He has been at the helm of the Chabad yeshiva in Tzfas since it was founded forty years ago. Five sons also lead yeshivos or learning programs. * We met with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Wilschansky, the rosh yeshiva in Tzfas, and his oldest son, R’ Menachem Mendel, rosh yeshiva in Haifa, for a talk about the chinuch and guidance of T’mimim in the world of yeshivos. * Presented for 15 Elul, marking the founding of Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim in 1897.
A fundamental element of Jewish life is the transmission of our tradition to the next generation. This is highlighted on Pesach in the mitzva of “and you should recount to your son.” How do we know that our educational endeavors are successful? The only answer is when we see those things that we say and repeat implanted in our children and expressed in their actions in daily life.
If we look for a mesora being transmitted from generation to generation in the yeshiva-chinuch world, we will readily find it in the Wilschansky family. R’ Yosef Yitzchok Wilschansky founded the biggest Lubavitcher yeshiva in the world forty years ago and all his sons follow in his footsteps. His oldest son, R’ Menachem Mendel, founded and runs Tomchei T’mimim in Haifa. His other sons also have important jobs in chinuch. One is a maggid shiur and mashpia in the yeshiva in Tzfas, one runs Chanoch L’Naar in Tzfas, one runs a smicha program in Milan, and another heads the yeshiva k’tana in Tzfas.
THE YESHIVA’S EARLY DAYS
“The Chabad yeshiva in Tzfas took shape during the period of the founding of Chabad mosdos in Tzfas,” said R’ Wilschansky, going back forty years. “The Rebbe assigned the founding of Kiryat Chabad to R’ Aryeh Leib Kaplan. The Rebbe said to found all mosdos chinuch in Tzfas from daycare and preschools to a mesivta, yeshiva g’dola and kollel.
“On Rosh Chodesh Iyar 5737/1977, a year after we arrived in Tzfas on shlichus, a group of bachurim from the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad came and they formed the nucleus of the yeshiva.
“R’ Kaplan asked me and R’ Shlomo Zalman Levkivker to run the new yeshiva and oversee its spiritual and learning aspects.”
By divine providence, R’ Yisroel Kenig was in charge of the northern district of the Interior Ministry at that time and he helped found the yeshiva and obtained money for it. His dream was for the main street in Tzfas to have bachurim walking with tzitzis blowing in the breeze.
“Today, that sounds strange, because most of the population of Tzfas is religious, but back then, for those who know the history, there were very few religious Jews.
“After R’ Kaplan received the Rebbe’s bracha, and I received a positive response, the yeshiva got started. R’ Eliyahu Friedman took responsibility for the yeshiva’s finances and was very dedicated.”
Now, let’s skip over to Haifa where, in the center of the city there is a Chabad yeshiva led by the oldest Wilschansky son, R’ Menachem Mendel. This yeshiva opened twenty-five years later.
“Since the Rebbe’s horaa in the sicha of 15 Elul 5751 to found branches of Tomchei T’mimim in every city and place, my father wanted to expand from Tzfas to other cities.
“After I married, we had three shlichus offers. One of them was R’ Leibel Schildkraut’s request of my father to open a yeshiva in Haifa. My father suggested I run the yeshiva in Haifa along with shlichus work in the Hadar Elyon neighborhood.”
The Rebbe’s answer, in the Igros Kodesh, was clear.
“The Rebbe wrote that even if I did not see success and thought I wasn’t suited, not to be disturbed by that because the Rebbe thinks I am suited to the job. Whenever a difficulty arises with the yeshiva or other activities that we do, I remember this answer and it inspires me.”
To what extent did you take the model and inspiration from how your father runs the yeshiva in Tzfas?
A lot, even though Haifa is very different than Tzfas. We are working in a city where it is hard to spread Judaism. In one of his letters, the Rebbe notes that Haifa’s nickname is the “Red City” ( Haifa has traditionally been a Labor party stronghold. The strong presence of dock workers and trade unions earned it the nickname ‘Red Haifa.’ In addition, many prominent Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party were from Haifa.). It’s a tough shlichus.
