Category: Rabbi Brovender Legacy

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Aaron Liebman. Aaron has taught or served as an administrator in a number of Jewish high school settings across the United States since 2006, He currently teaches at the Yeshiva of Cleveland (a Chofetz Chaim institution) and his wife teaches math and science at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland. They live in Cleveland with their three children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

At two key points, I met Rabbi Brovender: first, as a former public-school student. Green and trying to understand Yeshiva University, I spent my second year of college at Yeshivat Hamivtar in the effort to learn how to learn. That formative year, with essential help from Rabbi Ebner, I gained a lot and went back to YU, better able to take what it had to offer.

I had encountered a different caliber of Rabbi on the Hamivtar faculty. It was a wonderful place. Then, post- college, I returned for a longer stay.

I still remember the Sunday I had been invited to enjoy an excellent brunch in New York City where Rabbi Brovender encouraged the gathered to join the kollel at Yeshivat Hamivtar. The pitch: in addition to the advantages of the salubrious climate around Yerushalayim, funding was available to support such a choice.

Why would we stay in New York? I was convinced to switch continents, at least temporarily, for Asia.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

Rabbi Brovender’s reputation as a maverick has always been linked in my mind to his being a democratic personality. I heard, even while a student (22 to 30 years ago), that there was a lot of voting that went on behind the scenes at Yeshivat Hamivtar (for example, about what masekhet to study) and that, after hands were raised, Rabbi Brovender lost.

His capacity to leave space for other people is routinely acknowledged.

By what method has he done this? “I don’t know.”

Rabbi Brovender has done a lot with that phrase over the last nearly sixty years and, long ago, so did Socrates.

The phrase turns up in many of the thousands of recordings on YU Torah, WebYeshiva, and elsewhere, as Rabbi Brovender begins opening a space for learning and for speaking about Torah: a pasuk, a word, a difficulty.

Into that space, substance is introduced, and a kind of unexpected complexity is revealed. By being substantive, Rabbi Brovender has held his own and remained interesting to young and old, decade after decade; under the unreasonable pressure of the demand that a Rosh Yeshiva be always profound – ועלהו לא־יבול is a daunting standard – Rabbi Brovender has won, has earned, the crown of leaves.

His students, and the broad community he has spoken to, have enjoyed the many digressions (linguistic, literary, or political) along the way. If Rabbi Brovender still sometimes grumbles about useless vocabulary he mastered while working for a PhD, he has also made use of that training in many knowing asides: the distinction between\ע\ and \א\ was preserved among Sephardim but lost among Ashkenazim – but not so fast!

There’s a gemara about people in Beit She’an, in Beit Haifa, and in Tivonin who could not lead davening because they also confused those sounds (Megillah 24b).

He once cautioned me that the gemara about טוטפות stemming from an African root (Sanhedrin 4b) – was homiletic. And, should anyone raise a question about proto-Canaanite, Rabbi Brovender could remind them of the distinction between the written and, the more elusive, primordial, spoken Hebrew tradition.

Rabbi Brovender has maintained a highly individualistic style: he has achieved much good with straight, bracing talk, and much with the use of intentional paraphrases that listeners might resist, or by way of contextualization: “in the idiom of the Medieval Jewish philosophers…” or so-and-so, “a chassidishe rebbe, but – that’s okay…”.

Unhelpful distinctions among people were not a part of the bet midrash where Rabbi Brovender learned or in a classroom when he taught. He tried to broaden the range of voices, including Medieval, Charedi, and Hassidic, in a way that students could appreciate.

I think the hope was that it could lead us to insights: the Mishnah Berurah was useful in learning, and could be meikal (see, neilat ha-sandal). There was the text in front of us, and texts behind that text. Interpretation, at times, he offered, had less to do with how a scholar would read a single text but in interactions among texts, and disagreement resulted sometimes from scholars simply looking at alternative lists of mekorot.

As an observer of reality, Rabbi Brovender has shared generously with us from his experiences often employing his famous humor with a talent for setting up for us the incongruity (please note I am paraphrasing all Rabbi Brovender quotes in this piece): “…I entered the apartment, and there was Rav Soloveitchik standing on the windowsill…” “…It’s 1967, and everyone in Israel is depressed. … And the military received a shipment of these berets — you can see them in the pictures. Soldiers could now ready themselves for war, you know, by positioning their hats, rakishly…”

I remember that tense day when Yassir Arafat arrived in the West Bank with the armed men and the celebratory shooting that could be heard outside of Efrat and I was then in a shiur with Rabbi Brovender. I interrupted to suggest that maybe we should sell T-shirts in nearby Arab villages to raise money for the Yeshiva. Rabbi Brovender then offered a much funnier comment (which I’ve forgotten!) – but, he cautioned me, “You see, Aaron, I can handle the jokes here.”

And even in the wake of the most frightening events we witnessed and lived through such as when he was pulled from his car during an Arab riot, that humor helped. Recalling the incident, Rabbi Brovender commented at one point: “…I thought to myself at that moment: so, this is what being beaten by a mob feels like…”

We could find a way to laugh at the inhuman and the merely human. Rabbi Brovender shared our exasperation at absurd realities, or we came to share his and gained some of his perspective. Rabbi Brovender might have been neo-Hassidic before we had the term. During his, thank God, long career— from seeing the Hippies to meeting the Neo-conservatives in shul— he has always been in the vanguard of cool.

Never one to retreat into his own institution, his own building, and wait in anticipation for some glorious future day on which all those who do not agree with him fail, Rabbi Brovender’s religious commitment has led him to a lifelong legacy of communication.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

An openness to different genres of Torah that continues in my own learning and teaching today. For example, Mussar. The Sefer Cheshbon HaNefesh (Moral Accounting) has an unusual history that intersects with the ninth chapter of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. I teach both.

Rabbi M.M. Levin of Satanov (1749-1826, “the father of the Galician Haskalah” and friend of Rav Yisrael Salanter) used the bookkeeping method for attaining “ethical perfection” outlined in the Autobiography, including Franklin’s list of thirteen virtues, as the framework of his own book. It remains a minor classic of Mussar literature. Anyone who takes the time to compare Franklin and one of Rabbi Levin’s chapters, for example, on frugality, קימוץ , will see differences in both the tone and the substance.

