2 years ago

The Revolution: Bringing Tomchei Temimim Down Under

From Hatomim Magazine: The Story of “Yeshiva Gedola – Zal” in Melbourne, Australia, the Yeshiva that brought the spirit of Tomchei Tmimim to the farthest reaches possible • Full Article

By Hatomim Magazine

FOUNDING A YESHIVA IN A DESOLATE PLACE

On a summer day in 5726 [remember, summer in Australia is winter in other parts], a group of Chassidim in Melbourne sat together and farbrenged. R’ Chaim Serebryanski walked in and he had a radical message: We must have a yeshiva gedola in Australia. The time is ripe, he said, for bachurim who want to devote their time exclusively to limudei kodesh to be able to do so here in Australia. This was not the first time this idea had come up. Now and then, at meetings and farbrengens, the idea of starting a yeshiva gedola had come up. The first efforts had already begun in the winter of 5725 and now R’ Chaim decided the time had come to make it happen.

Those present agreed the idea was a good one but nothing more. Starting a yeshiva gedola was a dream. The assumption was that every bachur had to go to university for general knowledge. This assumption was firmly accepted by Jews of every stripe. Starting a yeshiva gedola required not only money but mainly a change in the mindset of the locals. A switch from the “shtus d’lumas zeh” to “shtus d’kedusha.”

The protests came soon after. True, some talmidim, after graduating, want to spend some time in yeshiva, and there were some talmidim who demanded this, but to start a yeshiva in Australia itself? Someone who wanted to devote a year to limudei kodesh, said some, would want to learn in an established yeshiva overseas.

There is one thing they all agreed upon, that the day a yeshiva would be founded in Australia would mean a real revolution in Jewish life in Australia.

THE DECISION WAS ALWAYS THERE

Actually, efforts to dispel the spiritual desolation on this continent began many decades earlier. Thus, the attempts to start a yeshiva began many years before it was actually founded. These were years when much effort was invested with endless dedication.

The attempts to start a yeshiva began in 5701. With the outbreak of World War II, groups of Jews were able to escape occupied Europe and make it to the safe shores of Australia. One of these groups that came from England included many yeshiva bachurim and bnei Torah, mainly Litvish but there were also some Lubavitcher Chassidim. They settled in Sydney and wanted to start a yeshiva in the traditional European model. However, the Jews of the city, including many of the local rabbis, gently rejected the idea in fear that it would increase anti-Semitism. They tried to prevent the starting of a yeshiva by the young fellows and made many difficulties for the group of emigrants. In this hopeless situation, the bnei Torah concluded there was no reason to remain there and they asked their rosh yeshiva who was overseas who told them to return.

However, there was another response that came from America which was quite different. One of the members of the group, Rabbi Shneur Chaim Gutnick decided, unlike his friends, to ask the Rebbe Rayatz what to do. The Rebbe responded in a telegram, “‘The steps of man are established by G-d’ and since divine providence led you to Australia, that is an indication that this is your place.” In that same telegram, the Rebbe wrote that since the war will finally end and thousands of refugees will reach Australia, the groundwork should be prepared for their coming so it will be a place of Torah and they will be able to find what they seek – “they should be able to find dem Eibershten.”

R’ Gutnick remained in Sydney but since the others in his group went to America the opportunity to open a yeshiva was delayed. However, the Rebbe continued to encourage him and promised that when the time came, he would send them shluchim.

Letter sent by Rabbi Șerebryanski to the rebbe two months after the yeshiva opened

THE REBBE RAYATZ SETTLES AUSTRALIA

Years passed and the Rebbe Rayatz’s vision came to be as thousands of refugees began making their way to distant Australia. The Rebbe kept his promise to R’ Gutnick and told some of the Lubavitcher refugees to settle with their families in Australia. R’ Moshe Zalman Feiglin, the first Chassid in Australia, took the opportunity and tried again to obtain visas for Anash and their families.

The arrival of new immigrants to Australia was an important stage in the spiritual revival. Within those numbers there stood out a small group of families of Anash, six men of stature who inspired admiration, men of steely determination and powerful will to the point of mesirus nefesh. The first of the emigrants from Anash was Rabbi Betzalel Wilschansky. Following him were: R’ Isser Kluvgant, R’ Shmuel Betzalel Altheus, R’ Nachum Zalman Gurewitz, R’ Yehoshua SZ Serebryanski, R’ Yisrael Abba Pliskin, and their families. Although they were few in number this small cadre managed to leave its mark on Jewish life in Australia.

