Continuing the Tradition--25 Years of Old World Mesorah in the Midwest

No one dreamed that it could ever be possible. That Midwestern America would someday be the next stop along the chain of transmission of the rich mesorah of yesteryear seemed like an impossible dream. Nonetheless, thanks to the tireless efforts of one great visionary, the impossible became reality. When the Veitzener Rav, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Meisels zt”l, settled in Chicago after the war, he immediately set to work infusing the city with all the infrastructure of a European shtetyl including chalav Yisrael, separate seating at simchas, a chevra kadisha, kosher mikvas, and the first Beis Yaakov. Largely due to his efforts, Chicago has a fully functioning frum community today.

The Best of Both Worlds

A quarter of a century ago, the Veitzener Rav's dream reached completion when his son in law, Rabbi Moshe Yosef Ungar shlita, together with help from devoted members of the community, opened the first Yiddish speaking cheder in Chicago, ensuring that the mesorah would be transmitted to the next generation. The Veitzener Cheder—Yeshiva Ohr Boruch (originally called Shearis Yisroel) was born, firmly solidifying the link with the rich past and connecting it to a bright new future. The Veitzener Cheder is committed to combining traditional old-world Yiddishkeit with Midwestern America. They provide their students with the best of all worlds, offering a top-notch yeshiva and secular education that utilizes all the benefits of the modern world together with a simcha and ruach that are so hard to come by in society today. “Our mission is to produce young men who have a love for Hashem, Torah, and Yiddishkeit, who also possess the tools to succeed in life,” Rabbi Ungar said. “Children with refined midos, self esteem, simchas hachaim and positive attitudes are a different species altogether. It will have an impact on their entire lives!”

There are currently over 150 students enrolled in the Cheder, grades Pre-Kindergarten to Eighth. Afterwards many boys go on to study in top yeshivas such as Brisk, Mir, Philadelphia and Telshe. Alumnus Shmueli Shabes now learns in Lakewood Yeshiva: “Having both Chassidish and Litvish Rebbeim instilled us with hislahavus and bren while also preparing us for the Litvish yeshivas that most of us went on to after graduation. The Cheder offered the best of both worlds.” Although the limudei kodesh program is one of the best in the country, master mechanech, Menahel Rabbi Hillel Mandel stresses that their strict commitment to mesorah is not only about giving over what was learned in previous generations but also how it was learned: “It's about creating a positive experience of Yiddishkeit—the geshmak, the warmth, the simcha, the excitement, the ruach! The students don't come to school and then go home—it's a way of life.”

The strong emphasis on building good character traits at the Cheder is possibly one of the best in the world. Academic success is only measured by the amount of effort, not the results and only together with good midos as well. Every month students work on perfecting a different character trait in an exciting and positive way and parents commonly note that they see regular changes in their children's behavior at home. The Hashgacha Protis Program challenges students to write down the Divine providence that happens in their lives each day and it helps develop experiential emuna. “We spend more time than most yeshivas improving academic skills but we also try to give our children skills for life--emotional, social, and behavioral skills, so that when a they graduate they can deal with the challenges of the modern world to live a Torah life with confidence,” Rabbi Mandel said.

Striving for Success

Rebbeim work overtime, in and out of the classroom, making sure every child has a chance to reach his highest potential. It’s no wonder that students rank amongst the best in the country in the Masmid Gevoah and V’debarta Bam learning initiatives and that the Cheder was the recipient of the National Torah U'Mesorah Award last year. “I don't teach a gemara unless I've prepared it before—and I've been teaching the same material for 16 years!” veteran Rebbe, Rabbi Pinchus Krystal said. “Seeing it last year isn't the same as seeing it last night.” The serious English studies program is taught by an all frum, qualified staff, in addition to numerous extra-curricular activities such as Chassidic dance class, choir, regular school plays, and a woodworking workshop, that provide students with a well-rounded approach to life. The large Special Ed. Department addresses the needs of every child to ensure that no one is left behind. There is also an in-house guidance counselor and clinical psychologist to provide emotional and social support to anyone who needs it and the full-time Mashgiach, Rabbi Yissachar Ehrman, is there to speak with children at all times. “There's a feeling in the Cheder that it's one big family,” Eighth grade Rebbe, Rabbi Eliezer Aron said. “Even a child who isn't doing well in learning will still feel good about himself. When I was a kid I dreaded going to cheder. Here the boys come in with big smiles in the morning--they enjoy coming to cheder!"

