FOUNDING THE YESHIVA IN SHEPPARTON

At a turbulent Chassidishe farbrengen, 
R’ Zalman announced: A Chassidishe yeshiva will be founded in Australia! * From the life of R’ Yehoshua Shneur Zalman Serebryanski a”h.

Before Sukkos 5710/1949, the three Lubavitcher families in Melbourne decided to celebrate Sukkos in Shepparton together with the Lubavitcher families there. In the few months they had spent in Melbourne, they already felt the terrible spiritual coldness of Australia and sensed a powerful need for the Chassidic warmth of a Chassidishe farbrengen.

R’ Zalman Feiglin was thrilled to be able to farbreng together with six Chassidim. He had such nachas and felt blessed to have had the z’chus to bring six Lubavitcher families to Australia. In those days, this was a dream.

The farbrengen took place with elevated spirits and the mashke flowed. The Chassidic fervor grew and R’ Zalman Serebryanski decided to present his idea of founding a yeshiva. He told his fellow Chassidim his plans to start a yeshiva in Australia, and described the importance of the matter and the great nachas this would provide the Rebbe Rayatz.

One of the people present, who wanted to bring R’ Zalman down to earth, told him that his ideas were a fantasy. “In Australia, you can’t start a yeshiva,” he stated flatly.

In reaction, R’ Zalman emotionally struck the table with his fist and declared, “There must be a yeshiva in Australia and there will be a yeshiva in Australia!”

All were silent and R’ Zalman went on to say, “The Rebbe sent us here to start a yeshiva and we must do all we can to carry out this shlichus!”

THE REBBE RAYATZ APPROVES THE IDEA

R’ Zalman received a letter from the Rebbe three weeks after Simchas Torah that was dated 30 Tishrei. It was a response to his questions, both about communal matters and starting a yeshiva, and personal matters – about how to educate his children.

The Rebbe expressed his satisfaction with R’ Zalman’s optimism:

I took pleasure in your positive hopes of settling down, with Hashem’s help, both materially and spiritually.

The Rebbe went on to say:

I found the idea about founding a yeshiva in Shepparton very pleasing and this should not be postponed. Make efforts to start the learning immediately without paying attention for now to the number of students. With time, that will grow. I wrote about this at length to my dear friend, R’ Moshe Zalman Feiglin, to his sons and sons-in-law, and surely, with Hashem’s help, you will make efforts with all your might in this. And all those who live in nearby places, who were educated in their father’s homes, in di alte Yiddishe heimen [the Jewish homes of yesteryear], will support you with all their abilities, and they and their households will remember their parents from the old, Yiddishe, glicklicher [graced with fortune] home.

THE REBBE GUIDES, ENCOURAGES, AND SUPPORTS

In his letter dated Erev Rosh HaShana, R’ Zalman Serebryanski asked the Rebbe to tell him whether to continue working on founding a yeshiva and if so, what to do about chinuch: “My daughter Nechama helps her mother at home. I don’t send her to school and I ask the Rebbe to guide me as far as his position regarding settling in Shepparton, about my son Chaim, whether it is good that he began working in the field, about my son Aharon and what he should learn; he attended the school in Paris in the shiur before the zal, and about Nechama – whether she should go to school to be taught the language.”

The Rebbe gave him detailed guidance:

It is a good thing for your son Chaim to work in the field, but he must have set times every day to learn Torah.

Aharon should arrange his learning with a chavrusa, and perhaps you should discuss this with my friend R’ Asher Abramson in Sydney who started founding a yeshiva in his location.

Your daughter should learn the language of the country but in a limited way and only as far as it seems necessary, and what about her level of knowledge in Jewish studies?

The Rebbe ended the letter with heartfelt wishes:

May Hashem strengthen your health and the health of your household and give you success in every way. From one who seeks your welfare and blesses you materially and spiritually, Yosef Yitzchok.