The yeshiva underwent a number of changes over the years. At first, we worked with boys who had difficulties learning. Then groups of bachurim from Tzfas came for half a year of shlichus to strengthen the yeshiva. Today we work more with baalei t’shuva. R’ Yehoshua Lifsh helps us a lot in running the yeshiva and working with talmidim.
You refer to difficulties. What keeps you going?
I got this trait from my father. I learned from him that when there is work to do and it’s what the Rebbe wants, you are not impressed by the difficulties and you just do what needs to be done. I know that my father learned this from his father, my grandfather, R’ Refael Wilschansky a”h, who worked in the Rebbe’s European office and worked in a determined manner. The Rebbe’s wishes are what guided him.
In everything having to do with the yeshiva in Haifa, my father was not only a source of inspiration but he provided practical assistance. In the early years, he would come every week and give a shiur klali in the yeshiva. He was also fully involved in the decision making. We consulted with him on a daily basis and he even took on a significant portion of the financial burden.
THE T’MIMIM
– THEN AND NOW
R’ YY Wilschansky, in recent years, has also taken on the responsibility for the financial running of the yeshiva in Tzfas, along with some of his friends. In his busy day he allots time for both the financial and the spiritual running of the yeshiva. He admits that he would rather spend more time in the yeshiva, but despite this new burden, he is the one who tests bachurim when they want to join the yeshiva and every Thursday he gives a shiur klali.
With the perspective of forty years, more than a generation, do you see a big difference between bachurim then and now?
There’s no question that the atmosphere is very different. Bachurim today have more things to distract them, but there is a lot of positive too. The hiskashrus to the Rebbe today is much stronger than it used to be. The connection to 770 is also much stronger than in the past. In the past, bachurim were very involved with the broadcasts that connected them to Beis Chayeinu, but that wasn’t enough of a direct connection to 770 and they were not very involved in daily life there.
Over the years, because of the development of technology, bachurim “live” with Beis Chayeinu much more, they live with the Rebbe and his holy ways and by learning his teachings.
Looking back, in terms of the general approach, there is no change. In the past too, you could have heard one bachur say to another that he’s going to learn in the yeshiva in Tzfas and the other one would say, “Yes, they put an emphasis there on hiskashrus to the Rebbe.” That’s the way it was then and now too. In addition to that, there is an enormous chayus today in inyanei Moshiach which is a direct extension of our hiskashrus to the Rebbe.
KLALEI CHINUCH V’HADRACHA
As a shliach of the Rebbe to Eretz Yisroel, with the horaos the shluchim were given by the Rebbe, R’ Wilschansky is involved in communal matters both within Tzfas and in general, within Chabad in Eretz Yisroel. Despite his many involvements, he is the mashpia of bachurim from the yeshiva as well as graduates. He also directs the yeshiva’s staff in matters of chinuch and helps his sons who run yeshivos.
“One of the important things that guide me is caring for every talmid. I got the foundation for this when I was a young bachur in the yeshiva in Brunoy where new mekuravim would show up every week and we would learn with them. Afterward, when we went on shlichus to the yeshiva in Australia, we were maggidei shiur and mashpiim in yeshiva to the children of Anash. There were also bachurim in the yeshiva that were becoming religious and a lot had to be put into them, not just in learning but also in guiding them.”
R’ Wilschansky has years of chinuch experience. In addition to running the yeshiva g’dola, he is a member of the educational staff of Ohr Menachem in Tzfas, an elementary school. His experience spans all ages.
You could have turned your yeshiva into a yeshiva exclusively for outstanding students. Why do you also accept weak students?
Of course I’d love to teach bachurim on a high level and give them deep shiurim. Today too, despite my busy schedule, I continue giving the shiur klali because I get a lot of chayus from it. In our yeshiva we have many bachurim who are lamdanim, a serious chevra who are into their learning, Shas and Rambam. They publish sifrei pilpulim and scholarly anthologies every year.
However, we never opted to accept only outstanding talmidim. The Rebbe wants us to accept even those who are less qualified. The Rebbe says that in the past, boys were educated at home and then went to yeshiva to learn, while today, even basic chinuch takes place in yeshiva and therefore, the Rebbe wants the hanhalos to be receptive to any bachur who wants to learn, even if he’s not from the elite.
