“Yud Beis Club” in Los Angeles

This past Monday, as on Yud Tes of every month, members of the “Yud Beis Prokim Club”, students at Cheder Menachem of Los Angeles, gathered for a club meeting.

The members are boys ages 10 – 12 who have committed to memorizing the first 12 Prokim (Chapters) of Tanya in time for their Bar Mitzvah, as is customary by some Chabad Chasidim based on the writings of the Friediker Rebbe.

The meetings include food and exciting games that challenge the members to display their memorization of the Tanya. The meetings also include time for the members to discuss their progress with each other, and a short lesson to explain the Tanya they are memorizing.

The Yud Beis Prokim Club was founded in memory of Nosson Deitsch OB”M, a special bochur whose 4th yartzeit was commemorated on Lag B’omer.

Nosson was outgoing and energetic, and served as a role model and confidant to his many friends, both young and old. He epitomized the life of a true Chosid with his Hiskashrus, Mivtzoim, and love for learning Torah. One of the many towering accomplishments during his short life was memorizing all 53 Chapters of Tanya (Likkutai Amorim), which he continued to review until the day of his passing. He would review Tanya throughout the day, and he often encouraged others to do the same. It is in Nosson’s merit that the club was established, and meets monthly on Yud Tes, corresponding to the day of his birthday on Yud Tes Sivan.

Currently only at Cheder Menachem, the Yud Beis Prokim Club has 7 members and is open to students of 5th and 6th grade. Each of the members has already memorized 7 Prokim, and two of them have finished all 12. In order to maintain membership in the club, members need to learn a new page of Tanya every month, in addition to reviewing the Tanya they already learned.

The club is run by Rabbi Sholom Heidingsfeld, director of Tzivos Hashem and Mishnayos Bal Peh at Cheder Menachem, and Rabbi Levi Eisenberg, a 5th grade Rebbi.

To give interested children from all over the world access to this exciting club and its meetings, the organizers are expanding the club into other Chabad schools, and eventually online for the children who are not in Chabad schools. The club members will then be able to join each other for live video meetings. For the coming school year, the organizers are seeking two new schools to pilot the expansion.

To have your school join the Yud Beis Prokim Club, or for more info, please email: [email protected]
To read personal accounts of Nosson’s life by his friends and family, visit RememberingNosson.com