Renewing The Sweetness Of Learning: How We Can Bring More Yidden Back To The Beis Midrash

By Rabbi Yoni Levin, Morah d’Asra of Anshei Emes of Cedarhurst

Recently, I was learning with a friend of mine in his thirties, a hardworking baalebus who is devoted to his family and community. But he never learned in kollel and has been navigating a difficult stretch in his life. After just an hour of learning together, he looked at me and said, “Wow, that was a taste of Gan Eden. For that one hour, nothing else mattered.”

That one sentence says it all. Torah is not just an intellectual endeavor, it’s an emotional, spiritual, and personal one. It isn’t reserved just for the elite, the Yungerleit, or Daf Yomi regulars—the sweetness of Torah learning is the birthright of every Yid, no matter where life has taken him.

Baruch Hashem, our community has numerous batei midrash with vibrant night seder learning. Over the past several years, more and more chavrusas and chaburas have filled the shuls and yeshivas with the resounding Kol Torah in the pre-dawn hours, with many joining us through the late morning.

The Five Towns-Far Rockaway communities have seen a resurgence of new kollels and in-depth learning in recent years. Many in the community have already discovered this Gan Eden in our midst and enjoy the kollelexperience as a much-welcomed addition.

For those of you who have not yet been able to capitalize on your learning as much as you would like, I would like to address you. Many of you once sang Eishes Chayil on Friday nights in Yerushalayim after a full week of learning in kollel. After spending years poring over the pages of Gemara, halacha, and Mussar, many of you dreamed of continuing that connection forever.

Once back in America, many of you had to leave kollel for work, a decision that many of you made with your wives prior to marriage. But no one expected that leaving kollel would mean leaving Torah itself behind. When asked why they no longer set aside time to learn, many respond: “I’m an earner, not a learner.”

The Yisachar-Zevulun model is one of the most beautiful partnerships in Jewish life, one that guarantees both parties a share in eternal reward. But the vision was never that Zevulun should stop learning altogether. The idea was that while Zevulun carried the financial burden, he would still carve out time for learning Torah.

Yet, somehow, there are those who see themselves solely as providers, outsourcing their Avodas Hashemby writing checks, while their seforim gather dust on the shelves.

Baruch Hashem, there’s a growing movement of reengagement. Programs like Daf Yomi, Mishna Yomi, Oraisa, and Kinyan Masechta have reignited the spark for thousands of men. Community kollels have become the backbone of many neighborhoods, serving as both a source of Torah and a catalyst to bring ba’alei batimback into the beis midrash.

With incredible Siyata Dishmaya, I have the zechus to lead Kahal Anshei Emes, a young, dynamic shul tucked away in Cedarhurst. I am excited to announce the launch of a new Community Kollel called The Five Towns Kollel, a bold, new initiative to transform the spiritual landscape of our community and inspire a renaissance in learning.

The kollel will be built on the timeless model of the Yisachar-Zevulun partnership, but with a twist. The goal is not just for the Yisachar to learn while the Zevulun provides. We want the Zevuluns to learn alongside their Yisachars.

This isn’t just about opening seforim. It’s about opening hearts, about reminding every man that the sweetness of Torah is his birthright—no matter how many years have passed.

Last year, our shul had the incredible opportunity to visit Poland under the guidance of a popular historian, Yehuda Geberer. We stood at the kever of the Megala Amukos, Rav Nosson Nata Shapira, whose keveris the only one known to bear testimony of Giluy Eliyahu HaNavi.

Rav Yehuda shared an unforgettable story about a simple kollel family in Krakow many years ago that wanted to back out of a Yisachar-Zevulun agreement. While they needed the money desperately, the kollel wife felt that she just wasn’t davening and connecting to Hashem with the same intensity because the money came easily. When their Zevulun benefactor heard this, he refused to let them walk away from the agreement, and insisted on a din Torah. He wanted the continued zechus of sponsoring their learning, whether or not they felt inspired.

When he heard this story, the Megala Amukos refused to take a job in another city. He said, “If these are the arguments they have in Krakow, I will never leave this city.”

Our dream is to build a kollel that echoes the purity of Krakow, where Yisachar and Zevulun aren’t just financial partners, but spiritual partners, drawing each other closer to Torah, to Hashem, and to a higher purpose. We want to create a space where baalei batim taste the Gan Eden of learning together with their Yisachars.

May this kollel become a beacon of Torah and a community of learning partnerships and spiritual growth for all involved. May it be a taste of the Gan Eden that is the birthright of every Yid, one he carries in his heart, waiting to be awakened once again.

We welcome you to join us. Anyone interested in partnering can contact Rabbi Levin at 201-390-0267 or by email to: [email protected].