Why do we do this? Because we care about every bachur. We are not afraid of the challenge. We always give a bachur a chance.
I remember a certain gathering that I attended when the question arose, why is it that in our yeshiva, more than any other yeshiva, we are receptive to all kinds of talmidim, even those who are weak and those who are considered difficult? There was a rumor that we, the hanhala, and I personally, got an explicit horaa from the Rebbe about this. Those present asked me whether this was true. I said we never received a direct horaa about this. Over the years, there was guidance from the Rebbe to all yeshivos via the sichos and letters to take care of every talmid.
In our first year, there weren’t that many talmidim because of the distance from the center of the country. The idea was proposed that the yeshiva focus on baalei t’shuva and not be a regular yeshiva. When they asked the Rebbe, the answer was, “also baalei t’shuva.” We understood from this that the Rebbe wants a regular yeshiva as well as a program for baalei t’shuva. We decided to include the program for baalei t’shuva as an integral part of the regular yeshiva and that is how it works till today.
This ended up helping the weak bachurim who were unable to sit at regular shiurei iyun or those who did not have the level of knowledge needed for learning. They would join the beginners’ shiur.
R’ Menachem Mendel listened to his father and added:
“I remember that whenever a new volume of Likkutei Sichos would arrive in Eretz Yisroel, my father would spend days and nights on it, reading and learning it from cover to cover. He especially enjoyed looking at the hosafos at the end of each volume which have many letters from the Rebbe, including instructions and guidance for life (this was before the Igros Kodesh was published. Of course, when the Igros were published, he was thrilled). When I remember this, it brings me to tears.
“I remember a volume arrived before Pesach one year, and my father had it with him at home, in shul in Kiryat Chabad, and in the old shul in Tel Aviv when we went to our grandfather, R’ Moshe Ashkenazi. He learned in it constantly until he finished it. People do not realize what a treasure and enormous depth there is in the hosafos of Likkutei Sichos.
“Few people understand communal work like my father, as few people are knowledgeable in Likkutei Sichos, maamarim, and Igros Kodesh, and use that knowledge to gain perspective on the Rebbe’s approach to every topic and operate accordingly. Years ago, my father understood that a proper perspective on communal work must come from the Rebbe’s teachings. I remember a time when I was thirteen and I learned a lot of Gemara. My mother said to me, ‘Abba learns Gemara, Mishna, and Halacha, but he uses all that in order to better understand the Rebbe’s sichos and maamarim. Abba finishes Masechtos, Mishnayos, sifrei mefarshim, etc. and with them he increases his hiskashrus to the Rebbe through learning his teachings.’”
How do you implement the Rebbe’s views in yeshiva?
R’ YY Wilschansky: There are many examples. As I said before, we don’t just accept outstanding bachurim. Even when a bachur does not behave as he should, the Rebbe’s view as seen in his letters and answers is not to readily expel bachurim from yeshiva, certainly not forever. It’s easy to send a bachur home but it should not happen. We hardly ever send anyone away and even if we have to, we find him another place in one of our branches.
Over the years, unfortunately, we are seeing a growing number of bachurim who find the yeshiva system difficult for them. It is hard for them to make it through the regular course of learning. My son Eliezer saw that they needed their own program and he created one in yishuv S’dei Eliezer. He now heads Chanoch L’Naar, a mesivta, and runs a yeshiva g’dola called HaMachon HaTechnologia. They are both programs for bachurim who cannot sit all day and analyze sugiyos in Gemara or deep maamarei Chassidus.
The central yeshiva in Tzfas supported these endeavors, especially in the early years, and today too, we advise and help at various times when critical decisions need to be made.
R’ MM Wilschansky admits that his father’s approach is not easy for him:
I found it very hard to relate to this approach when I was starting out. By nature, I want to do things differently, whether it’s about accepting talmidim or when someone is not behaving properly and needs to be sent home. It took me a long time to deeply appreciate my father’s view and to accept it. There were times that talmidim came to us who had a hard time in the regular program in Tzfas. Some of them did things that, at first thought, should have gotten them expelled so their parents could deal with them. For example, there was a bachur who decided to have some fun by committing a serious infraction, or a bachur whose hobby it was to break locks on rooms. That bachur was thrown out of all yeshivos.
