2008 Woodie Awards
Wexner Kollel Elyon Lecture Series Branching Out
Mordechai Sapper
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Features
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As part of the Bella & Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon Lecture Series, members of the Bella & Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon at RIETS are sent across North America several times a year to gain experience in public speaking and a feel for the rabbinate, and life in general, outside New York.
Each Kollel Elyon member is required to speak twice annually and serve as a scholar in residence, generally for an entire Shabbos. Program Manager of Rabbinic Programs at the Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda calls this an opportunity for the Kollel members "to go out and get experience in the community, both practical speaking experience, and at the same time a hands-on pulpit experience."
Though it reaches distant communities as far as Miami, FL, and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, with only a ten member kollel, the Lecture Series is relatively small. In addition, the majority of visited communities are out of town. Rabbi Lavenda told The Commentator that "this is done purposely, because, yes they could gain practical experience in the New York area, but the added component of experiencing Jewish life out of town, experiencing the rabbinate out of town, and seeing that there is Jewish life out of town, is just as beneficial, if not more important. Also, the challenge of preparing and giving a sophisticated and meaningful shiur to shul goers in Birmingham, AL, is a much different experience than giving one in Teaneck."
The Kollel Elyon members feel that this is not just a resume builder, but is also an opportunity to learn necessary skills, and have thus embraced the idea of the Bella & Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon Lecture Series. Rabbi Reuven Brand - a Bella & Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon member in his fourth and final year - stayed with Congregation Beth Israel in Miami Beach, FL, last year during which he spoke several times over Shabbat at a variety of venues, including the pulpit, an informal Oneg, and an afternoon shiur.
Rabbi Brand was appreciative of the many opportunities that were afforded to him by this program, adding, "I have gained immeasurably from the experience of preparing, delivering and [the] learning I have shared with a wide variety of audiences. It has also taught me to appreciate and understand some of the diversity of the Jewish community."
Each Kollel Elyon member is required to speak twice annually and serve as a scholar in residence, generally for an entire Shabbos. Program Manager of Rabbinic Programs at the Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda calls this an opportunity for the Kollel members "to go out and get experience in the community, both practical speaking experience, and at the same time a hands-on pulpit experience."
Though it reaches distant communities as far as Miami, FL, and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, with only a ten member kollel, the Lecture Series is relatively small. In addition, the majority of visited communities are out of town. Rabbi Lavenda told The Commentator that "this is done purposely, because, yes they could gain practical experience in the New York area, but the added component of experiencing Jewish life out of town, experiencing the rabbinate out of town, and seeing that there is Jewish life out of town, is just as beneficial, if not more important. Also, the challenge of preparing and giving a sophisticated and meaningful shiur to shul goers in Birmingham, AL, is a much different experience than giving one in Teaneck."
The Kollel Elyon members feel that this is not just a resume builder, but is also an opportunity to learn necessary skills, and have thus embraced the idea of the Bella & Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon Lecture Series. Rabbi Reuven Brand - a Bella & Harry Wexner Kollel Elyon member in his fourth and final year - stayed with Congregation Beth Israel in Miami Beach, FL, last year during which he spoke several times over Shabbat at a variety of venues, including the pulpit, an informal Oneg, and an afternoon shiur.
Rabbi Brand was appreciative of the many opportunities that were afforded to him by this program, adding, "I have gained immeasurably from the experience of preparing, delivering and [the] learning I have shared with a wide variety of audiences. It has also taught me to appreciate and understand some of the diversity of the Jewish community."
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