Serial entrepreneur Niran Hebron seeking a new level of Jewish enrichment walked into Yeshiva Temimei Darech in the mystical city of Tsfat a couple years ago, stayed for only a month and indeed walked out on a new rung in his Yiddishkeit.
In return for the gifts he garnered at the primarily baal teshuva yeshiva with a proven record of notable impact on its students, Hebron is poised to give back as a matching donor of a yeshiva scholarship drive seeking to raise at least $300,000 this week.
Rosh Yeshiva and institution founder, Rabbi Shalom Pasternak, said Hebron, along with all other contributors to the drive, are taking up the mantle of the biblical Zevulun, the seagoing merchant who the Torah tells us supported his brother Yissachar’s Torah study in a pairing the commentaries say benefited both bi-directionally. As it is stated (Devarim 33:18): “Rejoice, O, Zevulun in your excursions and Yissachar in your tents.”
Catching up with the busy founder of a Tel Aviv marketing analytics startup, Hebron said, “The yeshiva has a ton to offer and is the answer for anyone looking to strengthen their connection through study with the most experienced of English-speaking Torah scholars.”
The yeshiva’s so-called “Clock In. Lock In” fundraiser is meaningfully scheduled for Monday Feb. 23 and Tuesday the Feb. 24, corresponding to the 6th and 7th of Adar on the Hebrew calendar, the 7th being both the birthday and yartzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu.
Ten other pillar supporters have signed on to join Hebron as smaller matchers in the endeavor that can be accessed at causematch.com/clock-in.
Through the drive, Pasternak is looking to bolster enrollment with students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend by offering full or partial scholarships based on need.
They would join a 17-year-old institution that is deeply immersed in learning and all of the hallmark trappings of successful Chabad learning centers. Pasternak estimated his bochurim learn to the tune of some 10 hours of daily study, totaling some 60 hours a week or 250 hours a month, intermixed with impactful farbrengens, a palpable camaraderie, trips and mivtzoim.
Learning Program Director and Rabbinic Attorney Rabbi Shmuel Kopel, Maggid Shiur and Mashpia Rabbi Shamai Gozlan and prolific author of halachic and Chassidic sefarim, Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein, are among the staff and adjunct staff that make it all happen.
The program is designed for marked change and movement – whether at the pace Hebron went or more long-haul commitments, including a faction who either initially sign up for or stay on for the yeshiva’s rabbinic ordination track.
Pasternak points out the telling Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Providence) of three wedding celebrations of bochurim taking place within about a week of the scholarship drive, reflecting the yeshiva’s productive profile and the call to do more.
“Serious and enduring commitments to Chassidishkeit and Yiddishkeit are being made within these walls every day,” he said. “The case of Niran simply stands out as an eye-opening example and testimonial to the value being placed on the work we do. We are grateful to him and give him a big kol hakavod and berochos for his future.”
Opportunity to support the scholarship drive find at: causematch.com/clock-in.
