Rabbi Landis & the watching a scribe complete the writing of a Torah Rabbi Akiva Tatz talks abou{ happiness a Shabbaton with “Rabbi Yari” Israel Learning Experience 2 a{ Bar Kochba Cave a portrait of the Kollel “family”—current and former staff who live in Cincinnati, with their spouses and children the Kollel’s annual Lag Ba’Omer Annual Report bonfire, in Cincinnati Winton Woods Community Kollel 2009 introduction Rabbi David Spetner Kollel DiReCtoR / opeRAtionS The Kollel “Family” Welcome to the Annual Report of the and analyze the Torah. In addition, in the Cincinnatiq w Communitye r t yKollel. u Thei Kollelo a is s dearly f morning,g h jover k breakfast, l ; during2) 2! lunch2@ 2# now in its fourteenth year of activity and we hour, and every evening, our Staff Scholars are proud2$ of its2% accomplishments.2^ 2& 2* 2( 3)It is3! with 3@ 3# can3$ be3% found3^ 3&studying 3* 3( with 4) and 4! teaching4@ 4# 4$ great excitement that we offer this review to Torah to people from every part of the Jewish our community and supporters. The report in community. This daily effort of studying and your hands contains our activity reports, as teaching is led by my co-director, Rabbi Meir well as staff bios, cash flow and income state- Minster. CONTENTS ments,Adults balance in photo: sheet, and an alphabetical13. Rabbi David Spetner list Our26. Naomi Mission Landis Statement reads,39. Elisa “ToTravis enrich 1. Rabbi Yehuda Spetner 14. Rabbi Meir Minster 27. Shifra Motzen 40. Chana Raubvogel of our 2.contributor Rabbi Yitzchok Preis base. 15. Rabbi Chaim Barry the Cincinnati28. Penina Braunstein Jewish community41. Sarah Fishmanby creating Introduction Rabbi David Spetner .................................1 What3. Rabbi is our Shai SchererCommunity Kollel?16. Rabbi At Dov its Schwartzbaum core an environment29. Dena Stern of Torah study42. Yehudis and Polsky providing it is a makom4. Rabbi Pinchas Torah Landis, a place dedicated17. Rabbi Moshe to Kibel the access30. Avigailleto our Katz spiritual heritage.”43. Sorah Anyone Liba Yudin who On-Site Learning Rabbi Meir Minster .......................... 2 5. Rabbi Jeremie Lederer 18. Rabbi Binyomin Travis 31. Atara Robinson 44. Esther Daniel study of6. RabbiTorah. A. D. TheMotzen Kollel operates19. Alter Raubvogelwith the has stepped32. Michal Kernerman into the Kollel’s Beis Midrash Off-Site Learning Rabbi Yitzchok Preis ......................... 4 philosophy7. Rabbi that, Avrohom more Braunstein than any20. Rabbiother Yechiel spiritual Fishman (study33. Denahall) Weinschneider understands howNot an in photo: environment or physical8. Rabbi asset, Yitzie Stern it is our Torah21. Rabbiand Eli the Polsky study dedicated34. Chaya toGittle Torah Spetner study energizesRabbi Asher Jews & Michal to Mendelsberg 9. Rabbi Dov Katz 22. Rabbi Binyomin Yudin 35. Aviva Minster Retreat Center Rabbi Pinchas Landis ........................... 6 of it that10. Rabbi have Cobi kept Robinson our people23. alive Rabbi Ronniethrough Daniel- pass 36.on Sharon their Barry heritage from generation to gen- out the11. millennia.Rabbi Rafi Weinschneider It is the goal24. ofRivka our Preis staff eration.37. Esti But Schwartzbaum to provide education to the mem- Campus Outreach Rabbi Raphael Weinschneider .........8 to share12. Rabbithe Yuvalbeauty Kernernman of Torah study25. Tova through Scherer - bers 38.of Leila a community, Kibel you must meet them out the Cincinnati Jewish community and, “where they are,” and the Kollel has done Contributors ................................................................ 9 through that, to help each Jew draw closer to that, by partnering with a host of community Kollel Staff .................................................... centerfold his or her Judaism. organizations. Our Outreach Director, Rabbi We call the Torah Etz Chaim—a Tree of Yitzchok Preis, has very effectively led that Financial Statements ................................................18 Life—and, like a tree, in order to bear fruit charge, overseeing all of the Kollel’s off-site it must have roots deep within the earth. In learning opportunities. Kollel “Alumni” ........................................................20 order to share Torah, our staff must be deeply rooted in their own dynamic Torah study. Our staff scholars maintain two intensive dai- ly study sessions, each three hours in length,Alter Raub|ogel © 2009 Cincinna{i Community Kollel where inA a Cincinnati group format native, they Alter probe, is the study, Kollel’s Adminstrator, IT Director, 2241 Losan{iville Avenue P. O. Box 37145 and graphic designer. (He produced this report, as a matter of fact.) His wife Chana runs a preschool program. They have four children. Cincinna{i OH 45237 Cincinna{i OH 45222 A fifth-generation Midwesterner, Rabbi David Spetner served (513) 631-1118 • (513) 631-9118 fax as a congregational rabbi in Richmond, Virginia before moving [email protected]{ • h{tp://kollel.shul.net to Cincinnati in 1995 to help establish the Kollel. Cincinna{i Community Kollel Annual Repor{: 2009 This year the Kollel enjoyed its greatest ex- participation of well over fifty individuals other career development for part of their day, hall” or “place of learning,” but in our case it pansion since its founding, with the inaugura- and overall participation of over 150. The the Torah L’netzach members spend the bulk is much more. Besides serving as the physi- tion of the Torah L’netzach program. Torah Kollel’s Aish Campus project at University of of their time joining the learning of the regu- cal hub for much of the Kollel’s activities, the L’netzach is an innovative program that has Cincinnati and at Miami (of Ohio) University, lar staff scholars of the Kollel. Their impact spiritual impact of the Torah learned there attracted six new scholars, who are ready to headed by former Staff Scholar Rabbi Rafi on our learning and the community in gener- permeates and drives all that we do. put down roots in Cincinnati’s business and Weinschneider, has sent many students to al has been dramatic and this program prom- This is the essence of the Kollel. While professional communities. They join the Staff Israel and has scores involved in weekly ises to deliver great benefits for the future. our day is anchored by our personal study, it Scholars for one of the two daily study ses- Jewish activities. Please read more about these Over the past fourteen years of the Kollel, is from this learning that the Torah insights sions, while developing their professional or exciting endeavors in their individual reports. we have had the pleasure to learn and review that we share with others takes shape. In the business careers. They all make time to par- We are excited about our staff and we hope many of the tractates of the Talmud that cov- morning session we attempt to master specific ticipate in the Kollel’s many programs and you will get to know them. They are truly a er the practical areas of Jewish living. Besides areas of Halacha—legal conclusions—while activities. Already, two of the six have “gradu- special group, each with a unique blend of hu- Chulin, we have studied Niddah (the laws of in the afternoon we survey the entire tractate ated” from the program and are gainfully em- manity, compassion, and scholarship. family purity) and Berachos (the laws of bless- at hand, gaining an appreciation for the con- ployed in the Cincinnati community. We look forward to the coming year and ings and prayer). We have spent several years text from which Halacha is derived. No less The Kollel Retreat Center in Deerfield the opportunity to touch the lives of ever covering the laws of Shabbos, which are found important, however, is community learning, Township, headed by Rabbi Pinchas & Naomi more Jews with the beauty of Torah. in the tractates Shabbos and Eiruvin, as well which we view as flowing from these sessions. Landis, is in its third year and has weekly as the tractates Beitza and Chagiga, which From 5:30 in the morning until after 10:30 deal with the laws specific to the Jewish holi- at night, members of the community can be days. We also challenged ourselves to study found learning in the Beis Midrash—with the Laws of Ribbis (interest and finance, the Kollel staff or on their own. They are tak- one of the most complex areas of discussion ing time from their schedules to incorporate on-site learning within Jewish law), which are found in trac- the beauty of Torah into their day. Whether tate Bava Metziah. We have also studied the studying one-on-one at breakfast, lunch or Rabbi Meir Minster tractates Yoma (which deals with the special during our evening community session, or by Kollel DiReCtoR / toRAh StuDieS service in the Temple on Yom Kippur, as well joining a class or Lunch-and-Learn, people as the observances and fasting that still per- are finding their lives enriched by the Torah. We take great pride as we look back at the the fact that the majority of our Staff Scholars tain to us today) and Avodah Zarah (which Besides our regular classes and one-on-one learning of the Kollel in the past year. make Cincinnati their home after leaving the discusses the subject of other religions and our Our staff scholars have completed a two- Kollel, serving the Jewish community in so interaction with the non-Jewish world). year course of study of the tractate Chulin, many different and meaningful ways. I would like to take a moment to describe which deals with the laws of Kashrus and Growing our community from within the the daily activities of our Beis Midrash. A forms the core of practical Jewish law. This ranks of the staff of the Kollel is one of the Beis Midrash translates literally into a “study marks the third time that Chulin has been goals of our newest division of the Kollel, studied in the Kollel and attests to the con- which we call Torah L’netzach.