In This Issue Parshat Vayishlach Remembering HaRav Aryeh Bina zt"l HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Vayishlach Staff Dvar Torah By Rav Ben Leybovich Netiv HaChinuch - For Parents and Teachers Petuchei Chotam on Parshat Vayishlach Dedications, Visitor Log, UPCOMING ALUMNI EVENTS SCHEDULE: Mazal T ov' s, T ehilim List Chanukah Comes Early For Our Alumni In Israel! Join Our List Links Rabbanit Malke Bina Listen to the shiur given by the Rabbanit in YU this past Sunday There will be special shiurim for our Alumni in Israel next Thursday night, Dec 15 at 9:00 PM at the Yeshiva. Rav Amos Luban followed by Rav Chaim Eisenstein will be prepare us for Chanukah with their inspiring words, and we encourage you to spread the word. Following the shiurim Rav Bina will spend some time with the alumni that attend. ~~~~~~~ Rav Korn And Rav Ginsburg At YU NEXT SHABBAT Rav Yitzchak Korn and Rav Beinish Ginsburg will be at Yeshiva University NEXT SHABBAT Parshat Vayeishev (December 16-17), and all alumni (even those not in YU) are encouraged to join. There will be an oneg Friday Night, and they will be giving shiur Shabbat day. Both Rav Korn and Rav Ginsburg will be available to speak to our alumni throughout Shabbat. (For those who need, meals can be purchased from YU, and anyone unable to find sleeping arrangements on their own can contact [email protected] and someone will try to assist you.) Rav Yitzchak Korn Shiur in Queens When: Sunday Dec 18th 10:00 PM Where: At the home of Danny(5767) and Sarala Turkel 141-03 Jewel Ave, Apt #2 1 of 9 Kew Gardens Hills ~~~~~~~ HAKARAT HATOV The Yeshiva would like to thank Ricardo and Gitty Goldschmidt for hosting the Alumni Melava Malke with HaRav Aharon Bina and R Natan Schwartz this past Motzei Shabbat. May Hakadosh Baruch Hu repay you many times over for your chesed and kavod haTorah. ~~~~~~~ Announcement for visitors to the Yeshiva this coming week: If you are planning to visit YNA next week, please note that Dec 12-14 the entire Shana Alef and its staff will be on a tiyul in Eilat. ~~~~~~~ Shabbat Davening Times: with Rav Ginsburg & Family Friday Night (at Rav Bina's house) Mincha in the Beit Midrash - 4:15 PM Shabbat Day Shachrit- 5:50 AM (at Rav Bina's house) Second Shachrit- 8:30 AM (in the Beit Midrash) Mincha-4:00 PM (in the Beit Midrash) YNA.EDU | Ask Rav Nebenzahl | Suggestion Box Contact Us | Alumni Update Form | Parsha Archives Rav Aryeh Bina zt"l The following is a translation from an Israeli newspaper of an article about HaRav Aryeh Bina z"tl published during the week of his yahrzeit. PART 1 HaRav Aryeh Bina zt"l, known as an ilui, worked as a farmer until his arrival in Yerushalayim where he established the Netiv Meir Yeshiva. He set high standards for his students' accomplishments in Gemara, yet encouraged them to excel in their secular studies as well. Endowed with incredible physical strength, he fought in the Hagana, enlisted in the Jewish Brigade, and survived four years of German captivity. Alongside the uncompromising educational standards set by the classic Mussar Yeshivot, he encouraged his students to involve themselves in communal activities - from establishing Yeshivot to entering the political arena. Yeshivat Har HaMor, Yeshivat Petach Tikva, Yeshivat Har Etzion, Yeshivat Otniel, Yeshivat Torat HaChaim and others, have their differences in many areas, however there is one factor which unites them - their Roshei Yeshiva learned in Yeshivat Netiv Meir, now celebrating sixty years since its inception. The Yeshiva world is just one example where influential positions are manned by graduates of Netiv Meir. The army, academia, and communal leadership are just a few examples. The reputation of Yeshivat Netiv Meir is due to the giant personality who established it - HaRav Aryeh Bina zt"l. A Child in the Mir Yeshiva 2 of 9 HaRav Aryeh Bina, was born in 5673 (1913) in the city of Slonim where his father, known for his greatness in Torah, served as Rosh Yeshiva of the local Yeshiva Ketana. After having spent much of his time learning under his father's tutelage, Rav Aryeh elected at age 10-11 to attend Yeshiva Gedola. He chose the Mir Yeshiva which at the time was one of the more prominent and prestigious Yeshivot in the Torah world of Eastern Europe. At first the Yeshiva refused to accept a child and he returned home. Two years later he reapplied and this time was accepted. For one and one half consecutive years he remained in the Mir alone, without any family, and with young men significantly older than himself. Lacking the funds required to travel home, he spent the day of his