Tzfat Yeshiva Temimei Darech Upgrading to “5-Star” Environment

By Yehuda Sugar

After years of functioning in classic ruchnius rich – yet materially spare environs typical of many yeshivas, Yeshiva Temimei Darech of Tsfat is about to break that mold while making new meaning of the old adage, “a man’s home is his castle.”

After nearly 15 years in operation, the yeshiva announced plans this week to reopen in the spring on the former site of a 5-star boutique hotel. Known by the locals as “the castle” for its long past role as an Ottoman Empire fortress, the structure remains decked out with luxury rooms, a majestic stone arched hall, updated kitchen, outdoor fountains, a pool, stone patios and an orchard of exotic trees, including an Olive Tree grove.

The move is the vision of yeshiva director, Rabbi Shalom Pasternak, who founded the institution on a low budget and high hopes in 2009 as the first to serve English-speaking ba’alei teshuva men in northern Israel. Things ended up panning out for the yeshiva over the years, having established a perennial reputation for bringing warmth and a top-notch Chassidic and legalistic Jewish education to its enrollees, today a mix of ba’alei teshuva and more experienced learners.

“Our students should see that the Torah brings blessings, not only to our spiritual lives but to our physical lives as well,” Pasternak, a Vassar College graduate turned shliach of the Rebbe of 20 years, said about the move. “It’s the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s teaching that the physical was created to enhance the spiritual.”

A website set up to promote the move (www.takeithome.org) states the need for the transition in practical terms: “The yeshiva requires more space and better equipped facilities to retain and attract today’s students to meet their expectations and needs. The number and level of students we can enroll is directly correlated not only to the quality of the program, but also to the comfort and attractiveness of the facility.”

The 5,000 sq foot building on a quarter acre of land will offer comfortable learning and living space for 30 full-time students, the website said.

The move, planned for Beis Iyar (the Rebbe Maharash’s yom holedes) corresponding to April 23rd this year and the beginning of a new semester, comes at a time when the yeshiva is also undergoing curriculum renovation and renewal.

With the help of newly named Torah Learning Program Director, Rabbi Shmuel Kopel, the yeshiva has added a feature that fast tracks relatively inexperienced learners to basic talmudic literacy after a 24-week intense series of classes and testing. The course of study brings students to the place they can begin learning for rabbinic ordination if they desire, a popular aspect of the yeshiva’s program, also directed by Kopel. The semichah program, initially launched 7 years ago, has graduated some 30 rabbis, certified by Rabbi Yitzchok Yehuda Yaroslavsky, chief rabbi of Kiryat Malachi and known worldwide for his testing of bochurim for ordination.

A new addition to the adjunct staff is world-renowned author and posek, Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein, director of mega website, www.shulchanaruchharav.com, who offers hands-on practical halacha instruction with no compromise to the intricacies of the law including the contributions of Kabbalah. The staff is rounded out by Rabbi Shamai Gozlan, treasured maggid shiur and mashpia.

A fundraising campaign with two matching donors, tripling each contribution, is underway that will culminate in a final drive Tuesday Feb. 28, the 7th of Adar and Wednesday March 1, the 8th of Adar. The campaign seeks to raise $360,000 to outfit the new location for yeshiva use and raise the bar on remuneration, amenities, institutional fare and other expenses.
Donate now to be part of the yeshiva’s historic move and development plan at www.takeithome.org.

Applications for entrance into the yeshiva can be sent via thewayinside.org