8 Weddings Within 2 Weeks

In today’s world, threats to Jewish continuity are very real. As intermarriage and assimilation are ramping up, it is a challenge for the entire Jewish people to battle growing apathy and encourage Jewish pride and leadership.

In the face of over-arching adversity, the impact of Mayanot’s efforts to educate the next generation of Jewish leaders has a profound and far-reaching effect when alumni choose to marry Jewish.

The Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies announced a groundbreaking number of recent weddings, celebrating the marriages of eight alumni in the span of only two and a half weeks time.

These weddings took place all over the world and amazingly, Mayanot Dean Rabbi Shlomo Gestetner, and Executive Director Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov were able to attend five of the eight weddings, collectively.

Celebrating a wedding, which is such a momentous occasion in a student’s life, hearing how much their learning impacted their journey, is as consequential for the faculty as it is life-changing for the alumni. Thus, it is a great privilege for us to share a few alumni testimonials from those couples recently married.

Chava Hinsey, a 2015 Mayanot alumni articulated, “Baruch Hashem, I got married a month ago and I am now living in Morristown with my husband. As I look around the little cul-de-sac where we are living, I see how many people here have been impacted by Mayanot. In my journey of returning to Yiddishkeit , Mayanot was a fundamental experience in my growth. At Mayanot, I learned how to balance my passion for Torah study with the larger picture of what it means to be a Jewish woman.”

Sabrina Benros, a 2016 alumni from Arizona recounted, “Mayanot allowed me to open my eyes to the importance of having a Jewish home and even more so, the importance of having that home follow the path of the Torah. My time at Mayanot was very well spent and the memories I made will certainly impact my life forever.”

Jason Segal, a 2017 alumni, related, “The rabbis at the Mayanot yeshiva showed me that not only was it OK to be myself, but they encouraged me to delve into my neshama and find a way to inspire those around me. I am ecstatic and very grateful to Hashem that several months after returning to Vancouver, Canada I began Shidduchim and married Shifra Chana Landry from Montreal on Yud Beis Adar.”

Chaya Bekermus, who recently married Adam Garcia a current student from California, shared, “Mayanot serves as a stable and balancing platform for my husband to learn Torah and was an immense support for us during our dating process, and continues to be in our marriage. I am deeply thankful to Mayanot for being such a conduit of holiness and acceptance.”

The list of recent weddings:
Ruchama Steben to Eliezer Phillips (February 22)
Bracha Rivka Kappah to Moshe Nachman Abramson (February 28)
Sabrina Benros to Harel Baruchi (February 28)
Jason Segal to Shifra Chana Landry (March 1)
Adam Garcia to Chaya Bekermus (March 4)
Chava Hinsey to Chaim Ahron Green (March 5)
Danielle Savva to Yoel Kaufman (March 6)
Zach Gilbert-Burke to Ayla Pastelnick (March 8)

Mayanot wished a big Mazal Tov to these and the hundreds of other alumni couples from past years of Mayanot, as well. It’s a pleasure to watch the Mayanot family grow and flourish.