“Half of my class is religious today because of those classes and sessions you ran during those summers”

HAPPENING  IN... The US

Rabbi Avrohom Weinrib, rav of Cincinnati’s Congregation Zichron Eliezer, was at a wedding in Cleveland when he was approached by a fellow he didn’t recognize.

“Were you ever in Hartford, Connecticut?” the fellow asked.

Startled by the question, Rabbi Weinrib looked at the fellow again, before flashing back some 25 years ago.

He’d been a bochur then, learning in the Scranton Yeshivah. For two consecutive summers, he’d spent several weeks in Hartford participating in a SEED program, which is under the auspices of Torah Umesorah.

“Yes,” he replied, “I was in Hartford.”

“Well,” said the fellow, “I just want you to know that half of my class is religious today because of those classes and sessions you ran during those summers.”

The name SEED couldn’t be more accurate for the initiative, which has yeshivah students visiting unaffiliated communities in the summers to spread Torah and Yiddishkeit. When those yeshivah students bid farewell to Hartford over two decades ago, little could they imagine the beautiful fruit that would one day blossom from the seeds they’d spent a summer planting. As a new crop of bochurim ready themselves for a summer spread across the fruited plains (and beyond), they have our heartfelt wishes for tremendous hatzlachah.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 969)