Bar Mitzvah in Yeshiva far from his parents. HaRav Bina, known then as Aryeh Leib Binosovsky, rose to greatness during his tenure in the Mir Yeshiva. For ten consecutive years his night chavruta was an older boy named Chaim who hailed from the city of Stutchin - HaGaon HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz who later became Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. HaRav Yoseph ben Porath, HaRav Bina's son-in-law, relates that even prior to his Bar Mitzvah, R' Aryeh was tested by the Rosh Yeshiva on the entire Sedarim of Zeraim and Nezikin which he knew by heart. The toil in learning typical of the Mir Yeshiva became his role model for the rest of his life, and this was the atmosphere he tried to instill in Yeshivat Netiv Meir. On one occasion when he spoke against Yeshivot which manage only ten dapim in an entire zman, he pointed out that in Mir they completed the entire Massechet Baba Metzia in a single zman "and what's more they managed to review it a few times until it became as if were placed in our minds." He set high standards for his students in Netiv Meir - many Yeshiva High Schools took matriculation exams (bagrut) on thirty dapim of Gemara divided into two separate tests, Netiv Meir combined fifty dapim with Rashi and Tosafot into a single exam. Even given the great breadth, the learning remained on a very high level. In addition to his superior intellect and diligence, HaRav Bina was endowed with tremendous physical strength. HaRav Eliyahu Grossberg, among the original Rabbanim of Yeshivat Netiv Meir, relates that in his youth Rav Bina once walked up to the bima in Mir Yeshiva and tore an iron chain with his bare hands declaring that strength is something spiritual and not physical. Dr. Aviad HaKohen, a student of R' Aryeh and today the dean of the Shaarei Mishpat Institute, is in the middle of writing a biography on HaRav Bina which he hopes to publish in the coming year. He cites his own father (Knesset member Harav Menachem HaKohen) having asked Rav Bina if there is truth to the stories that in his youth he was able to bend nails. Rav Bina responded "the trick is not how to bend them but how to straighten them", alluding to his educational method and philosophy. Fleeing a Polish draft notice, HaRav Bina elected to move to Eretz Yisrael. His parents decided this was the appropriate time to close on a shidduch with a distant relative. Prior to his journey he received semicha and a letter of recommendation from HaRav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir. Praising his vast Torah knowledge and pleasant manner (a real compliment for a graduate of a mussar Yeshiva), the Rosh Yeshiva added: "with his diligence in learning and his supreme abilities, he is destined to rise higher and higher in Torah and Yiras Shamayim. With the help of Hashem Yisborach, he will become a gadol b'Yisrael. NEXT WEEK - PART 2: Rav in Farmer Clothes HaRav Nebenzahl on Parshat Vayishlach HaRav Nebenzahl asks that his Divrei Torah are not read during Tefillah or the Rabbi's sermon. We are still in need of donors to cover the remaining costs of publishing Yerushalayim beMoadeha - Shabbat Volume III. If you would like to take part in this mitzvah of harbatzat Torah please email [email protected]. Donations of $5,000 will entitle you to a dedication page. MAASEI AVOT SIMAN LABANIM The Torah describes Yaakov's battle with the angel of Esav: "When he (the angel) perceived that he could not overcome him (Yaakov), he struck the socket of his hip, so Yaakov's hip-socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him" (Bereishit 32:26). The angel, realizing that he would be unable to win the war, injured Yaakov to prevent 3 of 9 him from fleeing. The Rashbam explains that the angel succeeded in preventing Yaakov from escaping from Esav's advance. The Rashbam is of the opinion that Yaakov had no intention of meeting Esav. Yaakov simply arose at night and took his wives and children to escape from a potential meeting with Esav. The Torah recording Yaakov having told his angels to bring a gift to Esav: "for he said: 'I will appease him with the tribute that precedes me, and afterwards I will face him; perhaps he will forgive me'" (Bereishit 32:21), is simply Yaakov instructing the angels to tell Esav that he wishes to meet him. The truth was that he had no intention of meeting Esav. I believe Rashi and other commentaries understand the incident differently than the Rashbam - they believe that Yaakov truly intended to meet Esav. What did the angel gain by injuring Yaakov's leg? He injected impurity into Yaakov's body.