For Rabbi Levin, Sefer Kohelet’s perspective on heaping up wealth as an act of nihility and the fury and accusation of Mishlei 24, combine in a chapter railing against conspicuous consumption and the corruption of communal leadership that it brings. Franklin’s virtues are not simply translated but transmuted by Rabbi Levin.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

My chelek in Torah, what I am able to share with my family, is deeply indebted to Rabbi Brovender. Key figures in chumash, Avraham Avinu, as understood by the Rambam, arrived to me first through Rabbi Brovender. My understanding of Bilaam and the sinister ambiguity of his poetry are inseparable from how Rabbi Brovender discussed him. From Rabbi Brovender, I first learned the Ramban’s Introduction to Chumash.  From Rabbi Brovender, I first met the Rambam.

Rabbi Brovender and I spoke on occasion about his relationship with Rabbi Soloveitchik. In listening to Rabbi Brovender, I understood there had been moments of communicative unsuccess in that relationship. There was sadness that the Rav did not support his decision to make aliyah. To hear Rabbi Brovender speak about his relationship, as a talmid, with Rabbi Soloveitchik was to perceive that relationship with its sincere admiration but shorn of the excessive
romanticization that can accompany hero-worship: frustration, and some pain, were part of the reality. I took away from these conversations a deepened appreciation for the human aspect of the relationship between a talmid and his rebbe.

The truth is, I remember too much to recall here. There was Rabbi Brovender visiting Yaakov Silverstein in the hospital after the back surgery and smuggling in ice cream bars. Another time, when a student in the Yeshiva became sick or had some other serious personal difficulty, Rabbi Brovender made quiet but often effective efforts to help.

I have sincerely missed Rabbi Brovender. It’s been a long time, and I am sorry we don’t live nearer to each other. I would like to introduce him to my children. I hope we have that opportunity added to what we have already been zocheh (had the privilege and the advantage) to enjoy.

I cannot restrain myself from concluding with a heartfelt limerick:

The wise guy of Kiryat Mattersdorf is him

not frightened by anthropomorphism.

Students say thanks for the provender – 

the feed, and for teaching us all how to read – 

The gifts of the Rav Chaim Brovender.

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To share your personal story about learning with Rabbi Brovender please contact us

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Jeffrey Graber, a retired technology specialist and resident of Kemp Mill, Maryland where he notes, “there are several alumni of Rabbi Brovender’s many schools.”

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I met Rabbi Brovender at the start of the second year of his original audacious undertaking when the students were not day school graduates on their gap year. We were a bunch of men who had not been exposed to traditional learning but sensed there was something valuable there. Rabbi Brovender along with Rabbi Jay Miller, gave us the golden opportunity to explore Torah learning and discover that there was something there and give us a new life!

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

In those early years, the method was to show us that learning Torah was something that “modern” urban people could appreciate and find enriching. Learning Torah was not archaic, not simplistic, but complex, intellectually challenging material fit for the sophisticated student.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

Respect, Derech Eretz, Ahavat Yisrael, and Simchah.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

This may sound strange but … One night over 50 years ago (I don’t remember what night) Rabbi Brovender gave a drashah on a Psalm (I don’t remember which one). It was brilliant, powerful, moving, inspiring, transcendent….just the most amazingly beautiful drashah. I don’t remember the message but I have never forgotten the feeling. And perhaps, this is what Judaism really is all about.

I’d like to add, I have had a rewarding career in the “computer field”. I had the good fortune to be an early pioneer of the World Wide Web which made the Internet popular.

When we visited our daughter in Israel during her “gap year” in the late 1990s, we took some time and visit Rabbi Brovender.

How amazed I was when Rabbi Brovender started quizzing me about all this new technology, how it worked and how it could be applied. Surprised as I was at his interest, I did my best to explain. A few years later, to my great delight, there was Rabbi Brovender announcing WebYeshiva! Truly a testament to his genius and foresight.

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To share your personal story about learning with Rabbi Brovender please contact us

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Aaron Frank, Upper School Principal at the Ramaz School in Manhattan.

Prior to coming to Ramaz, Rabbi Frank was the Head of School at Kinneret Day School and previously Associate Principal at SAR High School. Before moving to New York, he worked at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore for twelve years, serving as Lower School and then High School Principal. He served as Associate Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale under the mentorship of Rabbi Avi Weiss from 1996 until 2000 and was a founding member of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Baltimore.

Rabbi Frank is married to Laura Shaw Frank. They have four children: Ateret, Yanniv, Elinadav, and Neri.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I met Rabbi Brovender in 1991 at a pivotal time in my life. I was post college and really in need of a place where I could learn seriously and be immersed in an environment of Torah and frumkeit, also while valuing my individuality and personal journey.

The yeshiva and Rabbi Brovender were the perfect place.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

Although I had spent my whole life in Day School, my textual skills were very weak and I was in one of the lower level shiurim with Rabbi Brovender. He had a magical way of making you feel so valued and also being straightforward and honest about what it takes to be committed to Torah and mitzvot.

This balance struck us all, and of course with his signature sense of humor that would leave all the guys laughing daily!

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

Rabbi Brovender is serious and passionate. He is someone who is not able to be put in a box.  He lives the way he sees things as truth.  He is not modern and he is not Haredi.  He is simply who he is –a well educated, smart, serious and caring soul.

I was one of the more liberal guys in the yeshiva, and Rabbi Brovender was a true rebbe. He was always understanding of my world, while being kind and while giving me food for thought about the derekh of my life.

This showed most clearly in how he helped guide me through our wedding through the lenses of halakhah and also helped to find ways that it would be personally meaningful.  I am blessed to have learned and been impacted by him.

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To share your personal story about learning with Rabbi Brovender please contact us

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Gideon Sylvester. After making aliyah from London where he was a rabbi for seven years, Rabbi Sylvester lives in Jerusalem and serves as the British United Synagogue’s rabbi in Israel. 

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I came to Yeshivat Hamivtar from high school. Not many English people knew of the yeshiva in those days, but it had a strong reputation as a yeshiva which taught learning skills in an intelligent way, without imposing any philosophical outlook on its students.

Within a short space of time, Yeshivat Hamivtar became the go-to yeshiva for intelligent young British men seeking a place to develop their learning skills. Many of my friends stayed on at the yeshiva and learned for semicha there. The result was that the yeshiva had an immense impact on the British community and beyond. 

Rabbi Brovender has not only huge numbers of students, but generations of people taught by his students and students of his students. 

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender? 

When it comes to the texts that Rabbi Brovender inspired me to learn, it seems an impossible question to answer because the beauty of Rabbi Brovender’s approach is the diversity of texts that he learns and teaches. This mastery of so many types of Torah makes Rabbi Brovender a fascinating Torah scholar. 