Yeshiva President, Rabbi Zvi Feiner, noted that the yeshiva has raised the standard of learning in the entire Midwest. “The top chinuch is not just in New York, it’s not just on the East coast, it’s right here in the Midwest,” he said.

“We've far exceeded every expectation for the Cheder,” Rabbi Ungar said. “That the Veitzener Cheder would some day become a beacon for mosdos all over the country was beyond our wildest dreams! It gives us energy and chizuk to keep going farther and farther to continue giving these children the tools to succeed in life.”

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SidebarThe Guardian of Chicago

The story of Rabbi Ungar's eventual relocation to Chicago came out of a dream that his wife had twenty five years ago. Before his engagement to the daughter of the Veitzener Rav zt”l, Rabbi Ungar was asked if he would ever consider moving to Chicago. The answer was a definitive NO. The couple was committed to living in Boro Park in the center of American Chassidus. One night, Rebitzen Ungar had a strange dream. Her father appeared in their house pacing back and forth with his hands up in the air: “What will be with Chicago?” he moaned. Suddenly, Rabbi Ungar walked into the room and the Veitzener Rav exclaimed: “Ah, he will take over Chicago!” Even from the next world, the Veitzener Rav couldn't forget his city! Later that day, the Rebitzen's brother called and asked if they might consider moving back to Chicago to take over the Veitzener shul for just one year. How could they refuse after a dream like that?

The problem however, was that coming from a long line of Chassidishe Rebbes, Rav Ungar wanted his son to attend a traditional Yiddish speaking chedar. There was nothing of the sort in Chicago, or anywhere in the Midwest for that matter. Someone suggested that he open his own. After receiving a brocha from Rav Shlomo Bubover zt"l, the Ungars moved to Chicago and set out to start the Veitzener Cheder. The rest is history. "My father-in-law brought Europe to Chicago," Rabbi Ungar said, "without any compromise. He was the guardian of the city. We are just carrying out his dream of continuing the mesorah. We're just another link in the chain."

The Quarter Century Banquet—Preserving the Unbroken Chain of Our Heritage

This year's annual banquet marks a milestone for the Veitzener Cheder. Since its founding, a quarter of a century ago, it has been devoted to passing on the chain of our rich mesorah to Chicago's children by combining old world Torah with Chassidishe varmkeit while simultaneously utilizing all the benefits of Midwestern America. After the Holocaust, it appeared as if the link with authentic Yiddishkeit was lost forever. Thanks to the uncompromising vision of the Veitzener Rav and others like him, klal Yisrael has managed to preserve the unbroken chain of its heritage. The Cheder owes its very existence to the mesiras nefesh of all the individuals who devoted their time, energy, and money to ensuring that the Midwest had a traditional European cheder. Without their help this dream could never have become a reality.

Mr. Boruch Hollander z"l was one such individual. Without his constant emotional and financial support, the Cheder would not be where it is today. After his untimely passing, his son Mr. Volvie Hollander and dear friend, Rabbi Morris Esformes have renamed the yeshiva in his name in an act of charity that is worthy of his great memory. In this honor, the Quarter Century Banquet is being co-chaired by these two exemplary men. “We have brought the past into the future - to have a Cheder which speaks in Yiddish and teaches children how it was at one time is really an incredible thing in today’s America. It’s because of Reb Boruch's vision and dream, that this is possible,” Rabbi Esformes said.

Mr. Yaakov (Jack) Reiss is the recipient of the first-ever Veitzener Rav zt"l Memorial Award in honor of his great devotion to the Veitzener Rav and Cheder all these years. He was one of the founding board members together with Mr. Yisroel Gluck, Mr. Rudolph Tessler, Dr. Arthur Kohn and lbch”l, Mr. Boruch Hollander z”l. His beloved grandson Mr. Ari Haas, and son-in-laws Mr. Moshe Kahn and Rabbi Samuel Seleski are the Chairmen of this inaugural award. The last link in the unbroken chain of continuity are the transmitters themselves—the Rebbeim. Without the talented, professional, and devoted Rebbeim, the Cheder's mission would be futile. Their love, patience, and warmth are what allow for the transmission of Torah through simcha, ruach, and geshmak. Together with the hanhala, the yeshiva's Rebbeim provide the children with so much more than academic knowledge—they provide them with an experience of the true joy of Yiddishkeit. The Harbotzas HaTorah Award is therefore dedicated to them. The Harbotzas HaTorah Award committee is chaired by the Veitzener Cheder's very own Mashgiach, Rabbi Yissocher Ehrman, together with Mr. Meier Knopf, Rabbi Ari Maryles, and Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz.

