A new zman is underway. After a full month of Tishrei — Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succos, and Simchas Torah — the bochurim are back in the beis medrash. We welcomed back familiar faces, welcomed in new ones, and dove straight into a full week of learning across all four sedorim.
Welcome Back!
Some familiar faces returned and some brand new ones joined us for the first time — either way, it’s been a full week of getting settled back into the rhythm of the yeshiva. Between a Thursday night farbrengen, a trip to the playground, and plenty of lunchtime basketball on the court, the energy has been contagious.
Why Not to Travel at Night
This week’s gemara looked at why Chazal discouraged traveling at night: the danger of robbers, the danger of wild animals, and simply that it’s harder to see the road — a person can stumble into a ditch without even realizing it.
A Taste of the Geulah, Already
We talked about how good we have it in golus today — how much the government does for us, how much ease surrounds our daily lives — and how that itself is a sign of just how close we are to Moshiach. We’re not only waiting for the geulah; in a real sense, we’re already getting a taste of it.
Washing Like a Kohen
We discussed netilas yadayim, the hand-washing that starts our day, and how it parallels the preparatory washing a Kohen did before his service in the Beis Hamikdash. It’s not just a halacha — it’s a mindset: we wash to put ourselves in the frame of mind to become the best version of ourselves, and the healthy way to carry that forward is by washing our face and mouth too.
Do I Need This, or Do I Want This?
We recapped the healthy approach to physicality: before indulging in something, ask yourself — do I need this, or do I just want it? Pursuing pleasure purely because we feel like it is unhealthy; physicality is meant to give us the energy to become our best selves, not an end in itself. The more a person feeds a desire, the more — and more aggressively — he wants it, and chasing it only digs him in deeper. So this week, we started practicing real impulse control.
“Change is hard, because it means going against the way we’ve operated our whole lives until now — and that’s exactly why it’s so powerful.”
8:30 Chassidus · 9:30 Shacharis · 11:30 Gemara Shiur · 12:45 Chazara · 1:30 Daily Special · 3:00 Mincha · 3:25 Moshiach Shir · 3:30 Halacha · 4:00 Chitas · 4:30 Eagle (reflection) · 5:30 Dismissal. Farbrengens every Thursday night.
4:30 still rotates: Sunday – Cooking Class · Monday – Music · Tuesday – Art · Wednesday – Dance · Thursday – Eagle (Daily Special at 1:30 stays the same)