R’ Yehoshua SZ Serebryanski (the father of R’ Chaim, mentioned previously) stood out. It was he who received the Rebbe Rayatz’s instruction to make Australia into a place of Torah. R’ Serebryanski came with his family on 18 Elul 5709 and already after the Yom Tov season he opened a yeshiva for young men. In a letter from 20 Kislev 5710, the Rebbe Rayatz wrote him, “I was delighted to be informed that Anash in Melbourne approached with seriousness [the matter of] founding a yeshiva and that with His help the learning has begun.”

Rabbi Serebryanski Learning In The ‘Zal’ In The Yeshiva

As much as he pleaded with the Rebbe, over the years, to release him from running the mosdos, the Rebbe did not agree. He even once sent Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson to make sure that he did not quit running the mosdos.

Over the years, additional attempts were made to open a yeshiva gedola but each such attempt was doomed to failure. In the best case scenario, a yeshiva was opened but did not last more than a short time.

Rabbi Asher Abramson (stepfather of the Gutnick brothers) should be mentioned for he opened a yeshiva in 5709-10 in Sydney and after the yeshiva was opened in Shepparton (and afterward, when it moved to Melbourne) he helped it get settled and grow. Being an excellent speaker he used this ability to promote the yeshiva, materially and spiritually. This was in addition to bachurim whom he sent from Sydney to learn in the yeshiva.

THAT’S HOW THE YESHIVA WAS FOUNDED

Now let’s go back to where we started. There were enough complaints at that summer farbrengen in 5726 to cool off R’ Chaim Serebryanski’s enthusiasm with which he told Anash about the imperative to open a yeshiva. Still, this attempt was different than its predecessors, not only because it succeeded in the end but also because the situation had changed significantly. At that time, a significant growth spurt began in the field of chinuch in Australia. Melbourne had mosdos Torah and chinuch and hundreds of students. Children obtained an authentic Jewish education, illuminated by the light of Chassidus. Anash mentioned earlier were all partners in this growth, especially Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner who helped R’ Zalman Serebryanski tremendously in expanding the mosdos.

R’ Groner had been sent on shlichus by the Rebbe to Australia in 5719. The reason that specifically in this year there was felt the need for a yeshiva was because at the end of the year, the students of the yeshiva high school, for the first time in the yeshiva’s history, would be graduating twelfth grade. It would be a pity to miss the opportunity and cause them to go off to university where the chayus they had absorbed over the years would cool off.

However, after R’ Chaim Serebryanski’s suggestion was greeted with reservations on the part of Anash, his father R’ Zalman (who was behind the suggestion) sent a letter to the Rebbe. In the letter, dated 7 Kislev 5726, R’ Zalman details all the doubts and hesitations.

After a lengthy report about the meeting, R’ Zalman proposed sending shluchim from 770 to the yeshiva in Australia – “In truth, if this was a matter of founding a yeshiva gedola on a fixed basis it would be crucial that at least five older bachurim come from our yeshiva in America in order to breathe life… but perhaps this is something we can’t even consider, all the more so to request. What we are asking is for is a young man who is a lamdan and Chassid to come here to serve as the rosh yeshiva… As far as sending bachurim we don’t dare to request, and perhaps such a thing would come about in the way of an arousal from above.”

As fitting a detailed, organized report (which was typical of R’ Zalman who made sure to document every step in the development of the mosdos in a consistent, orderly way) he mentioned the names of all those who attended the meeting. “Present at the meeting were: R’ Y. Groner, R’ YA Herzog, R’ Isser Kluvgant, R’ NZ Gurewitz, R’ Dovid Feiglin, R’ Uri Kaploun and the talmidim involved in the work of Tzach, Binyamin Belfer and Yeshaya Kantor.” He ended the letter by apologizing that time was short since they wanted to start in Shevat which is the beginning of the school year on that continent.