The ultimate proof of the success of the Veitzener Rav's vision, however, is most evident in the alumni. Without them, there would be no future for klal Yisrael. The hundreds of students to have passed through the hallowed halls of the yeshiva haven't only walked away with a top-notch education but also with a deeply ingrained connection to their heritage. Now, 25 years later, the first talmidim are already starting their own families and are themselves transmitting the love of authentic Yiddishkeit that they received at the Cheder to their own children, the next generation of American Jewry--another link in the unbroken chain of mesorah. Rabbi Tzvi Schnell was a member of the founding class 25 years ago. Today he is a Maggid Shiur in a yeshiva in Lakewood, passing on the tradition to his own talmidim: “There was such an emphasis on mesorah at the Cheder. It had a strong lasting impression on us even as little kids. They gave us a true taste of Yiddishkeit the way it was.”

"This is a dream come true," Dean Rabbi Moshe Ungar shlita said. "Just look where we are now after 25 years. It's unbelievable! It never hit me before how many students have passed through our halls until I recently saw a list of alumni. We've been zokeh to touch hundreds of neshamos over the years. Today they themselves are passing on the tradition to the next generation of American Jews."

The Veitzener Cheder Quarter Century Banquet will take place at 6:30 p.m. on January 9, 2011 ( at the Crowne Plaza O'Hare on 5440 North River Road in Rosemont. Join us in ( ,תשע"אשבט' אור להcelebration of 25 years of continued tradition in Chicago. Your ongoing generous support at this landmark juncture will guarantee the continuity of this vital link in the chain of our treasured mesorah.

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Pull Quotes: Alumni and Rebbeim

Rabbi Pinchus Krystal is the veteran Rabbi on the staff, having taught at the Veitzener Cheder for the past 16 years: “The Rebbeim put in the extra time—coming early in the morning, staying late, and making home visits and house calls to prepare children for class. They make sure to learn all the topics b'iyun just to teach it to the kids. The better you know something the more equipped you are to give it over even on the simplest level. In the classroom, the focus has to be purely on giving over the material, not understanding it yourself. I don't teach a gemara unless I've prepared it before—and I've been teaching the same material for 16 years! Seeing it last year isn't the same as seeing it last night.”

Eighth grade Rebbe, Rabbi Eliezer Aron commented that the most important aspect of the Cheder is the warm connection between students and Rebbeim: "Chazal teach us that students are similar to children—it has to be a personal connection. There's a feeling in the Cheder that it's one big family. It's not just a job--it's a warm environment full of simcha, Even a child who isn't doing well in learning will still feel good about himself. When I was a kid I dreaded going to cheder. Here the boys come in with big smiles in the morning--they enjoy coming to cheder! Now that's a huge accomplishment."

Shmueli Shabes graduated the yeshiva 10 years ago and learns in BMG Yeshiva in Lakewood: “Having both Chassidish and Litvish Rebbeim instilled us with hislahavus and bren while also preparing us for the Litvish yeshivas that most of us went on to after graduation. The Cheder offered the best of both worlds.”

Rabbi Tzvi Schnell was a member of the founding class 25 years ago. Today he lives in Lakewood and is a Maggid Shiur in Yeshivas Beis Meir: “We got to watch the school being built—we were part of it and saw the mesiros nefesh and dedication of the Rebbeim and hanhalah first-hand. There was such an emphasis on mesorah at the Cheder. It had a strong lasting impression on us even as little kids. They gave us a true taste of Yiddishkeit the way it was.”