He introduced me to the thought of the Lubavitcher Rebbe which I learn each week with one Hamivtar graduate, the ideas of Rebbe Nachman which I learn with another. He taught us Gemara which I learn with a third Hamivtar graduate and the thought of the Ramban which I learn each week with Rabbi Walk. 

But if I had to choose one text that I learned to love because of Rabbi Brovender, it would have to be the Rambam’s Hilchot Teshuvah. Rabbi Brovender showed us how the Rambam links so many philosophical topics elegantly connecting one to another.

What do you find most important or striking about the ‘Brovender Method’, about his way of teaching?

Perhaps the most striking thing for me is Rabbi Brovender’s combination of extreme intellectual rigor with infinite kindness. Rabbi Brovender’s shiurim were always robust, there was little time for side issues, those were deferred to lunch time. This taught me powerful lessons about the intensity of Talmud Torah. 

Yet, alongside the no-nonsense approach to learning was great tolerance of all the students regardless of how weak their learning backgrounds. And in times of need, Rabbi and Mrs. Brovender remain an immense source of humanity, strength and kindness. 

Time and time again, they have been at my family’s side to support us through semachot and more difficult times. We are immensely grateful.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go? 

There are several lessons from Rabbi Brovender which I think about a lot of the time. The first is simply the thrill of being able to read and understand a text.

Often, when I am learning with a chavruta, and particularly with one from my Brovender’s’ days, I pause and marvel at the fact that we are sitting reading and analyzing a piece of text in ways that would have been impossible without the Yeshiva that Rabbi Brovender founded. He opened the world of Torah learning to us and for that I am eternally grateful.

The second thing I carry around with me is the fact that Rabbi Brovender was unafraid to surround himself with brilliant and immensely talented scholars with a wide range of approaches and perspectives. Rabbis Brovender, Riskin, Schrader, Jablinowitz, Felix, Walk and Ebner brought such a diverse array of approaches. It created a vibrant intellectual atmosphere, a rich source of spirituality and an inspirational example of coexistence. What was true of Rabbi Brovender’s faculty holds true of his students.

There is no typical Hamivtar graduate. Yet, if an alumnus has picked a serious way of life, Rabbi Brovender embraces their path.

The third thing I carry with me is Rabbi Brovender’s willingness to say “I know what the words mean, but I do not know what this means”. We all were aware of Rabbi Brovender’s encyclopedic knowledge of Torah. Yet when confronted with the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, he had no fear of stating that he did not really know what that meant. In so doing, he fulfilled the words of the Gemara, that a person should always teach his tongue to say I don’t know (Berachot 4a). Each time Rabbi Brovender fulfills this, I am filled with love and admiration for his modesty and his intellectual honesty.

The fourth thing I carry with me are two statements that Rabbi Brovender once made. In the first, he reminded us that if we really believed in God, we would never, ever be remiss in performing even the smallest mitzvot, -we would certainly never be late for shul. The second which carried a similar meaning, is that he told us that “there are no Sundays in divine justice.” This meant that in this world we had to be constantly attentive to our religious duties. In other words, when it came to God, there were no days off. It was a powerful and demanding message which expressed his deep faith and his exacting standards. 

Yet alongside this passion, there is always a rye sense of humor which meant that Rabbi Brovender’s yeshiva and his shiurim are always warm, happy, uplifting places to be.

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To share your personal story about learning with Rabbi Brovender please contact us

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Daniel Berkove. Born and raised in Detroit, he lived and worked in the US, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and France before moving to Israel at the end of 2000 to study in a yeshiva –just in time for the beginning of the second intifada.

Today, Daniel is a consultant in the energy industry working with companies and governments across Africa and the East Mediterranean region. Outside of family and work he studies Torah and tries to get in some exercise.

He also dabbles in music, having created and produced “The Blessing Israel” music video, an initiative dedicated to raising awareness around antisemitism that featured Christian and Israeli Jewish stars. The video garnered over three million views across various platforms.

Daniel lives with his wife Ayelet and five children in Givat Shmuel.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

We met for the first time after I became a student at HaMivtar. But before then, when I was looking for a yeshiva to study in, many people recommended that I meet Rabbi Brovender and check out HaMivtar.

HaMivtar, they explained, was well suited for someone with my background, an older student with a university education who was taking a sabbatical from his career. As it turned out, however, apparently I needed to study at three other yeshivas over the course of a year before I took that advice.

When I finally did, I knew immediately that HaMivtar was the right place for me and I stayed for about three years. Since leaving the yeshiva, I have been fortunate to maintain a relationship with Rabbi Brovender. My wife and I were honored that he was our mesader kiddushin and the sandak for our third boy.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

I was most struck by Rabbi Brovender’s laser-focus on understanding texts as they are written. Whatever text is before you, you have to explain how your interpretation derives directly from those words.

He taught me that to understand a text, it was necessary to read the words carefully, not to impose any preconceived notions on their meaning, and to think critically. This also means that often there can be multiple acceptable ways to understand a text, even if some may be mutually exclusive.

To learn and see for myself how Judaism embraced this rigorously intellectual and honest approach was exciting and inspiring.

What made Rabbi Brovender’s method particularly compelling, however, was his masterful ability to show us how it was done.

In every shiur, from whatever text we were studying, he would find a way to read it that would be insightful and persuasive, even from language that seemed simple or prosaic, at least superficially.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

I was most drawn to the study of Tanach. These are the greatest books ever written, unmatched in depth, craftsmanship, and humanity. Rabbi Brovender helped me to understand this.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

There are several lessons that I learned from Yeshivat HaMivtar that I continue to think about:

• In my last year at HaMivtar, I was given permission to study in its rabbinic program. Proud to be accepted into the program, I shared the news with Rabbi Brovender. His response, however, was to say, “More important than what you’re going to study next year is what you’re going to study over the next 20 years.” This comment has stuck with me and reminds me continually that learning Torah is not a sprint but a life-long marathon.

• The rabbis that Rabbi Brovender attracted to HaMivtar were diverse, each sharply distinct from one another in personality, teaching style, and interests. What they had in common, however, was a love for and mastery of Torah, an open mind and facility for critical thinking, and a love and ability for teaching. To me, they became living examples of the “70 faces of Torah,” the truth that the Torah is majestically pluralistic; that there is no one right way to understand and live Torah but many ways.