Days and weeks went by in which the founders of the yeshiva dedicated large blocs of time to lengthy conversations with talmidim about continuing their studies in yeshiva, but a response from the Rebbe had yet to come. They continued with all the preparations in the hopes of receiving an answer later on, but no answer came. Having no choice, R’ Chaim sent another letter to the Rebbe and some time later a telegram came from the Rebbe which said to found the yeshiva. In a letter came the instruction to start on their own and only after a test period would shluchim be sent.

At this point, all questions vanished and all realized that the Rebbe wanted to transform Australia into a place of Torah. Australian Jewry were happy to hear about the opening of a yeshiva, More than ten rabbanim in Melbourne publicized a letter of blessing upon the opening of the yeshiva, something – they said – that would bring the Shechina to dwell in Australia.

On 11 Shevat 5726 the yeshiva in Melbourne was founded in a good and successful time and the students immediately began their studies. R’ Zalman received a letter (in response to his letter of 7 Kislev) bearing the date 11 Shevat.

The yeshiva opened with only five students but already from the start they were treated to shiurim on a high level. Rabbi Yaakov Eliezer Herzog was appointed the rosh yeshiva and R’ Serebryanski as the mashpia and menahel. The yeshiva’s first location (after a short stay in a house that R’ Menachem Mendel New allowed them to use on Goathlands Avenue in East S. Kilda) was a spacious, comfortable house in Kalymna Grove, obtained through the efforts of R’ Chaim Serebryanski who saw to it just as he looked after the daily needs of the students with tireless devotion.

In regards to the question of the administration about which location to choose, whether a quiet place outside the city or an easily accessible place within the city (near the yeshiva for younger students), the Rebbe said to be in the middle, close but not in the exact same place. The house was in fact in between, not far from the yeshiva high school.

Two months after the opening of the yeshiva, R’ Zalman wrote to the Rebbe, “I received the Rebbe’s letter from 11 Shevat… response… regarding the question about the study schedule and we will do as the Rebbe instructed.” On 9 Iyar he wrote, “I’d like to inform… that after Pesach, thank G-d, the learning situation improved.” In a letter from 15 Av, “As I already reported in my letter of 9 Iyar, the talmidim in the yeshiva gedola are learning, boruch Hashem, properly.” From time to time, he would report all the happenings in the new yeshiva which was growing.

Model of the planned expansion of the yeshiva building

‘A YESHIVA LIKE THIS IS NECESSARY IN MELBOURNE’

The Rebbe displayed consistent interest and concern regarding the founding of the yeshiva and how it was run. Aside from the fact that the Rebbe placed the yeshiva under his leadership, he worked unceasingly to develop it in all ways. This was seen in letters and requests directed to the hanhala, talmidim, Anash in Australia, etc. In a letter to R’ Groner, the Rebbe said, “A yeshiva like this is necessary in Melbourne.”

When a talmid (MZG) planned on leaving the yeshiva, the Rebbe told him, “to continue learning in our yeshiva in Melbourne with diligence in Nigleh and Chassidus, and influence your friends in this direction too. May it be the will that together they will raise up the yeshiva higher and higher for the good of them and all our Jewish brethren in Australia, and the merit of the many will assist them.”

In regards to different questions that arose from time to time, the Rebbe would get involved and always said how to do things. Sometimes he decided and sometimes he said to do as the local hanhala decided.

The Rebbe decided on the name of the yeshiva, saying to call it “Yeshivah Gedolah” and not “Tomchei Tmimim,” the usual name for all Chabad yeshivos around the world. This was not, G-d forbid, because of the lesser status of the yeshiva for the Rebbe said about this yeshiva, “This is mine.” Although the yeshiva was not called “Tomchei Tmimim,” the Rebbe said that the talmidim should be called “tmimim.”

Later on, they received instructions to add the word “zal” to the name of the yeshiva: “Yeshivah Gedolah Zal.” In connection with this, the Rebbe said that the talmidim of the Yeshivah Gedolah need to constantly fulfill their duties and make sure that it remains “zal” (with an alef) and not, G-d forbid, z”l (“with two dots” [meaning deceased]).

When due to government regulations the yeshiva needed an English name too, and they suggested calling it, “Rabbinical College of Australia,” they Rebbe said to add, “and New Zealand.” In fact, in the end there were bachurim from New Zealand who came to learn there.