By request, yeshiva for college students at DRS

By Yaffi Spodek

Issue of June 19, 2009 / 27 Sivan 5769

In September, HALB’s Davis Renov Stahler High School for Boys (DRS) will launch Yeshivat Lev HaTorah, a new learning program for post-high school students.

Lev HaTorah will feature a morning halacha seder and shiur as well as night seder, with afternoons free to enable students to attend college classes. Located on the HALB campus on Ibsen St. in Woodmere, the program — which will carry tuition of approximately $6,000 per year — will be open to DRS graduates and others who have returned from study in Israel.

“The program is really for any kid who wants a serious learning atmosphere to complement his college studies,” explained Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky, the menahel at DRS.

A post-high school program had been considered for several years,  Rabbi Kaminetsky said, and the school decided to proceed now because of increased interest from alumni. “One of the main reasons we decided to go ahead with it now was because there was a core group of kids coming back from Israel who requested it and pushed it through,” he said.

Rabbi Kaminetsky will head the program together with DRS assistant principal Rabbi Elly Storch. Rounding out the Lev HaTorah faculty is Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz serving as program director and maggid shiur for the morning seder, while Rabbi Yehuda Balsam will oversee the night seder portion of the learning; both will also continue in their roles as rebbeim at DRS.

“Rabbi Lebowitz and Rabbi Balsam are two people who have the pulse of the kids, who are brilliant talmidei chachomim [Torah scholars] but also can relate well and have great relationships with the kids,” said Rabbi Kaminetsky. “This is what our yeshiva [DRS] has always been about: giving our boys a high level of learning and doing it in a warm and caring atmosphere.”

A primary goal of Lev HaTorah is for the students to continue learning on a high level after their return from Israel, Rabbi Lebowitz explained. “These are boys who have been learning very, very well in Israel and we want them to continue to do so even if their college environment is not a yeshiva environment,” he noted.

The positive influence of the Lev HaTorah students on the DRS boys will be an added benefit; both groups will daven together daily and learn together several times a week.

“We are very excited about the possibility of having these boys as role models and as part of our yeshiva fabric,” said Rabbi Kaminetsky.

What may distinguish Lev HaTorah from other post-high school learning programs is the fact that it is specifically designed to accommodate boys who are taking college courses.

“It’s geared toward boys who are in college, rather than other yeshivas where you’re in yeshiva and if you want to go to college, that’s OK, too,” Rabbi Lebowitz observed. “It’s a little bit different in that regard.”

Each year, close to 45 percent of DRS graduates choose to attend Yeshiva University after returning from Israel, according to Rabbi Kaminetsky. Lev HaTorah is hoping to target the remaining boys, over 50 percent, who don’t choose YU “for various reasons,” he said.

“I want to be very clear that we want our kids to continue to go to YU, but this program is for those kids who have not been selecting YU,” he told The Jewish Star. “At this point, most of the kids coming are enrolled in Queens, maybe a couple from Hofstra or Baruch or other city colleges.”

“Our kids have gone to a variety of different places, and every kid has to find a program that’s right for him,” Rabbi Kaminetsky continued. “This is a way of identifying a need that we saw in the community, and really came to us from the kids... As they go through college, they still need someone to talk to and guide them.”

The name Lev HaTorah is a play on words about HALB, which is known in Hebrew as Yeshivat Lev.

“We thought it would be appropriate to keep the name of HALB,” Rabbi Kaminetsky elaborated, “with the idea there also being that a person’s Torah learning should penetrate their heart, and that learning is crucial towards a person’s growth in Torah.”

To apply or receive more information, contact Rabbi Elly Storch at estorch [at] drshalb.org or call (516) 295-7700, ext. 103.