Shuvu Bonim

The “Shuvu Bonim” educational institutions include:- ten kollels, three yeshivos for young men, a Talmud Torah, an elementary school for girls, a range of preschools and kindergartens, youth groups, and evening lectures for women.

The Kollels:-

The Old City Kollel: Nearly 160 students learn around the clock, starting with a night kollel which begins at midnight and continuing with learning seders through the entire day. They pray the morning prayers at “vasikin” (sunrise) and the Gemara learning is both “bekius” and “b’iyun,” and includes weekly lectures. The majority of the veteran members of the community learn in this kollel, and it was from this kollel that all the other institutions branched out. During the last few years, the kollel completed learning all of Seder Moed and half of Seder Nashim.

The Kollel Hatanim: This kollel is comprised of the second generation of Shuvu Bonim/Nechamat Tzion: the newly married sons of veteran members of the community. The learning program is focused on both Halacha and Gemara and is under the guidance of several leading contemporary Poskim, primarily Rabbi Moshe Halberstam, shlit”a. At the end of a learning cycle that lasts nearly four years and intensive testing, they can attain smicha certificates which permit them to decide Halachic questions and are officially ordained as Rabbis.

The Kollel Shadari”m - This is a kollel that combines study with outreach activities. Over sixty students in this kollel study an entire day, and then go out in the evenings throughout the country doing outreach activities including home visits and public lectures. In this way, they share Rebbe Nachman’s teachings with others. This kollel is made up of many of the newer students of Rabbi Berland and has recently moved to a new base in the Old City, in the original yeshiva building.

Outreach Programes: During the last few years, the yeshiva’s outreach program has given rise to additional branches of the yeshiva, where several hundred students currently learn. As of now, seven of these branches have become full day kollels. The branches of the yeshiva can be found throughout the country, from Eilat in the south to Kiryat Shemonah in the north. For the most part, the teachers in these kollels are Rabbis who have been with the community for many years. They are involved in this holy effort with great self-sacrifice and dedication.

The Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Berland, emphatically promotes the diligent learning of the Talmud, in-depth, as being of prime importance for spiritual growth. The students of all the Yeshiva's Kollels are given a written, in-depth test on their learning every week. They are required to take all the tests, in addition to completing a minimum number of hours learning in order to receive the monthly stipend. They are also tested periodically by some of the leaders of the Rabbanim in Jerusalem.

The Talmud Torah, the Yeshiva Ketanah and Gedolah, and the Girls’ School:
The yeshiva, under Rabbi Berland’s influence, has placed special emphasis on the education of the younger generation. It devotes a great deal of thought, time, and a sizeable portion of its financial resources to the children’s education.

The Talmud Torah:
There are five classes with a total of nearly 120 boys. The pupils study under some of the best teachers in Yerushalayim, using a unique program that has been enormously successful.

Two Yeshivot Ketanot (for boys who are over the age of bar–mitzvah):
Each one has four classes, with a total of nearly one hundred students. Every year, a new class is added.

The School for Girls:
There are three preschool and kindergarten classes that serve nearly sixty girls, and there are approximately another sixty girls in the lower elementary school grades.

Extra-curricular activities for the the younger generation:-

Youth Groups:
In light of the many difficult challenges that the children have to confront, the educational administration of the youth groups of Nechamat Tzion has formulated the following central goal: the formation of interesting and exciting educational extra-curricular programming for all the children of the Yeshiva. Programs are offered both on weekdays and during Shabbosim and holidays. These activities serve nearly eight hundred children and adolescents, who range in age from preschoolers to students of the Yeshivot Gedolot. The activities include: boys’ groups that meet daily; “Avos u’Bonim” learning groups for fathers and sons on Shabbos; supervised indoor play areas filled with toys and games; academic enrichment groups; monthly summer camps; vacation activities (hikes, trips to the holy sites, etc.); and an intercession yeshiva. The children receive individual attention that is unusually dedicated and professional. With G–d’s help, the educators have seen wonderful fruit, which is the compensation for all their hard work—which is mostly done on a volunteer basis.

Evening Lectures:
There are weekly lectures given to the women of the Yeshiva on Chassidus, Mussar, and Hashkafah from the renowned Rabbanite Tehilla Berland. Her open classes have become quite famous with close to five hundred women attending. Lectures are also arranged for the women by some of the best speakers in Yerushalayim covering topics such as education, Halacha, etc.
Various trips are also organized for the women of the community including a weekly bus to Rachel’s Tomb. There is also an annual convention in Tiberias where the women have several days of prayer and intense study in a relaxing vacation atmosphere. Much effort is invested in the planning and execution of this yearly outing so that the women come home inspired and with a deeper understanding of the path of Breslov Chassidus. Last summer, nearly 250 women attended.

Charity and Chessed Funds:
The yeshiva operates a number of charity funds to assist the students both during the year and especially before each of the holidays. There is also a fund which helps young couples when they get married. There is a group that provides food for two weeks to the families of women who have just given birth, as well as an organization that distributes vegetables to needy families at reduced cost.
The yeshiva maintains a special interest-free loan fund called “Matat Mordechai” to which donors sign a standing monthly bank order for a minimal sum in order to help young couples purchase their first apartment. This money is loaned out over and over again and has, to date, enabled more than one hundred families with minimal resources to purchase apartments.

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Lessons given by the Rav

HaRav Levi Itzchak Bender, zt"l.