TOUGH TIMES

The Rebbe urges Anash to get involved with the yeshiva and makes it clear that this is for their material and spiritual good. * From the life of R’ Yehoshua Shneur Zalman Serebryanski a”h.

It is said that it is darkest right before dawn. That is the way it was with the yeshiva in Melbourne. Before the great success with the purchase of the yeshiva building on Hotham Street in 5714/1954, the yeshiva went through a terrible time in 5713.

The building in Burwood was very old and without proper maintenance it continued to deteriorate. While the yeshiva was in Shepparton, R’ Zalman saw to the cleanliness of the yeshiva and other such concerns, but after the yeshiva moved to Burwood, there was no physical upkeep. The physical conditions made learning difficult and so the spiritual state went downhill too.

If that wasn’t enough, a tragedy occurred which made the atmosphere in yeshiva even more oppressive. Between the yeshiva in Burwood and the Jewish center of Melbourne was a highway exclusively for cars with no pedestrian walkway. The talmidim who wanted to travel on foot, which took half an hour, had to walk on the side of the highway and this was highly dangerous. One day, a passing car hit a bachur, Shimon Altheus, on his way to yeshiva, and he died of his injuries. He was only fifteen and his passing cast a pall on the yeshiva.

On Isru Chag Pesach 5713, Anash of Melbourne convened for an urgent meeting to discuss the situation of the yeshiva and they then reported to the Rebbe.

THE REBBE’S ENCOURAGING LETTER

The Rebbe deeply felt the pain of the yeshiva and in a letter sent on 5 Iyar, he urged Anash in general, and the members of the hanhala in particular, to realize the great importance of the success of the yeshiva, being the first Chabad mosad in Australia. If the mosad would be successful, they would be able to expand and start other mosdos. The Rebbe also urged Anash to make a spiritual accounting about the running of the yeshiva till that point and to see what they could do to improve matters, setting aside self-justifications and personal considerations. The Rebbe said that the welfare of the yeshiva was intertwined with the welfare of Anash and especially those who ran the yeshiva, both materially and spiritually.

The Rebbe noted that even after Yaakov was promised that the Sh’china would descend with him to Egypt and he was thus assured that he and his children would leave Egypt, he still sent Yehuda ahead of him in order to establish a yeshiva.

ANASH GET INVOLVED

The Rebbe’s letter galvanized Anash and they asked R’ Zalman to go back to taking care of the material concerns of the yeshiva. R’ Zalman agreed on condition that Anash would help by raising money. R’ Zalman committed to improving the gashmius of the yeshiva as well as strengthening the spiritual state of the yeshiva with the keeping of s’darim, etc. He also said he intended on preparing a multi-year plan for developing the yeshiva.

On Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Pinchas, there was a meeting of Anash, in the course of which R’ Zalman summed up the difficult situation; there were only eight bachurim learning in the yeshiva with three of them attending public school in the morning and only coming to the yeshiva in the evening.

R’ Zalman thanked Anash for their support of the yeshiva and said he anticipated more help and involvement, especially in regards to money and in attending meetings where decisions had to be made.

As to the future of the yeshiva, R’ Zalman thought the only way to expand the yeshiva was to start an elementary school that would have limudei kodesh and limudei chol. R’ Zalman felt that when they would have a government recognized school, many students would attend and many of them would continue on to yeshiva high school.

SELLING THE YESHIVA BUILDING

The immediate obstacle to R’ Zalman’s vision was the dilapidated yeshiva building. Even if they raised money to renovate the building, because of the distance between the suburb of Burwood and the Jewish centers of Melbourne, they would have to open a dormitory or buy a bus to shuttle the students every day. These two options were not within their limited means. So R’ Zalman suggested that they sell the yeshiva property in Burwood and use the money to buy a nice building in one of the Jewish centers.

In a letter that he wrote to the Rebbe at the end of the meeting, he reported about the yeshiva’s difficulties and their plans for the future. He said they had decided to look for someone to buy the yeshiva property in Burwood. However, wrote R’ Zalman, the money they would receive would not be enough to buy a nice building in the Jewish area and it would be necessary to raise funds, not only in Melbourne but in all Australian Jewish communities.

Since a talented fundraiser was needed, he asked the Rebbe to send someone for at least a year. He said they really needed someone to run the yeshiva on a regular basis, but if that wasn’t possible, they needed someone for at least a year. At the end of the letter, which was written in the name of all of Anash present at the meeting, it said, “We hereby inform the Rebbe that our friend R’ Zalman Serebryanski, seeing the lack of order in the yeshiva, began working to arrange things and all his time, after work, is devoted to this.” Anash asked for a blessing that R’ Zalman’s efforts and the efforts of all the askanim and the teachers and talmidim be successful.

Next to the yeshiva there was a Jewish school called Mount Scopus. They had a large building, but the yard was very small. When they heard that the yeshiva building was up for sale, they wanted to buy it to turn it into a playing field for their students. They planned on tearing down the yeshiva building. The vaad arranged for the sale to go through only after they found a new building for the yeshiva.

THE COMMITTEE TO BUY A NEW BUILDING

R’ Zalman got to work by organizing a special committee to buy a building. He turned first to the Feiglins, whom he referred to in one of his letters to the Rebbe as “the finest of the finest of the congregation of G-d fearing Jews in this country.” At the same time, he tried to get other askanim from Melbourne to join the vaad. The biggest obstacle in their way was that most of the askanim belonged to the Mizrachi movement and were Zionists. In his discussions with them, R’ Zalman made it clear that the yeshiva would run solely according to Torah, but there was always the apprehension that they would try to have a say in the running of the yeshiva (as will be related).

