MyShliach Volunteers Thanked

On lamed Shevat, Merkos Suite 302’s MyShliach held a special event of appreciation to thank and honor the special bochurim who are a true lifeline to yaldei hashluchim around the world.

“When hundreds of dedicated bochurim volunteer their time every single week to learn and farbreng with these young shluchim over the phone through MyShliach mentor program,” explains Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, Suite 302’s executive director, “these children in remote locations are able to maintain and even strengthen their Yiddishe, Chassidishe values.”

Held at the Jewish Children’s Museum, bochurim were given a special gift and enjoyed a delicious hot meal while spending time with fellow MyShliach mentors.

Special mention was given to MyShliach’s brand new pilot “squad meeting/farbrengens,” where squad leaders farbreng over the phone every month with groups of 20-25 kids. These farbrengens, a crucial part of the entire MyShliach program, are particularly important to the Chassidishe growth of the young shluchim, as it gives them their own sense of community, friendship, and regularity that they can count on, something hard to come by when out on shlichus. Now with more than 100 members, this imperative component of MyShliach will be much further expanded this year. Squad Leaders Ariel Stern, Yossi Denburg, Dovid Kotlarsky, and Sholom Cohen were honored with their own special gifts.

As a special surprise, all attendees had the unique opportunity to take part in a viewing of never-before-seen JEM footage featuring the siyum of Moshiach’s Sefer Torah on Yud Shevat 5730.

“We are especially grateful to JEM for sharing this video with us,” said Rabbi Mendy Shanowitz, Director of MyShliach. “We wanted to thank the bochurim with something truly special, and being the first viewers of such monumental footage was a real privilege.”

Shliach to Tennessee and proud parent Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel, who refused to let the distance get in the way of speaking at the event, gave a heartwarming, one-of-a-kind speech about the effect MyShliach programs have had on his children…using Face Time on an iPad, all the way in Tennessee. Beaming about the divrei Torah his child gives over regularly to the Tennessee community, he urged the attending bochurim not to lose their motivation just because the busy time of Purim and Pesach is approaching, that every minute the children spend with these bochurim is making a monumental difference in the children’s lives.

“When we hear a parent describe the active and necessary role that MyShliach has taken in the life of his child,” explains Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Chairman of MyShliach and Vice Chairman its umbrella organization, Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, “we are that much more motivated to make sure that we can affect more and more young shluchim, until not a single one is left without his own mentor.”

But it’s not only the parents and children who are benefitting. MyShliach mentor Sholom Brook from Yeshivas Oholei Torah shared his own gratitude for the zechus of learning with his own partner. “Kids of shluchim are the mashpiim, not the mushpaim,” he relates. “They’re living in the hecherer velt, and when we call them, they’re giving us more than we’re giving them.”