “this is a project that is so near and dear to the Rebbe shlita; it has been his dream for many years. For me, it’s the greatest Zechus to be able to be a part of bringing it to fruition, and to see the rebbe witness the fruits of his labor.”
The massive event capped the days of Chanukah, enabling the children to seize the light of Torah and to extend its joy and its light into the long winter ahead.