• Over the years I’ve asked several halachic questions of Rabbi Brovender about difficult issues I was grappling with. The first time I asked such a question of him, I was surprised by hows thoughtful, sensitive, and nuanced his answer was. Not that this manner didn’t comport with his personality, but I had expected that an answer to a halachic question would be more black-and-white and more impersonal. How Rabbi Brovender answered that question then, and how he has answered others since, helped me understand that halacha is meant to be practical, compassionate, and personal, and that a meaningful, fully Jewish life can and should be lived not just in the study hall but in any place and situation.

Finally, I’d like to add that Rabbi Brovender and Yeshivat HaMivtar gave me the best education I ever received. I’m deeply grateful to Rabbi Brovender, and to the other wonderful Yeshivat HaMivtar rabbis with whom I studied, for this priceless gift that continues to give.

To share your personal story about learning with Rabbi Brovender please contact us

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Meir Lewis. Meir is an investment banker, having held senior roles at Morgan Stanley, Citi, Deutsche Bank and Nomura and his wife Dassi is a 4th grade Jewish Studies teacher at SAR Academy in Riverdale. Meir studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar from 1994 – 1996 and Dassi at Midreshet Lindenbaum from 1995 – 1996. They and their five children live in New Rochelle, New York.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

During my freshman year at Yeshiva University, I met Rabbi Brovender as part of my consideration of programs for a year learning in Israel.  We met in an MTA office for 30 minutes and I was instantly hooked.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

I remember my first meeting with Rabbi Brovender distinctly. I read a little bit of Gemara and Rashi that I had prepared. He stopped me in the middle and asked “Why?”

I said “because that’s what Rashi says” to which Rabbi Brovender responded, “Why did Rashi feel the need to say that?”

And so began my journey along the “Brovender Method,” which is to read the sources carefully, and try to understand a level deeper to determine the unasked questions.  My time in Hamivtar continued to focus on core textual skills and careful reading of sources.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

From what I experienced, Rabbi Brovender felt that above everything else, it was Gemara that kept students engaged through the depth of a discussion. I was incredibly influenced by this and Gemara became the core of my learning.

Today, aside from Daf Yomi which I teach once a week, my learning efforts include the Mir Yarchei Kallah and some more contemporary halachic applications in the Smicha B’chaver program (5th semester).

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

“Just open a sefer, start reading, and try to understand.” That was advice given to me by Rabbi Brovender many years ago and it continues to work for me. My Chabura on shabbos with another Hamivtar alum, Moshe Malina, does exactly that. Even after 8 years together and 3 mesechtas our approach remains the same: we open up a sefer, primarily a gemara, and try to understand it.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Yisrael Cohn. Yisrael works for the Jerusalem Municipality Aliyah department assisting new Olim integrating into the city. He also teaches Torah at Machon Meir and in the Jerusalem community of Katamon, where he lives with his wife and children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I met Rav Brovender for the first time in London. Hannah and I were planning Aliyah and I was looking for a place to study in Israel. Rabbi Brovender is so unassuming; we sat and chatted for a few minutes after he gave a shiur and then he invited us to come and join the Kollel. His love of Torah and love of people is such a wonderful combination and I wanted to learn from that.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” – his unique way of teaching?

I had the honor of learning with Rabbi Brovender one on one during lunch break once a week. That in itself is a great gift, that he was willing to give of his time each week to learn with students one on one. We learned Chumash with Rashi and we studied the story of Joseph and his brothers. Our learning was slow and thorough, considering every word. We read words I had seen many times before, but he brought new depth and meaning to the text. I think of his observations every year when we return to those Parshiot.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

I learned from Rabbi Brovender to take Torah learning seriously and also to take people seriously. I remember the students who received daily visits from Rabbi Brovender in hospital. I was Av Bayit in the Yeshiva and saw how he used wisdom and sensitivity to help students in difficult situations. The care, guidance and support that Hannah and I received from Rabbi and Rebbetzin Brovender during the first years of our marriage helped us make the decisions we made and bring us to where we are today.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

I spent the Yamim Noraim in Yeshiva for four years, and heard Rabbi Ebner daven Shacharit and Rabbi Brovender daven Mussaf. There was music in the Yeshiva all year round, on Shabbatot and Chagim, but on the Yamim Noraim, it became more intense. There were moments of joy, intimacy, fear, and sometimes pain. Their melodies allowed us all to experience the emotions of Yamim Noraim. Even today, when I daven as a Baal Tefilla in our local shul, I hear their tunes in my ears as we pray.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Daniel Vinik. From Long Beach, NY, Daniel studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar his post high school year, and returned from 5763 to 5766. Daniel studies Torah, works part time and lives in Rehovot with his wife, Racheli Fleisher, and children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

Is it a stretch to answer that. I feel I meet Rabbi Brovender anew every time we reengage.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

At first blush, it appears the full extent of Rabbi Brovender’s advice to aspiring talmidei chachamim can be summed up in a single word -learn. One can and many have wondered how a single imperative amounts to a philosophy. What’s hidden in this sage directive, however, is that Rabbi Brovender quite literally means what he says.

One of the most striking features of the Brovender method is, to my mind, if not entirely negative, at the very least restrictive. It implicitly posits that in order to authentically engage in Torah study, one is called upon to check one’s assumptions, and certainly presumptions, at the door -whether they be intellectual, cultural or emotional. All of this is a precursor to engage in the simple act of Torah study. The method places faith in the Torah herself to do the work it was designed to achieve in each of her laborers.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with RabbiBrovender?

For myself, what I have become most drawn to over the years, is how Rabbi Brovender extends the special receptive, integrated and penetrating intelligence garnered through the discipleship of Torah la-Amito, and applies it to perennial and newly evolved concerns, interests and responsibilities of a life lived whole.

As formulated by the Belzer Rebbe, Rav Aharon Rokeiach, zechoso yagen aleinu, in short, every Jewish person deserves to be studied as though they were a difficult Rambam. Accepting this charge as entirely to the point, although also assuming that we may expand the domain of the individual Jew to that which pertains to the living concerns and enterprise of human society, science and culture; and provided, of course, that one in fact knows how to learn a Rambam- well, then I feel like we’re operating in the Rosh Yeshiva’s sphere, and can return time and time again to Torat Chaim.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

When all is said and done, what ideally brings me back to Torat Chaim veChessed, is RabbiBrovender’s pursuit and realization of the supreme Jewish virtues of Love, Simplicity, Honesty,Humor and Joy- i.e. the Romance of engaging independently and communally in an authentic relationship with the Most Supreme Reality, incorporating and integrating all that is available le-hagdil Torah u-le-hadera.

