Yeshivas Chayeinu opened its doors this week for the first time. Here’s a look inside the beis medrash from our very first week of learning — and Thursday night, our very first farbrengen.
Why Torah?
We opened the year talking about the yetzer hara — how it works to trick a person off the path of Torah and mitzvos. From there we began exploring a bigger question: what is Torah, actually?
We described it as an instruction manual. The way a manufacturer writes a manual so the owner gets the most out of a product, Hashem gave us the Torah to show us how to live our best, happiest, and healthiest life. Seen that way, living a life of Torah and mitzvos isn’t a sacrifice — it’s simply the obvious choice.
Learning to Read the Page
The boys took their first steps into navigating a page of Gemara — instead of one intimidating block of text, they’re learning where to look for what, and why the page is laid out the way it is.
We also began tracing the evolution of a halacha: how it travels from a passuk in the Torah all the way to the Shulchan Aruch, and what the Shulchan Aruch is actually there to do.
How You Wake Up Sets Your Day
This week’s halacha focused on the first moments of the morning. When we think about Hashem the instant we wake up — recognizing that life itself is a precious gift, instead of taking it for granted — it sets the tone for the entire day. A morning that starts with gratitude tends to become a day lived with gratitude.
“This morning, G‑d chose to return your soul to your body and grant you once again the gift of life — a sure sign that there’s a little dark corner left in this world for you to come and illuminate.”
Davening as an Experience
The more you understand something, the more you connect to it — davening included. We compared a literal translation of one line of davening to its deeper meaning, and the boys saw how much more relatable davening becomes once you understand what you’re saying. We also opened a conversation about the four kinds of health: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.
Is Unhappiness a Sin?
Tucked into this week’s tochacha is a striking line: the harshest consequences don’t come from what the Jewish people did wrong — they come from serving Hashem without joy. Chabad.org’s take on it lands hard for a teenager: happiness isn’t something that happens to you, it’s a decision you make — and that decision has consequences. Fits right in with what we’re building here: a life of Torah lived with simcha, not by default.
“Happiness is a decision. And like all decisions, it has consequences.”
Our First Farbrengen
Thursday night, the boys sat down together for Yeshivas Chayeinu’s very first farbrengen — the first of what will be a weekly Thursday night tradition all year.