My father’s approach is different. My father searches for a way to bring the student to the proper level with the proper educational approach, rather than throw him out and lose a ‘world.’ If necessary, he’ll call him in for a talk and speak to him. Even if at the end, someone needs to be sent away, do it in a kind way, so that he understands why. There are clear guidelines and rules but handling them requires wisdom and finesse.
I will admit that this “longer way” is hard for me. By nature I am used to doing thing in a hurry, to make spot decisions, but my father operates differently. He feels a responsibility. Deep inside he is a zealot but he also represents the Rebbe and he cares about every bachur. Over time, I learned his approach and understood it. My father’s way is not to get excited, to remain calm, to investigate everything in depth, and to demonstrate to the bachur the error of his ways without being in a state of ‘g’vura.’ That is the advantage of Tzfas, the personal relationship my father spoke about, knowing how to convey the Rebbe’s horaos to every single talmid in a way that is total Ahavas Yisroel. I think this is the secret to the success of the yeshiva g’dola in Tzfas.
THE MAIN “SWITCH”
IN CHINUCH
In R’ Wilschansky’s office in his house in Kiryat Chabad is a small room packed with s’farim. The walls are covered with shelves full of sifrei Halacha, Gemara, Mishna, and poskim, sifrei Chassidus and biurim. The sifrei pilpulim that the talmidim of the yeshiva write are in a place of honor.
Someone who walks into the yeshiva study hall on an ordinary day has a surprise waiting for them. The stairs leading to the main hall of the yeshiva are narrow and winding and they look as though they lead to a small apartment. But after ascending them and reaching the large hall you cannot help but exclaim in wonder as you see hundreds of bachurim sitting in a big zal and learning Torah.
“A few days ago, a member of the city council came to visit us, R’ Nachman Gelbach. He had never visited the yeshiva before and when he walked in, he was stunned. He said he could not believe that in Tzfas there is a yeshiva with that many talmidim.”
The yeshiva in Tzfas has attained some magnificent achievements both scholastically (which can be seen in their publications) and in hiskashrus to the Rebbe. How have you been able to accomplish this for so many years?
R’ YY Wilschansky:
“It all starts with hiskashrus to the Rebbe. Before I deal with anything, I ask myself, what is the Rebbe’s view on this? Am I sure this is what the Rebbe wants? Is the Rebbe part of us or, G-d forbid, something separate? Real hiskashrus to the Rebbe is, first and foremost, knowing that our lives revolve around the Rebbe’s wishes. So too with the subject of Moshiach, some think that Yechi is chitzonius. There could be no greater mistake, for everything we do is to bring about Yemos HaMoshiach.
“We greatly encourage bachurim to learn inyanei Moshiach and Geula. In addition to encouragement, we have a daily shiur for half an hour on inyanei Moshiach and Geula based on the Rebbe’s sichos and sources in Chazal. There are special maggidei shiur for this. Recently, one of our former talmidim, R’ Sholom Ber Wolf, now on the staff here and a maggid shiur for inyanei Moshiach and Geula, published a thick seifer about various aspects of Geula in our lives.”
According to R’ Wilschansky, if we want to educate a bachur to real faith in the Rebbe and the Besuras HaGeula, we first need to connect him to the Rebbe. Only then will he learn and have shiurim on it, on his own.
“We are a copy of Tzfas,” says R’ MM Wilschansky. “I will tell you a story that I heard from the mashpia, R’ Mendel Wechter. Before Gimmel Tammuz, Chassidim were ‘into’ Yechi. R’ Moshe Weber of Yerushalayim did not quite understand it and he expressed his annoyance about it to R’ Wechter. Instead of answering directly, R’ Wechter asked him whether he ever davened with avoda with the D’var Malchus of 5751-5752. He said no, and they parted ways. A while later, the two of them met, and R’ Weber told R’ Wechter that he was grateful to him for his advice.