Yet, given all the twists and turns, trials and tribulations, that I, and I think many experience in the modern world today, it would be foolish to ignore a feature of Rabbi Brovender’s teaching that has been steadfast, and helps anchor a Torah-true life in the midst of so much complexity and yes, confusion. That is, his Yirat Shamayim.

First off, one cannot withstand all the pressures, influences and seductions of our finite condition, with an ever-expanding list of needs (real, perceived or imagined), if one fears them(or more precisely fears being without them). One simply cannot maintain a subtle and complex position if one fears being misunderstood. One cannot take seriously and pursue passionately extra-ordinary facets of learning, tradition, history, consciousness and humanity if they fear being considered foolish, mocked, left behind, shunned or forgotten.

Furthermore, one cannot help other human beings attain greater growth, success and happiness if they fear those people’s own frailties and struggles. As it is natural and healthy for human beings to acknowledge their finitude and limitation, and reasonable to hope and desire only the best for those they love, where then to turn? The only sane living option left, is cultivating real Yirat Shamayim, a complete faith and trust that the RibbonO-shel-Olam has given us the immense responsibility and privilege of living on this earth with the opportunity to fulfill His Torah and Mitzvah- לטוב לך.

Rabbi Brovender has embodied time and time again this yira. That in the most extraordinary of circumstances, and perhaps more importantly, within the fine details of daily life, in all its guises, over the course of a full term of Gevura לא אירע רע- כי אתה עמדי There’s a reason Yirat Shamayim comes first, and in an age when the only defense against rampant fear seems to be the offense of retribution, even amongst generally well-intentioned people, I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have access to the Rosh Yeshiva’s cultivated vantage point, one that aides me in regularly redirecting my energy, concerns, concentration and commitments away from the tafel and always back to the ikar- learn.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rahel Berkovits, senior faculty member at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where she has been teaching Mishnah, Talmud and halakha for over twenty years.

Rahel lectures widely in both Israel and abroad especially on topics concerning women and Jewish law and a Jewish sexual ethic. She is the Halakhic Editor and a writer for Hilkhot Nashim the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s Halakhic Source-guide Series, published by Maggid Books. In June 2015, she received Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbis Herzl Hefter and Daniel Sperber. Rahel studied with Rav Brovender at Michlelet Bruria from Sept 1989- Jan 1991 and then again from Sept 1992 – June 1995.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

My Jewish day school did not allow me to apply to “Brovender’s” when I was in 12th grade. Instead, they were pushing me to attend Michlalah, an institution that did not teach women Talmud in a serious manner. As that was not a program I wanted to attend, I did not spend a gap year in Israel. However, after starting university I still yearned to study Torah in Israel and so when I heard that Rav Brovender was coming to campus, I was very excited to meet and speak with him.

Although Michlelet Bruria was first started with women who were post college at that time (1988) there only existed a program for students after high school. I really wanted Rav Brovender to start a program for women in college and so I ended up following him around to more than one campus where he was speaking so that I could argue my case.

Luckily for me Rav Brovender agreed to start the Bruria scholars’ program and I was able to spend a year and a half studying at Brovender’s during college and then another three years immediately after I graduated. During that time, besides taking formal classes with Rav Brovender, I also (after some persuading) had the pleasure of coming to his house to learn parshah with him and his daughters.

The institution provided the college women with apartments outside the regular dorms. My roommate had the habit of answering the (old fashioned no caller ID rotary) phone by saying “Brovender’s” and one day Rav Brovender called for some reason, and in response he drily quipped- “I thought I was Brovender’s!

The very fact that despite having an official name that institution was always referred to as Brovender’s – attests to what an important figure Rav Brovender is.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

Rav Brovender is the master of the one-hour Shuir. He gave a parsha shiur every week and besides his wonderful Torah content it was a lesson in exemplary pedagogy. He always had one clear question which he would reiterate a few different times throughout the class as he built towards the answer. He never went over the time limit, and he never had to rush- not an easy feat- and most importantly when the shiur was finished one could always reiterate it at the shabbat table because the material had been presented so clearly.

I used to record the classes so that I could listen to them again afterwards just to try to learn how he did it. Of course, throughout he was witty and funny which just added to the enjoyment of learning from him.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

Sadly, for me we didn’t really get a choice of what we learned with Rav Brovender. Originally, he just taught parsha and because we (the Bruria scholars) were thirsty for more we were able to arrange a halakhah shiur with him but unfortunately it only met once a week. My personal learning passion is for Talmud and I would have loved to take a high level gemara shiur with Rav Brovender.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

Myself personally and an entire generation of Jewish women have Rav Brovender to thank for making the world of serious high-level Torah/Talmud learning open to women.

With the plethora of women’s learning programs that exist today and the changes that have happened in this realm in the last 30 years many people may forget or not even realize what an important figure Rav Brovender is in the history of women’s Torah learning.

When he started Michlelet Bruria in 1976 it was the first such program where women could learn Talmud in a serious fashion. Rav Brovender once told us that he suffered retribution from the right-wing community – such as having his tires punctured and being put in herem- for his radical actions. Thank God, he was not deterred.

Rav Brovender’s love of Torah and commitment to make the experience of Torah learning accessible to anyone who was interested- regardless of gender- has literally changed the Torah world. Besides enabling hundreds of women to access their own heritage, alumni just from my years at Brovender’s head women’s learning and semicha programs, spearhead women’s daf yomi learning, write books and teach Torah throughout the world.

The fact that women’s learning is considered normative in the Modern Orthodox world today is a direct outgrowth of Rav Brovender’s vision and commitment. Without the opportunity to immerse myself in learning at the Brovender’s Beit Midrash and to receive that solid basis in text study I would not be the person I am today and for that I am eternally grateful to Rav Brovender.

For over 50 years has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Ilana Goldstein Saks. She has taught Tanach for many years and is also a professional baker. Ilana is currently a coordinator of the special-needs bakery at Sadnat Shiluv. She lives in Efrat with her husband, Rabbi Jeffrey Saks, and their four children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I feel like I have met Rabbi Brovender many times in different ways. I first met him when a cousin and then my older sisters attended Bruria, now known as Midrashet Lindenbaum, and my father discovered that Rabbi Brovender was the same Brovender that he had taught to read the Torah for his bar mitzvah many years before.

Later, I was his student at Midreshet Lindenbaum – first as a post high-school student and later on the Bruria Scholars program. Since marrying my husband Jeff, who was also Rabbi Brovender’s student, and at this point has worked with Rabbi Brovender for over 25 years, I have had the opportunity to learn from him second hand.