Mr. Naftali Tessler was one of the original board members of the Cheder. He gave the very first donation to get things started and underwrote the yeshiva's deficit for the first few years: “The Veitzener Cheder brought back the nusach of learning as it was in Europe. Nothing like that happened before in Chicago. We never dreamed it was possible.”

“We have brought the past into the future - to have a Cheder which speaks in Yiddish and teaches children how it was at one time is really an incredible thing in today’s America. It’s because of Reb Boruch's vision and dream, that this is possible.” --Rabbi Morris Esformes

“The Cheder instilled my children with a love of Yiddishkeit as well as the priorities from the heim such as derech eretz and midos tovos to prepared them to become true benei Torah.” --Mr. Volvie Hollander, proud father of two alumni.

"Our motto is not to be as good as everyone else," Rabbi Mandel said, "it's to be better! We are a proactive school. The real problem effecting many kids today is that they weren't given a true geshmak in Yiddishkeit. We make sure to teach everything in a dynamic, exciting way without any pressure or negativity so they will stay connected to Torah forever. Once you reveal the neshama through simcha, it naturally leads to a life of emuna."

“To a huge extent Chicago's frumkeit stands on the shoulders of the Veitzener Rav," Rabbi Leibel Shainbaum said. He practically grew in Rabbi Meisels' home as a buchor and can never forget the time he spent together with the Rav. "He was the shomer ha'ir, the guardian of the city. Other mosdos were able to succeed in Chicago because he planted the seeds. He imbued the city with a sense of yira Shamayim."

Rabbi Schaje Abromovitz, a Rebbe in Yeshiva Tiferes Tzvi and an afternoon teacher in the Cheder, davened in the Veitzener Shul most of his life and was very close to the Rav as a buchor. "He was warm and friendly and was mekarev every Yid who came his way regardless of race, creed, or color but he wouldn't compromise one iota on what he was mekabel from the old country. When he davened from the amud he poured out his heart in tears and saw Gehenom opened up before him because he experienced it first hand. He was a living example of an emesdika Yid--the most amazing person there ever was!"======================================================================

A Lifetime Connection—A Tribute to the Memory of Reb Boruch Hollander z”l

In his lifetime, Reb Boruch Hollander z”l's name was intimately connected to the Veitzener Cheder. Despite the fact that he was personally responsible for helping to fund countless organizations, schools and charities throughout Chicago and the world, the Cheder always remained closest to his heart. From its very inception, Reb Boruch cared for it as if it were his own child. “He wanted to have a Cheder that resembled what was before the chorbon,” his son, Reb Volvie Hollander said. “The changing times never effected his opinion—his goal was to preserve the mesorah without swaying.”

Reb Boruch was born in Budapest in 1942, in the middle of war-torn Europe. After the War, the Hollanders immigrated to Williamsburg. His father was a staunch Munkatcher Chassid and made sure to send him to the best Chassidishe chederim and yeshivas to ensure that he stayed connected to the mesorah in America. It worked, and Reb Boruch remained a Munkatcher Chassid his entire life. Not a month went by that he didn't speak to the Rebbe shlita and he went every Rosh Hashana to be by him.

In 1971, Reb Boruch moved to Chicago to take over his father-in-law's dying nursing home business and managed to turn it into a highly successful operation in a relatively short amount of time. The Munkatcher Rebbe shlita once explained that Reb Boruch's unusual generosity was a natural outpouring of hakaras hatov to Hashem for this great siate d'Shamaya.

More than Dollars and Cents

“What my father did for a living is far less important that what he did with it,” Reb Volvie said. “He always felt the pain of anything that other Yidden were going through from across the spectrum of Jews. He lived for others and he really gave away a lot—not just in dollars and cents, but also in concern and time. He always did whatever he could to make sure his tzedakah had the most substantial impact on the recipient.”

When Reb Boruch moved to Chicago, his father made him promise that he would attach himself to the Veitzener Rav zt”l in order to stay connected to old world Yiddishkeit. He helped provide the initial funds to start the Cheder together with a handful of generous donors and he continued to give the yeshiva a monthly check from that day on. When it became necessary to purchase a new building, he came forward with the namesake donation but he always refused to take any public credit. The sponsorship for the first Cheder Banquet was written anonymously—he wouldn't have it any other way.

