Five Years strong- St. Louis Yeshiva partners with the Los Angeles Valley Community 

By S. Kohen  

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For the fifth consecutive year, Yeshiva U’Mesivta D’Missouri (MTI)’s bais medrash bochurim came to Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley community to strengthen the Torah learning for the month of July. This year brought twenty-five talmidim with their rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Avroham Goldman. The summer zman in California was an invigorating way for the bochrim to conclude their year. “It was a tremendous Kiddush Hashem- the learning was so strong this summer!”, Rabbi Goldman effused. The yeshiva learned Meseches Gittin this year. The program was co-hosted by Valley Torah High School and Shaarey Zedek Congregation. The boys started their day at Valley Torah with Shacharis and Mishna brurah seder. The rest of the morning was spent learning and having shiur on various sugyos b’iyun. Afternoon seder was bekius seder, where the talmidim worked on their goal of finishing 50-60 blatt for the year. After dinner, the bochurim shuttled down the street to conclude their evening with a communal night seder in the packed bais medrash at Shaarey Zedek Congregation. As an additional program this year, Shaarey Zedek hosted a ‘summer kollel’ concurrent to the boys’ visit. Each week, a guest lecturer would come and give a series of classes on various Torah topics. The Valley community has hosted this wonderful program over the years with open arms, allowing MTI the opportunity to share ruchnius and vitality with its members. The bochurim were graciously hosted by different families, who shared their homes, meals, and swimming pools. The community also hosts the yeshiva for Shabbos meals. The warmth of the Valley community has made an indelible impression on MTI.  

In addition, the Yeshiva traveled south to San Diego to spend a Shabbos with the Beth Jacob community, led by Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky. All the arrangements were taken care of by Mr. & Mrs. Dovid Love. Dovid is a proud Missouri Torah Institute alumnus and was thrilled to host his own Yeshiva in his community. The boys stayed at gracious hosts throughout the community and ate all the meals at the Loves. Rabbi Goldman spoke several times over Shabbos, and the bochurim added a special dose of inspiration to the Shabbos tefillos. 

This unique summer program has only been possible because of the work of its humble founder, Mr. Jonathan Istrin, who invests many hours into arranging the logistics. When asked why he does this, Mr. Istrin replied, “Having a bais medrash in the Valley and seeing all the learning makes it well worth my while.”