Not incidentally, Rabbi Brovender was our mesader kiddushin.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

The classes I learned with Rabbi Brovender were almost exclusively Tanach based. He taught me an appreciation of Parshanut, and the need to read the commentaries carefully and thoughtfully.

His classes demonstrated that superficial reading would be neither sufficient nor satisfying.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

Much of my learning and almost all of my teaching has been of Tanach and related texts such as parshanut and midrash. My personal inclination was always to confront the text of the Tanach on its own – without the distraction of commentaries who seemed to add layers of meaning that were not really there.

I learned by example in Rabbi Brovender’s classes how to study and appreciate parshanut, and that parshanut can really open our eyes to interpretations of the text that we would otherwise miss.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

So often he would begin a class with a familiar commentary, which I hadn’t found to be so interesting, and by the end of the class he had shown just how interesting it was. This repeated experience of learning texts with him taught me a new level of respect for the text.

When I learn and teach, I approach the texts with the assumption that it has something meaningful to teach me, and that it is simply up to me to uncover that meaning.

This has influenced both my attitude toward the texts as well as my efforts in analyzing them. I have come to appreciate the hidden depth of texts that is often missed by a superficial glance – something which I have often thought can be said of Rabbi Brovender himself, as well as the way he views his students.

For over 50 years has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Shlomo Katz. Born in New Jersey and having grown up between Los Angeles and Ra’anana, Rav Shlomo has released eight studio albums and toured the world playing music and teaching Torah. He is the spiritual leader of the Shirat David Community of Efrat, Israel, where he lives with his wife, Binah, and their five children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

When I was 22 and living in Los Angeles, I was looking for a place to learn for smicha, and joined Yeshivat Hamivtar in the summer of 2002. Aside from establishing a family, it was the wisest decision of my life.

When I first showed up at yeshiva, I thought Rabbi Brovender would only be interested in talking about learning. After our first meeting, it became clear that he wasn’t just interested in where I wanted to go in life, but also where I came from.

It gave me a sense that even though Hamivtar was not the touchy/feely environment I may have been used to in other circles, the genuine and sincere care for my well-being, based on where I was coming from, was top priority.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” – his unique way of teaching?

What has always struck me the most is Rabbi Brovender’s belief and trust in the power of the Torah. It was always clear how much Rabbi Brovender believed enough that when bringing the Torah to us, the Torah itself would take it from there.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

Rabbi Brovender’s shiurim on Parsha have been most influential. The manner in which Rashi and the Ramban were taught, and tying it to the approach of the chassidic masters is a limmud I never experienced the likes of from anyone else.

There was one shiur on Parshas Masei, where Rabbi Brovender taught us a piece from the Sfas Emes. This piece, which spoke about the two and a half shvatim who settled on the other side of the Yarden, could only be understood by explaining Rashi and Ramban. It was only because of the way Rabbi Brovender gave over Rashi and the Ramban that the door to understanding the Sfas Emes was opened for us.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

Rabbi Brovender’s interest in a person’s background, as well as their current state of being, wrapped in a connection with Talmud Torah is a lesson I try to carry with me forever. As a community rabbi, the privilege of establishing a personal connection, as well as having a Torah relationship with a community member, is something that I attribute to Rabbi Brovender. 

There was a statement Rabbi Brovedner would often make when learning Rashi, whether it was a Rashi in the Gemara or in Chumash, and it went something like this: “What does Rashi mean? There’s two answers. A) I don’t know. B) I still don’t know, but I’m going to try and do my best to understand.” This approach has had a very strong impact on me, as I feel that this is greatly lacking in the learning world. 

At its core is the notion of approaching learning Torah with humility. 

However, this lesson is not only applicable in the arena of learning text, but it’s the same regarding people. Giving it our best shot, with anava, humility at its core, is the best we can do.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Ian Pear. Almost 20 years ago Rabbi Pear founded Shir Hadash, an educational institute dedicated to bringing Jews closer to Judaism and one another, and promoting a love of Israel amongst all people. Shir Hadash has several locations including its main branch in Jerusalem’s Talbiya neighborhood and a Shabbat Satellite Minyan in Jerusalem’s German Colony.

Shir Hadash also operates an Early Childhood Center, an Educational Farm in the North of Israel, and most recently, Amudim, a Midrasha for overseas students visiting Israel for the year. Rabbi Pear has authored several books including the best seller The Accidental Zionist. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Rachel, and five children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I knew of Rabbi Brovender first only by reputation.  But it was a reputation that made me want more.  I was in California at the time and asked around about where I could simultaneously really improve my learning skills as well as learn more about traditional Judaism in general, and every person I trusted said the same place and the same man’s name.

So the next year I came to Yeshivat Hamivtar for a year, entered the beginner level shiur, and worked as hard as I could so I could move up and eventually understand enough to be in Rabbi Brovender’s shiur.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” – his unique way of teaching?

He is not an ideologue, not interested in kiruv, and not a preacher.  He was not interested in having students who thought he was great (though we did). Rather, he was solely focused on giving us the tools so we could access Jewish texts in the most authentic way possible, and those tools, in turn, enabled us to enrich our own lives on our own terms.  He let Judaism speak for itself rather than serving as its publicist.

This required a lot more work on his student’s behalf — and his model encouraged the investment needed to succeed — but in the end it has proven far more rewarding and long-lasting than I could have ever expected.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender

While I can never read another Rashi without asking a myriad of questions — why did he say this? Why didn’t he say that? What is Rashi really teaching us? — his teaching of Rambam most whet my appetite for further learning.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go? 

The deepest Torah lesson I take with me from Rabbi Brovender is the importance of Torah study itself.  Torah study requires constant vigilance, and if you allow the numerous distractions we are all confronted with get in the way, one will miss out on his learning.  You won’t become a talmudic master — or for that matter, even a competent Jew — without staying focused and dedicated to your learning.  Always learn. Always grow.  Otherwise you’re going backwards.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Mrs. Mali Brofsky. Mali has held numerous academic and administrative positions at educational institutions in Jerusalem, most recently at Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalyim, and is currently serving as a field advisor for Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work’s MSW program in Israel.

She holds a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Bernard Revel Graduate School and an MSW from Wurzweiler, and runs a clinical practice in Gush Etzion. She lives in Alon Shvut with her husband and four children. 

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I met Rabbi Brovender during my shana ba’aretz at Midreshet Lindenbaum, and was privileged to keep learning from him and being influenced by his singular personality and leadership during my years in the Bruriah scholars program.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” – his unique way of teaching?

