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25 years have passed. 25 years of spirited learning. 25 years of sacred chinuch, of cultivating a generation of Yiddishe kinderlach to love and live Torah. 25 years of pure limud Torah, of alef-beis and Chumash, of Mishnayos and Gemara that rise from within the walls of Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch in Neve Yaakov, Yerushalayim, and soar directly to the Kisei Hakavod.

It was several years after a charedi community had begun burgeoning in Yerushalayim’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood. Hundreds of families were moving in, first one at a time, and then in groups. Every day, cheerful hammering was heard in the street as a mezuzah went up on a doorpost and another frum family settled into the once predominantly secular neighborhood. Most were young couples and families, longtime Yerushalayim residents who yearned to raise their own children in the holy city that they loved.

The natural growth of the flourishing community soon generated the need for a local cheider with high spiritual and learning standards that would enable families to bequeath their children chinuch al taharas hakodesh, chinuch that would enable them to soar in Torah and yiras Shamayim. With the efforts of local community activists and with guidance and blessing from Moreinu Rosh HaYeshiva Hagaon Harav Avraham Yehoshua Soloveitchik shlit”a, the cornerstone was laid for Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch in Neve Yaakov.

Challenging Beginnings

Minchas Chinuch opened its doors with only ten talmidim but immeasurable aspirations of Torah, yiras Shamayim and dikduk b’halachah in the Brisker derech. The first years brought with them grave challenges, and on many occasions, the cheider was threatened with closure due to its dire financial strait, as the Mishnah teaches ‘Im ein kemach, ein Torah.’ Yet the hanhalah and faculty were indefatigable, investing their very neshamos into teaching the precious tze’irei tzon and supporting the fledgling institution that was rapidly expanding each year due to the sterling chinuch that it imparted. All along the Rosh Yeshiva shlit”a was there, lending his spiritual support to the cheider and consistently encouraging the hanhalah and rebbeim to persist at their meleches hakodesh despite the formidable challenges.

In 2005, after a decade of the menahel’s devoted service to the klal, the reins of Minchas Chinuch were passed to the capable hands of Harav Yisrael Gluskinus shlit”a, close talmid and confidante of the Rosh Yeshiva shlit”a who accepted the responsibility of guiding the talmidim spiritually while simultaneously ensuring the cheider’s long-term financial stability.

Guidance of Tzaddikim

An array of challenges faced Harav Yisrael Gluskinus on the day that he first entered the administrational office of Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch, yet with boundless siyata diShmaya and the wholehearted support and encouragement of the Rosh Yeshiva and venerable Rabbanim and Gedolei Yisrael, he succeeded at his goal and created a stable plan that would allow the cheider to thrive in coming years. Following the Rosh Yeshiva’s advice and endorsed by local Neve Yaakov Rabbanim, a different cheider that had opened recently in the neighborhood merged with Minchas Chinuch, fostering strength in unity. The talmidim in the newly-expanded cheider were determined to uphold the sacred path of their fathers and ancestors who had absorbed ahavas Torah and limud Torah in the legendary illustrious yeshivos and chadarim of Eitz Chim, Meah She’arim, Kamenitz, Tashbar in Bnei Brak and more…

The cheider’s physical expansion also lent itself to additional spiritual growth and ascent. New learning and middos programs were launched, and the talmidim flourished. Simultaneously, the pure, positive chinuch that the talmidim absorbed daily in Minchas Chinuch, a product of the efforts of our distinguished faculty which devotes heart and soul to spur every talmid’s growth and guides him to realize his unique potential, made a deep impression on the community. Before long, dozens of new families were vying to enroll their sons into this outstanding institution.

Thus over a quarter of a century, Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch developed into a bastion of Torah and yiras Shamayim in Neve Yaakov, a spiritual lighthouse where hundreds and thousands of precious Yiddishe kinderlach and young bachurim are raised upon values of limud Torah al taharas hakodesh, with minimal exposure to secular subjects and maximal focus on living exclusively for Hashem and His Torah. At Minchas Chinuch, the objective is to imbue purity into the hearts of our talmidim and mold their characters with integrity and solid, uncompromising hashkafah so they can uphold the traditions of Brisk and stand strong, proud and firm against temptation and the winds of the times…

Throughout every step of this journey, the Rosh Yeshiva shlit”a was the cheider’s spiritual support and guiding light, offering his sage counsel, encouragement and practical advice. It was this invaluable gift and blessing that kept Minchas Chinuch’s doors open, empowered it to overcome hardships and challenges, and preserve its upward trend of physical and spiritual growth and expansion.

A Spiritual Lighthouse

Over a generation has passed since the day Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch opened its doors to ten eager, fresh-faced talmidim. Today, Neve Yaakov is a thriving charedi neighborhood boasting thousands of authentic Torah families. Shuls, batei medrash and kollelim are sprinkled liberally throughout the neighborhood which resounds with the sweetest kol Torah. And at the forefront of it all is Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch which was where it all began, an icon of chinuch radiating purity, integrity, yiras Shamayim and emunas chachamim upon all. This radiance shines from the sweet faces and shining eyes of our talmidim; it overflows from their hearts with the knowledge that they are the legions of Torah, the zera barech Hashem who sanctify His Holy Name every day with their pure learning and refined characters.

Our outstanding rebbeim, all talmidei chachamim, yirei Shamayim and talented, proficient mechanchim, dedicate their neshamos and energies to foster the spiritual growth and learning skills of each individual talmid. There is no better proof of their success than the love and loyalty that the talmidim feel toward the cheider and their rebbeim.

The Rosh Yeshiva shlit”a’s efforts and support of the cheider, his constant interest and offers of help every step of the way, are what gift us with the phenomenal siyata diShmaya that we are privileged to witness. It is no exaggeration to say that every educational or administrational decision is influenced by the Rosh Yeshiva’s supreme wisdom and leadership, and that the chinuch of our talmidim, their limud Torah, and the beautiful homes that they have built, are building and will build are all his sacred legacy.

From the very start, aside from the Rosh Yeshiva’s all-embracing spiritual guidance of the cheider, he instructed that every effort be taken to ensure that the devoted rebbeim would always receive their salaries in full and on time. Even during the cheider’s most tumultuous hours, those hard-pressed months when we feared for the closure of the cheider, never once did the rebbeim receive their salaries even one day late! And during the past year, when coronavirus prevented the rebbeim from coming daily to the cheider, Harav Yisrael Gluskinus would personally travel from house to house, throughout all neighborhoods in Yerushalayim and outside the city, in order to deliver the envelope on time.

The Rosh Yeshiva’s teachings are likewise threaded into every lesson and program, and the very classrooms and halls of the cheider attest to the pure chinuch and lessons that he emphasizes in his holy Yeshiva. The traditional Brisker values of eschewing change, of helping every Yid with a smile, warmth and listening ear, of lessons in chinuch habanim that the Rosh Yeshiva frequently repeats, of learning with ahavas haTorah and aspiration for spiritual greatness, of toiling to understand the words of Torah and clarifying every word and nuance of Torah, of performing every mitzvah stringently and ensuring maximal fulfillment of every aspect of the mitzvos are the hallmarks of Talmud Torah Minchas Chinuch.

It is thus no surprise that from a fledgling class of ten, the cheider now boasts three parallel classes in each grade, kein yirbu!

And we’ll carry on…

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With many thanks for your consideration



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