But he wasn't only there financially. In the early years of the Cheder, he and Rabbi Ungar used to brainstorm together night after night about how to improve the well-being of the children and the Rebbeim. On his own initiative, he helped found the Avrum Aber Hollander Lifecycle Simcha Fund, named after his father, to provide yeshiva Rebbeim with generous stipends on the event of a family simcha. “Reb Boruch supported me both financially and emotionally,” Rabbi Ungar shlita recalled. “In over 25 years together, I never approached him for anything. He always came forward and volunteered his services without my ever asking. He was like a father to the Cheder.”

Eternally Connected

He and Rabbi Ungar also had a deep friendship and there are countless times that he offered the Ungars personal assistance to help support their growing family. Reb Boruch once said that if he could have picked a younger brother it would have been Rabbi Ungar. “A day did not go by that I didn't think

about him,” Rabbi Ungar said, “because a day didn't go by that he didn't think about us. He taught this city how to give tzedakah."

“What is it that he left with me that I can carry around my entire life?” his dear friend, philanthropist Morris Esformes, asked. The two began their lifelong friendship after meeting in the Veitzener Shul so many years ago. “For all the years that I knew Boruch, it never was about him. When approached, he extended himself to incredible levels, whether in business or in chesed. How often is it in our generation that we get to live in a community with people who are that sensitive and really care?”

Reb Boruch was survived by his three children, Shaindel Hollander of Miami, Feigi Knobel of Flatbush, and Volvie Hollander of Chicago, his thirteen grandchildren, and five great grandchildren, ka”h, one of whom already bears his name. His mother Roize, survived him by six months and passed away last Rosh Hashana at the age of 92.

Only now, with the renaming of the Cheder after Reb Boruch by the Hollander family together with Rabbi Esformes, does his name finally get the recognition it deserved all those years. He still only permitted the use of his name after his passing for selfless reasons: so that his grandchildren can see what their Zeidie valued in life! At the sheloshim, Rabbi Dovid Meisels shlita said: “Now that you are up there with your father, tell him that you fulfilled your promise to him completely. Not only were you close to the Veitzener Rav zt”l, but now you've become one with him forever—The Veitzener Cheder-Yeshiva Ohr Boruch!”

This is the legacy of Boruch Hollander. Yehi zichro boruch--may his name be remembered for blessing.

Veitzener Rav zt”l Memorial Award Recipient: Mr. Yaakov Reiss

Connecting to the Past, Rebuilding the Future

Reb Yaakov (Jack) Reiss was involved in the yeshiva from its very inception and was also a devoted Chassid and supporter of the Veitzener Rav zt”l.

Reb Yaakov was born in Munkatch, Hungary in 1928 and was a Chassid of the Minchas Elazer. He always had fond memories of that idyllic time in Munkatch before the Holocaust that took the lives of his entire family. When the war ended, Reb Yaakov was left all alone in the world. Instead of falling into despair over the past, he preferred to start over. His life began anew on the day of his liberation from Buchenwald on Shvi Shel Pesach - the day he often refers to as his birthday. He was forever thankful to Hashem for having taking him out of that Gehenom and given him a chance to begin again.

Reb Yaakov arrived on American shores at the age of 18--without a soul in the world. The first time he met the Veitzener Rav, Rav Tzvi Hirsch Meisels, zt”l, he was immediately brought back to Munkatch and he instantly accepted him as his Rebbe. He often tells people that the Rav helped him stay connected to the ways of his ancestors--to the long-gone glorious past.

Reb Yaakov became one of the most devoted supporters of the Veitzener Rav, and he underwrote all of the Rav's seforim, most notably the first edition of Shaylos U'teshuvos Mikadeshei Hashem - the Veitzener Rav's account of the life and death shaylos he had to poskin in the hell of Auschwitz. Rav Meisels not only considered Reb Yaakov to be a devoted Chassid, but also a friend.

Reb Yaakov was a staunch supporter of the Veitzener Chedar from the beginning. The very first Cheder meeting was held in his living room. “The Veitzener Cheder was born in his home!” Dean, Rabbi Ungar shlita recalled. “I always thought I would be a Rav with a chedar on the side. Yaakov Reiss was the one who encouraged me to make the Chedar my life. He was a shliach of Hashem to push me to fulfill the dream of carrying on the rich tradition of the past.”