I think the most important lesson that stays with me is Rabbi Brovender’s integrity and honesty, which comes through both in his personality, and in his style and method of teaching Torah. Rabbi Brovender always cuts through to the heart of the matter – zoning in on what is crucial, so that you are left with a sense of clarity about not only the topic you were learning, but also the underlying moral messages and imperatives inherent in whatever topic he is teaching.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender? 

I don’t think I was left drawn to a specific field of Talmud Torah; on the contrary, I think that learning from Rabbi Brovender left me inspired about the richness of all Talmud Torah, from Gemara and Torah she-be’al Peh, to Tanach, to machshava, or any other field of Talmud Torah.

That is part of his message and his gift – it’s all Torah in his eyes, and everything that is Torah should be learned. This message was obvious to Rabbi Brovender, and was delivered with no frills, but rather lived and taught as self evident.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go? 

One which is so obvious that I’m hardly even conscious of it any more, was his approach to women and Talmud Torah. It was clear to Rabbi Brovender that aside from questions about formal obligation in learning certain areas of Torah study, if that study was conducive to the formation of the religious personality and facilitated greater connection to God, it was obvious that that study should be actively encouraged and pursued.

This idea has become so integral to my perspective that I hardly think about it as a “lesson” anymore, but the truth is that the first person who articulated it to me was Rabbi Brovender, and I will never forget the moment and the shiur in which I heard it from him.

Another strong memory I have is Rabbi Brovender passionately defending the idea that we have to look to the Avot as heroes and role models – if we do not have this perspective, he argued, what exactly is the point of studying their lives?

This orientation toward searching for values and meaning in Torah study, and the perception that when we learn, we are mining our tradition for the timeless treasures of the principles inherent within it, has stayed with me as a fundamental truth.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Josh Ross. After receiving an advanced double BA in History and Philosophy from Dalhousie University (Canada), Rabbi Ross spent eight years learning at Yeshivat Hamivtar. Upon returning to North America with his wife Rivky and their children he worked as a campus rabbi for the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. The Ross family spent three years at Cornell and three years at Princeton and Josh is currently the OU-JLIC’s Deputy Director. In his spare time Rabbi Ross is a powerlifter and strength and conditioning coach.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

After college I came to Israel to find a yeshiva to learn at for a year. I was very uninspired by all the yeshivot I visited and had basically given up until an old friend of mine invited me to spend Shabbat at Yeshivat Hamivtar. Aside from it being the last Shabbat before I left Israel, it was also Shabbat Tisha B’Av and miraculously Rabbi Brovender and Rabbi Ebner happened to both be there. I got to spend Shabbat with Rabbi Brovender and hear his inspirational explanations of kinnot on Tisha B’Av. Ever since, I have had an enduring love of both Rabbi Brovender and Tisha B’Av. And yes, I returned to learn at the yeshiva for eight years.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” –his unique way of teaching?

There is NO question that despite his countless contributions to Jewish education for men and women, in my opinion his “learn how to learn” philosophy is paramount. It sounds almost silly but being a campus rabbi for so many years, almost all college students I continue to meet really don’t know how to learn. They do not have a firm grasp of the fundamentals or the history or how it evolves. They may know who is a Tanna or an Amora but they do not consider the time period the Tanna was living in, who his contemporaries were and why this matters. I can go on at length about this method, and Rabbi Brovender should probably write a book about this (seriously) but because of my learning from Rabbi Brovender, I have always strived to help my students learn how to learn, irrelevant of their skill level.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

While Rabbi Brovender had the terrible misfortune of having me in his Gemara shiur for several years, I found his entire outlook and approach to learning the parsha both powerful and inspiring. I can confidently say that on my journey from the beginner shiur to the Kollel, single to married, childless to being a father – with almost no exception, in eight years I never missed his Thursday night parsha shiur.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

Aside from his philosophy of learning how to learn being at the forefront of every shiur, drasha or chavruta I am ever involved in, I have to say that I have always been struck by his lack of ego and approachability. Given his contributions to the Jewish community, learning, and Israel one could see how almost accidentally, someone of his stature could become somewhat unapproachable. And yet he was always happy to talk to anyone, answered my dumbest questions in my first year without any disdain, always introduced himself as Chaim and genuinely seemed to dislike any acts of kavod by any of his students. Over the years I have met many, many people and I am constantly reminded of how little Rabbi Brovender cared about kavod or ego and how influential and important that is in connecting with and relating to people.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Rabbi Michael Sunshine. After receiving semicha through Yeshivat Hamivtar, Rabbi Sunshine  worked at a shul in San Antonio, TX, for four years and then ran the Jewish Student Connection (JSC) in Denver, CO, for 8 years. JSC runs clubs in public high schools helping teens develop and deepen their Jewish identities and their connection with Israel. Rabbi Sunshine currently works at amhsi.org and lives in Ra’anana, Israel with his wife and children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

The first time I met Rabbi Brovender was when he came to the University of Pennsylvania campus. I had heard of Rabbi Brovender and his yeshiva years earlier when many of my friends learned at Hamivtar between high school and college.  But when Rabbi Brovender visited UPenn I remember he gave a shiur on Birkat Hamazon and the analytical way in which he broke down each bracha and explained it.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” – his unique way of teaching?

Rabbi Brovender’s methodology, as I see it, comes down to an honest and analytical approach of whatever source you’re learning.  It means paying attention to the specifics and nuance of language, and working to understand what is actually being said, as opposed to what you think, or want the text to say. I think Rabbi Brovender’s method stems from an approach based on humility where you put yourself and your ego to the side, and try to figure out what the Gemara, or the Shulchan Aruch, or the Sfas Emes is actually trying to say to us.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

From my years as a talmid of Rabbi Brovender, I understood that, for me at least, that to be a well-rounded and committed Jew I would need to learn or to be able and open to learn Torah from all different angles.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

I don’t think of it as a time period of “after learning with Rabbi Brovender.” When I left the yeshiva to go work in the States, I remember feeling an acute sadness of not being able to learn every day with the rebbeim in the yeshiva. I had a feeling of shleimut, of wholeness, which at the time I felt I was putting aside.

Then, in my first few months in San Antonio when I would prepare shiurim I realized I had actually taken the yeshiva with me.  Besides the ideas I learned and knowledge I gained in the yeshiva, I realized that I was taking with me the methodology of learning and ability to open up a sefer, whether a Gemara, a Rashi, or a Rambam, and learn it with the skills I developed in the yeshiva.

