Beit Midrash
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קטגוריה משנית
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That for which we have so keenly waited is in the process of becoming reality. The cornerstone of the building of the Yeshiva Chakla’it (Agricultural Yeshiva) in Kfar Haroeh has been laid. This term – an agricultural yeshiva – has already stopped being a strange one. Men of labor from the “Torah and Avoda” camp have fulfilled this combination of concepts in their own lifestyle. Most of them were formerly yeshiva students, and when they left the seats of the study hall, they did not close their gemaras. When they hold the spade and hoe, they do not take their minds off their studies, and their spare moments are dedicated to Torah study. What we are trying to accomplish with the Yeshiva Chakla’it is that this combination of focuses will not come from an internal battle and confusion in finding the correct path. Rather, it should come from a thought out, accommodating plan, so that the study in the yeshiva will be connected to the work in the garden, the field, the barn, and the chicken coup. The various areas of work will be a continuation and a concretization of that which was learned in the yeshiva. This yeshiva will come to provide something fundamental that is missing in religious education – to connect that which is learned with the world of productive work and to give the student practical preparation for the lifestyle that will be waiting for him when he leaves school. The absence of such an institution has caused many to leave the religious world and created the difficult situation in which the strictly religious Jewish community finds itself. The success of such institutions can help tremendously to rectify the situation. Dissemination of Torah knowledge has always been considered one of the foundations of Judaism. From time immemorial, Judaism has never sufficed with the automatic fulfillment of the laws. The main aspiration has been that the fulfillment of a halacha will be a fruitful foundation of the spiritual life, and that fulfillment of Torah will come with a recognition of the overflowing happiness that accompanies it. Therefore, Torah study has never been the realm of the individual but rather the realm of the entire nation. A yeshiva has not just been for outstanding minds but rather a popular educational system in which every Jew can find himself, whether to a great or to a smaller degree. The conditions of life in the diaspora in days of old did not require specific preparation. The store and commerce did not require prior specialization, and study in yeshiva never hindered one’s subsequent occupation. Once the life in the diaspora changed and the opportunity arose to enter different occupations that require specialization and preparation, Torah study was weakened, and the number of people who avoided it grew. This weakening has specifically been felt in the last several years with the development of a new lifestyle for Jews in Eretz Israel. The need for “working hands” has increased. The nation that has returned to its homeland had to produce those who know how to plow and do other work in the field and in the city. The yeshiva did not supply such workers and indeed this was not considered its purpose. Furthermore, since by its nature it was a Torah institution whose concern is the excellence of its students in Torah, the yeshiva world objected to any movement of this type within the walls of the yeshiva. It viewed outside study as something that disturbs the concentration of the students and takes them away from diligent Torah study and thereby lessens the critical enthusiasm of the yeshiva. We will continue next time.
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