More than 250 members of the Denver Jewish community gathered on the evening of Tuesday, March 6th for the Denver Community Kollel’s 20th Anniversary Celebration and Groundbreaking. The event was held in a large, heated tent on the site of the future Kollel Torah Center. They came from all parts of the greater Denver area, from all walks of life, from varied backgrounds. But they had one thing in common: The recognition that this evening was one not to be missed, as they celebrated two decades of the Kollel’s harbatzas Torah (spreading Torah) in Denver with a groundbreaking for the Kollel’s Torah Center.
Of the Kollel’s 32 past and current families, 20 make their homes in Denver, while twelve live out-of-town. Ten of those twelve alumni returned to Denver for the Celebration, much to the delight of their old friends, students, and chavrusas.
Two returning alumni, Rabbi Chaim Gobioff, assistant principal and mashgiach (spiritual counselor) at the Lakewood Cheder in Lakewood, NJ, and Rabbi Chaim Mandelbaum, 11th grade rebbi at Yeshiva Me’or HaTorah of Chicago, addressed the audience and described the profound gratitude they have to the Kollel and the Kollel Deans, Rabbi Shachne Sommers and Rabbi Aron Yehuda Schwab, for the growth they experienced in the Kollel, crediting much of what they have achieved in their careers since then to those years spent in the Kollel.
Rabbi Yaakov Meyer of Aish Denver discussed the special gift of Torah and extolled the virtues of having a Kollel that presents that special gift to the entire community. He pointed out that the beautiful, new building will, among other things, generate great kavod haTorah (honor for the Torah), as people will see a Torah glorified by beautiful surroundings.
Kollel Dean Rabbi Aron Yehuda Schwab described the power of Torah that has impacted the Denver Jewish community in the past two decades. He continued with a vision of the future of Torah in Denver. “Together, we stand at the threshold of tomorrow, a tomorrow with a very bright future of Torah in Denver. Tonight, we break ground for a building… that will be welcoming to everyone… it will be a magnet for Jews of all backgrounds.”
Rabbi Schwab recounted the very first Kollel newsletter, in which he and Rabbi Sommers compared a Kollel to a cup of wine being filled until it overflows. As the Kollel scholars fill their cups with the sweet wine of Torah, that wine overflows into the community. He concluded, “Our prayer is that this physical edifice will be filled with the pure and sweet Torah and will overflow even further into the community – into the entire region – for generations to come.”
The program portion of the evening concluded with the dedication of a sefer (book) of the Torah thoughts of the Kollel members of the past twenty years. The work, titled Al Hahar Hazeh, was dedicated to the Founding Trustees of the Kollel. Rabbi Eli Krausz, son of founding trustees Mr. Ari and Ruthie Krausz, and a grandson of the renowned Dr. Werner and Mrs. Lucy Prenzlau O.B.M. of Denver, presented the dedication. Rabbi Krausz explained that the Kollel is the family business of the entire community – the business of Torah. The Kollel members, he explained, run the business day and night, and the rest of the family, the community, has the opportunity to come in and take a look at what is happening, to roll up their sleeves when they come in and engage in the business, and to take joy at seeing that business is booming. He encouraged those present to take the opportunity to “check on the business,” to participate in the learning of the Kollel. “It’s not the Kollel,” said Rabbi Krausz. “It’s our Kollel… it’s our family business, it’s Klal Yisrael’s business.” The sefer, he concluded, is the report of the success of the business, “authored by them – authored, really, by you. This is our business.”
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