“Moshiach is the ‘inner point’ of all the mitzvos and good behavior. Without learning a lot of Chassidus and without davening at length, it is not possible to ‘live Moshiach’ in an internal way.
“Here is something important I learned from my father. We must obey the Rebbe’s horaos matter-of-factly, without p’shetlach. If the Rebbe says something, we do it with mesirus nefesh. That is the message that my father conveys in the yeshiva in Tzfas. It applies to every topic in Judaism and Chassidic life and certainly everything having to do with spreading the Besuras HaGeula. In Tzfas, bachurim become soldiers of the Rebbe who stand at their posts on the front lines.
“A few years ago, I met an acquaintance from the United States who is not considered a Meshichist. He is a learned person and is knowledgeable in the Rebbe’s sichos. He told me why he had come to Eretz Yisroel and he spoke candidly.
“He said he had come to find a yeshiva for four bachurim. He visited a number of yeshivos and also went to Tzfas. In the end, he decided to register them in another yeshiva. I asked him why. He said: In Tzfas I met soldiers and it’s not suitable for my spoiled chevra.”
NOT EVERYTHING
LIKE HIS FATHER
What is your guiding light in chinuch? What is the tradition that you pass down to the generations?
R’ YY Wilschansky thought a bit, chose his words, and then said:
“Looking at each talmid as an individual. When we added more and more classes, until we had over 400 students, we added staff. We have far more than a maggid shiur and a mashpia for every class, which is the normal system. Some people thought it was an unnecessary expense but we don’t want to create a situation in which a talmid will be here for three years and we don’t really know him and don’t have an educational plan for him.”
R’ Wilschansky then shared his educational perspective with us:
“When a staff member tells me about a certain student, ‘He’s bothering me,’ ‘He gets me mad,’ ‘I can’t give a shiur because of him,’ I cannot accept that, because the teacher is emphasizing himself and his needs. In our yeshiva, the talmid is the focus. When a teacher speaks that way of a student disturbing him, he will find it hard to come up with a way of helping the talmid progress.
“I am willing to accept things like, ‘The bachur is disturbing the shiur,’ or ‘He is impeding the progress of his classmates.’ The wording reflects how the teacher thinks of the student.”
R’ MM Wilschansky listened and smiled. “I’ll tell you the truth. By nature, I am very different than my father. My father’s temperament is a rare blend of mind and heart, an amazing ability to think about several topics at once, in detail, with attention paid to the behavior of every bachur. With me, my tough side is more revealed. If I think I am right or that someone is going against the Shulchan Aruch, I react strongly.”
What guidance did you get from your father that helps you function as a successful rosh yeshiva?
“I’ll tell you something personal. In 5750, I was in 770 for four months, until the beginning of 5751. At that time, there was a possibility that I’d learn in Oholei Torah or the yeshiva in Morristown. The Rebbe’s answer was to stay in Tzfas. I now know how much I benefited from that instruction. For several years I was able to attend my father’s farbrengens in yeshiva. In particular, I remember the farbrengens that took place on Shabbos in the summer when we read the parshiyos that speak about Moshe Rabbeinu’s conduct, the need to be devoted to what he says, and to beware not to repeat the mistakes of the spies and the sin of machlokes. These farbrengens shaped my weltanschauung.
“We kids would join my father and walk from Kiryat Chabad to the yeshiva twice on Shabbos. We could get drenched with rain, or sweat in the sun, but my father never complained. I remember him sitting entire nights preparing shiurim. I learned from him how a shliach must be a yerei Shamayim and a lamdan, but not for himself. A Chassid is a shliach to convey what he has to others.
“After my grandfather R’ Moshe Ashkenazi passed away, an older Litvishe Jew who knew my father when my father was a young chassan visiting his father-in-law in Yerushalayim approached me. He told me that the year the Rebbe urged us to make a Seudas Moshiach, he saw my father, who was already a young rosh yeshiva, going around to the shuls in Tel Aviv and putting up flyers about the great importance of conducting a Seudas Moshiach.
“That’s my father – a lamdan, a yerei Shamayim, but above all else, the Rebbe’s soldier. This is what we learned from him, and I think it is one of the main reasons for the success of the yeshiva in Tzfas.”