One of the distinguished rabbanim in Australia was R’ Asher Abramson, leader of the ultra-Orthodox community in Sydney. He was a talmid of the Chafetz Chaim z”l, but felt close to Chabad and considered himself a Chassid of the Rebbe. As rav of the Mizrachi shul (which was so-called not because of the political leanings of the worshipers but because, at that time, it was the shul located furthest east in the world), he ensured that the nusach there was that of the Arizal.

R’ Zalman spoke to R’ Abramson and asked him to join the vaad and to speak to his fellow rabbis and ask them to make an appeal for the new yeshiva. R’ Abramson saw the need for a yeshiva and had even tried starting a yeshiva in Sydney, but after seeing how hard it was, he had given up. When R’ Zalman asked him to join the vaad, he said he did not think the people in Australia understood the importance of a yeshiva and an appeal would be unsuccessful.

In later years, R’ Abramson joined the efforts on behalf of the yeshiva, mainly with his superb oratory. This can be attributed to a letter he received from the Rebbe in which the Rebbe urged him to do all he could, including traveling to Melbourne more frequently.

A MAJORITY OF LUBAVITCHERS

R’ Zalman wrote a letter to the Rebbe on Erev Rosh HaShana, in which he wrote that they would be getting 6000 Australian dollars from the Mount Scopus school for the Burwood property. This would be enough to buy an average building in one of the Jewish centers, but since the plan was to open a modern school with all the amenities in order to attract students, they needed double that amount, if not more. They would also need large sums for ongoing operating costs, which would certainly increase many times over once the school opened.

R’ Zalman wrote that he met with R’ Isser Kluvgant and R’ Nachman Zalman Gurewitz, and with an askan from Melbourne who was interested in helping the yeshiva. This askan brought them a list of askanim that he thought could join the vaad, and it was arranged that they would meet on the Tuesday following Rosh HaShana. He asked the Rebbe for a bracha for great success, especially in their dealings with the Zionist askanim of Melbourne who would want to have a say in the chinuch, even though, in principle they agreed that the chinuch must be only according to tradition and Shulchan Aruch.

He said that in order to ensure the Chabad spirit of chinuch, he would emphasize at the meeting with the expanded vaad that the yeshiva is one of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s mosdos chinuch and was under his direction. He added that he would try to see to it that the vaad have a majority of Lubavitchers.

In conclusion, he wrote, “I take an interest in the yeshiva as before, in all my free time from work, and it is likely that I will have to give more time for the yeshiva. May Hashem help me with expansive good health as is needed and have mercy on me to guide me with good counsel and in finding favor and success that fulfills His will … and there be a sanctification of His name, and that I have the broadness of mind to find time for regular learning and davening.”

THE YOMIM NORA’IM IN THE YESHIVA IN BURWOOD

R’ Zalman stayed in the yeshiva in Burwood for Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, in order to daven with the talmidim and boost their morale. The terrible material state of the yeshiva screamed out from every corner, and in order to toivel (immerse for ritual purity), they had to use rainwater collected in a pit in the yard. The water was cold but the t’fillos were warm and pure.

In a report that R’ Zalman sent to the Rebbe on 7 Cheshvan 5714, he wrote that after the Yomim Tovim, eight boys returned to the yeshiva plus another four from the Hungarian community, after their maggid shiur left for Canada.

One of the bachurim announced that soon he would be forced to leave the yeshiva and go home since his father was sick and couldn’t work. In the meantime, his sister was supporting the family, but she would be marrying soon and then he would have to leave yeshiva to live with his father and support him.

R’ Zalman wrote about this to the Rebbe and asked for his bracha that Hashem heal the father, so that the boy would have no reason to leave yeshiva. He said it would be a pity if he left since he had come two years earlier during vacation and had remained. He had come to the yeshiva with no prior knowledge of Yiddishkait, nor did he know Yiddish, and now he was a G-d fearing bachur who could learn Gemara and Tos’fos on his own and even spoke Yiddish.

“They are presently learning Gemara Bava Basra in yeshiva and there is a shiur every day to learn the parsha with Rashi and a shiur in Shulchan Aruch.”

In the early years of the yeshiva, the study of Chassidus was at a minimum, since the talmidim came from the Ashkenazi k’hilla and had never heard of learning Chassidishe maamarim, certainly not in the yeshiva curriculum. The students had all heard of Tanya though, so they managed to teach Tanya twice a week, Thursday night and Shabbos before the davening. In general, the parents insisted that their children learn only Gemara and poskim.

He ended his letter with a request for a bracha. “I need much heavenly assistance so that I succeed not in accordance with our limited abilities, so that our work with the talmidim will produce good fruit, so that they be vessels to receive and be inspired with an inner enthusiasm for Torah study and prayer.”

LOOKING FOR A BUILDING IN THE DAILY PAPER

Along with his concern for the spiritual aspects of the yeshiva, R’ Zalman invested time and much effort to improving the gashmius, mainly by looking for a new building for the yeshiva. He was greatly helped by R’ Sholom Gutnick, who looked through the ads in the daily paper every day, and when he saw that a building was for sale in a Jewish area, he would take R’ Zalman in his car to see it.

In those days, there were two Jewish centers in Melbourne. Carlton was the old area where Jews settled even before World War II. The new area was Caulfield where Jews settled after the war. At first, wealthy Jews settled there, but over the years, Jews from all income brackets settled there and they all formed a Jewish community.

In the meetings, the vaad discussed both areas. Carlton had many Jewish families who wanted to provide their boys with a Jewish education. However, Jews were beginning to leave Carlton for Caulfield, and some feared that as the years went by, Jews would not remain in Carlton. A majority of them decided to concentrate on the new neighborhood. Many years later, they saw that this decision was wise because by the 1970’s, most of the Jews had left Carlton for Caulfield or S Kilda.