240,000 Mishnayos Learned By Heart By The Students Of Oholei Torah

Oholei Torah’s annual Mishnayos B’al Peh contest awards ceremony was held this past Monday, 24 Iyar. By the end of the contest, which is held from Yud Shvat to Yud-Alef Nissan, the boys had learned over 2,000 pages of Tanya, over 1,200 pages of Gemara, and over 240,000 Mishnayos!

Assistant Principal Rabbi Aharon Cohen spoke about the power of will and diligence the boys exhibited, and emphasized what a nachas ruach this gave the Rebbe MH”M. Talmid Moshe Pape was called upon to recite the Rebbe’s chapter of Tehillim as well as “Yechi,” and Rabbi Lipa Shapiro spoke about his son, o.b.m., a former assistant principal at the yeshiva, who initiated this contest.

Fifth grader Shraga Dovid Homnick, who completed Seder Mo’ed, was called upon to say the siyum, and seventh grader Yosef Gurevitch said a hadran. This was followed by the awarding of dozens of s’farim to the highest-ranking winners, who were seated on stage, with their friends in the audience enthusiastically cheering them on. The boys had been given a list of s’farim to choose from. The number of s’farim they were entitled to was relative to the quantity of material learned by heart.

Seventh grader Shmuel Avtzon was the chassan ha’Torah, for he had learned 36 chapters of Tanya by heart. He had been tested on three sets of 12 chapters by heart b’vas achas (said all at once, rather than a chapter at a time). In addition he had learned a number of mesechtos and the entire booklet that had been distributed.

In order to maintain the boys’ enthusiasm throughout the long contest, they were given a key for a certain amount of material covered, one of which opened the lock on a brand new bike. For every chapter of Mishnayos or page of Gemara or Tanya, the boys received a raffle ticket for a trip to Eretz Yisroel, which was donated by Rabbi Shmuel Kravitzky. This year, seventh grader Shmuel Schor won the raffle.

The contest is run by the administration of Oholei Torah led by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Lustig, principal, Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld, administrator, Rabbi Aharon Cohen, assistant principal in the upper division, and Rabbi Pinchas Rapaport, assistant of the lower division. They thanked the team of bachurim who came from 770 each day to test the boys who, along with the parents, made the contest a success. Special thanks to the sponsors of the contest, particularly R’ Shmuel Kravitzky and his family and R’ Yosef Pinson and his family.