That same day, the Rebbe sent a letter to R’ Moshe Feiglin in which he wrote:

I have enjoyed the letters that I have received from my friends, Anash, in your country, who are effusive in praise of my friend [R’ Feiglin] for your heartfelt devotion to helping, with all your ability, the settling down of the Lubavitcher refugees. May Hashem repay you according to your deeds and bless you and make you successful, materially and spiritually.

I was very pleased with the suggestion that you wrote me about my friend, R’ Yehoshua Shneur Zalman Serebryanski. I ask you to hasten and to urge Anash to bring his idea to fruition without reckoning that at first the numbers will be small. As the saying from the Alter Rebbe who heard it from the Maggid of Mezritch who heard it from the Baal Shem Tov – the number elef alafim (a thousand thousands – 1,000,000) begins with the upper thorn on the Alef and from that thorn is drawn down an essential and inner energy into the thousand thousands.

Be strong my friends in arranging the yeshiva and may Hashem help you and grant you and your household success, materially and spiritually.

THE FIRST CHABAD YESHIVA ON THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

As soon as he received the Rebbe Rayatz’s letters, R’ Zalman met with R’ Feiglin and they decided to call all of Anash of Melbourne to a meeting for the founding of a yeshiva. R’ Zalman sent a telegram to his friend, R’ Shmuel Betzalel Altheus with the essential points and asked him to arrange a gathering for Sunday, 14 Cheshvan. Some wealthy people from amongst the European immigrants, who had warm feelings for Judaism, were also invited to the meeting.

Even those who, at the Sukkos farbrengen, expressed their lack of faith in the possibility of founding a yeshiva in Australia completely changed their minds and attitude upon seeing the Rebbe’s letter. All of them, with no exception, set aside their personal matters and enlisted to found the yeshiva.

At the founding meeting, R’ Zalman read the Rebbe’s letter to him about the yeshiva. Then some others spoke about the need and importance of opening a yeshiva for the future of Judaism in Australia. During the meeting, a difference of opinion arose about where the yeshiva should be located. Someone said the yeshiva would be better off in Melbourne than in Shepparton, because only children of refugees would go to Shepparton, while local boys would attend a yeshiva in Melbourne. R’ Feiglin said that it was better for the boys to learn in a village, far from the hustle and bustle of a big city. In addition, he said, only a few boys would be learning in the yeshiva at first, and it would be easier to house them in the village in the existing buildings than to buy a building in Melbourne.

It was fascinating to observe the differences of approach between Anash, who had accepted the Rebbe’s instruction in a way of “naaseh v’nishma,” and the rest of those present who were apprehensive about doing something as daring as opening a yeshiva. One of the wealthy men said, “You want to make experiments with our money.” Still and all, the Lubavitchers’ spirit of enthusiasm swept up the others, especially when most of them had come after the war and still had a warm spot for everything Jewish. They were very impressed by the Jewish forcefulness of the Lubavitchers and promised to help.

The meeting ended with the agreement that they would found a yeshiva. The wealthy men signed their commitment to contribute towards the yeshiva once it opened. The sum of all the donations that they pledged was close to 900 Australian dollars (a large amount, equivalent to what was then three years’ salary).

The next day, R’ Zalman and R’ Abba Pliskin met with two refugee brothers from Czechoslovakia. The older brother, Aharon Eliezer Herzog, 17 years old, had learned in yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel and knew how to learn Gemara with commentaries on his own. His younger brother Shraga knew less than he did. The Chassidim worked to convince the brothers to come to Shepparton where they were opening a yeshiva.

On Tuesday, 17 Cheshvan, R’ Zalman and R’ Abba returned to Shepparton with the brothers and that day, they opened the first Chabad yeshiva in Australia. In a letter that R’ Zalman wrote to the Rebbe Rayatz two weeks later, on 28 Cheshvan, he reported that “the older one learns Gemara K’subos with my son Aharon, and R’ Betzalel is learning Yoreh Deia with him as per my request. R’ Abba is learning Gemara Bava Metzia with the younger one and is also learning Gemara K’subos on his own so that he can test the older brother and my son.”