To go a step deeper, from my time learning with Rabbi Brovender I learned that as a Jew there is a unique position we have in the world and by learning the Torah and doing mitzvot we infuse the world with kedusha – transforming something from the way it is to the way it can be. Bringing out its potential.

I often come back to the belief that Rabbi Brovender has instilled in his talmidim the confidence to accomplish great things.  At the times when I am uncertain of my abilities, I remember that Rabbi Brovender asked me to teach his shiur for a short period of time when he was overseas.  At first I was shocked, and then I understood that if he thought I could do it, then I could.

But there is one specific Torah that I think about, especially during the Yamim Noraim.  During Elul 5756 (1996), Rabbi Brovender taught a Torah of Rebbe Nachman.  Rebbe Nachman explained that during Elul and the Yamim Noraim one can be uplifted to great heights and attain a significant connection with God.

While it is impossible for that intense spirituality to be maintained throughout the whole year, one’s moments of Dveikut during the year should not be fleeting.

Rather, when we leave the intense embrace of God that we find during the Yamim Noraim, we should be changed, like the imprint left on clay by the king’s signet ring.  When we start the new year, we, in fact, will be different than we were just days before.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Jeffrey Schrager, a Jewish educator who teaches with several different organizations around the world. He lives in Efrat with his wife and four children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I first “met” Rabbi Brovender on the phone. I applied for the Yeshiva very late in the year and my acceptance was contingent on an interview. I was nervous and expected a lot of questions, but Rabbi Brovender asked about my background and then said, “I think we have room for you.” My first year at yeshiva he was teaching in London most of the year, so I really wasn’t around him much. Shana Bet, however, I was in his shiur and, in many ways, I’ve never left.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

Whenever I heard anyone ask him to define the “Brovender Method,” he would say some version of, “we learn Gemara.” Of course, the emphasis on skills and independent learning were important, but the basic concept of the importance of “just learning” is what changed me.

It seems to me the Brovender Method, in some ways, is about attitude. Learning, and learning Gemara in particular, could be compared to breathing. I learned innumerable skills from Rabbi Brovender, but I also learned that learning and the desire to learn must be a fact of life, not something “extra.”

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

I’ve become primarily a teacher of Tanakh, and I spend most of my time learning Tanakh and related subjects. I’ve also dabbled in other subjects, but Gemara still holds a special place in my heart and mind. The thrill of participating in the “symposium of generations,” as Rav Soloveitchik termed it, enchants me.

The experience of learning Gemara, for me, is tied strongly to the experience of learning with Rabbi Brovender. Opening a Gemara transports me back to the beit midrash at Yeshivat Hamivtar, and specifically to Rabbi Brovender’s makom.

I’ve been blessed to learn in many different locales, but my identity as a learner is rooted deeply in that setting.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

It’s funny: I can think of many ideas I learned with Rabbi Brovender, but what I took away with me more than anything was an attitude towards learning Torah. It is the foundation of a Jewish life.

I think my entire approach to learning and teaching results from my time learning with Rabbi Brovender. I want my students to learn because they love it, without shtick or a need for recognition, motivated not by politics or a desire to be proven right. Just a search for truth because it is the Truth.

I always remember learning the beginning of the third perek of Shabbat in Rabbi Brovender’s shiur, but the experience is what I treasure, the back and forth in the Gemara that doesn’t even always ultimately come to a clear conclusion.

Outside of my family, Rabbi Brovender has done more than anyone to shape the person and Jew that I am. It wasn’t through any specific moment or epiphany. It was his

dedication to learning Torah and his dedication to my learning Torah that continues to inspire me.

For over 50 years Rabbi Brovender has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to pollster, strategic communicator, and procreator Mitchell Barak.

Throughout his 30-year career living in Israel, Mitchell has worked at the highest and lowest levels of the Israeli Government. Today, through his KEEVOON: Research Strategy & Communications, he helps clients develop effective, survey research based messaging which they use to communicate with their customers or constituents. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and eight children.

How did you meet Rabbi Brovender?

I first met Rabbi Brovender in 1987 during my second year at George Washington University. I was planning to study in a Yeshiva for my junior year abroad and was familiar with Yeshivat Hamivtar because my high school Gemara teacher at Ramaz, Rabbi Jay Miller, was one of the co- founders of the yeshiva and had inspired me to strive to learn Torah for the sake of learning.

Upon meeting Rabbi Brovender in New York, I immediately connected with his laid back and modest attitude. For instance, when asking him why I should attend Hamivtar as opposed to other yeshivot, his only answer was “come learn Torah with us.”

There was no marketing pitch and he didn’t criticize or compare Hamivtar to any other Yeshiva. I thought it was really unique that he wasn’t trying to sell me on attending Hamivtar nor was he promoting himself in any way.

What do you find most important or striking about the “Brovender Method” -his unique way of teaching?

What I find most striking about the “Brovender Method” of teaching is its elusiveness. Everyone talks about it, but everyone has a different definition. Yes, he has a very straight forward approach to learning Gemara and cares deeply about understanding the main text before moving on, but when I think of the “Brovender Method,” it is kind of like the Manna from Israel’s sojourn in the desert – it tasted like whatever you needed it to be.

Rabbi Brovender is able to speak to each student on his or her own level, where they are at, and bring out the best in that person, helping them realize what it is they might need. So, the Brovender Method really depends on the person, their learning ability and commitment.

When it comes to Torah learning, what were you most drawn to after learning with Rabbi Brovender?

Rabbi Brovender helped me refine and define how I approached learning. To understand “how” I approach learning it is important to recognize Rabbi Brovender’s great sense of humor and healthy cynicism with which he himself approaches learning, and so many other things in life.

There is great genius behind his humorous comments and an excellent analytical ability which makes his cynicism so real, crisp, and constructive to learning. Laughing should be part of learning.

What lesson or specific Torah that you learned from Rabbi Brovender, do you keep coming back to or carry with you wherever you go?

Rabbi Brovender has been a great positive influence on my religious, personal, and professional life for more than three decades. The older I get the more I appreciate him.

As we were studying in Elazar in 1987 the first Intifada was raging and I was somewhat shocked that Rabbi Brovender, the Rosh Yeshiva of a Yeshiva in Judea and Samaria was not a card carrying member of the national religious ideological politburo – in fact some of his views were quite opposite.

Many years later I came to the realization that Rabbi Brovender is very much a man way ahead of his time.

He is a maverick in politics, a maverick in Torah, and someone who is bestowed with great wisdom. Equally important, he has always been fearless and courageous when it comes to speaking his mind and teaching according to his beliefs.