Erev Rosh Hashana 5772

Shalom Harav Bina,

I hope this letter finds you well.  I know that we have not spoken in a long time but I just wanted to wish you a Shana Tova and to express my immense hakarat hatov for the tremendous impact the Yeshiva has had (and continues to have) on my life.

Baruch Hashem my family, which consists of my wife Giti and four children, bli ayin hara, have been given the wonderful opportunity to work in kiruv in Seattle, Washington.  I can literally say that I am not sure where I would be today had I not been in Yeshiva.  The influence of the Yeshiva, of course the Rosh Yeshiva, and the Rebbeim have changed my life forever.

Thank you - Thank you - Thank you!

B'chvod Harabanim, Tzevet, etc.

This morning my wife's and my son entered into the Bris of Avraham Avinu. My wife and I both wanted to express our deepest gratitude and Hakarat Ha'tov to the Yeshiva, our Rabanim and the Staff that makes it all possible. Without you, we would not be where we are today, this child is as much yours as it is ours. You have molded and guided me and my family and shaped our past, present and future. Without you I would certainly not be the man and father I am today.

We named him Yosef Aryeh, after our grandfathers. When I found out that my wife's grandfather's name was Leib (yiddish for lion) I knew immediately that I would name him Aryeh as a sign of Hakarat Hatov for all Netiv Aryeh has done for me and as a sign of Kavod for the Rosh Yeshiva Shlita. Of course, as Rav Bina always says, your parents are like God and therefore I honored my father by naming his first grandson after his father, Yosef.

The name Yosef Aryeh also has special significance to us, as I said in my speech at the bris, Yosef has a dual root of both removal and adding (Rachel Imeinu named Yosef because Hashem removed her disgrace and she prayed He would add more sons for her). When we left Eretz Yisroel, we felt that a piece of our Neshama was removed, but in service of Klal Yisroel and now with the addition of a son, Hashem has helped us add to our Neshamas. Of course we hope to return to Eretz Yisroel soon!

As well, we named him after Yosef Hatzadik, who was able to maintain his purity and combat his Yetzer Harah even in the lowest Galus of Mitzrayim, and we hope our son will have this merit. Although this may seem to contradict his second name of Aryeh, which represents raw power and strength, we hope that he will be able to be Mekayem the mishna of Yehuda ben Teima and strengthen himself like a lion to defeat the Yetzer Hara and, as the Yeshiva taught me, channel his raw power and strength into being Kovesh his Yetzer and into Avodas Hashem.

Thank you a million times over, may we all soon feel the ultimate simcha of Mashiach ben David and be united again under the flag of Yehuda, the lion.

Be'Hukra,

Adam Simon

Dear Rav Bina, This letter is long overdue. When I read the Yeshiva newsletter and see that today is your father's yahrtzeit, I felt it important to write and let you know how appreciative we are for all the care that you have given our son.

There are not enough words for us to express our gratitude. Our son has grown and is blossoming at Netiv Aryeh. It was not easy for you to get him as dedicated to Torah study and Jewish life as he now is. We see the result and we are humbly grateful to Hashem for all the work, time investment, and care that you put into the Yeshiva and the boys. You have assembled an extraordinarily fine staff. You are both firm, yet embracing. You understand the balance. Are you aware that our son learns with me for an hour on the phone once a week? And he reads and explains the gmara to me and not vice versa? When I get off the phone I shed tears of joy.

On this day of your father's yahrtzeit, I tell you that you are a shining testament to your father's legacy. You continue his great works, strengthening young men with honesty and not flattery. May Hashem give you and your family good health, happiness and strength to continue to 120 years. And may this all be for an "Ilui Neshama" for Rav Aryeh Leib Bina Zatzal.

With great thanks,

Netiv Aryeh Parents

To all my Dear Friends at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh,

The recent loss of my grandfather Asher ben Bedika z"l has been very difficult for me.  I cannot express in words the appreciation I feel for what you have done for me and the comfort you have given me.  I would like to begin by thanking  HaRav Zvi Bina,  Mr. Uri Kari, and HaRav Maoz, of the Yeshiva, for coming to the cemetery along with several of the students.   In addition, the presence of HaRav Bouso - grandson of the Baba Sali meant a lot to me, as did the visit from HaRav Avigdor Nebenzahl, shlit"a, Rav of the Old City.  My uncles and aunts were very impressed and touched by the sense of achdut which exists in the Yeshiva.

I could not help but think of my grandfather this morning as I arose at 6:15 this morning to put on my tefillin and daven Shacharit.  My grandfather was a big tzaddik and I believe that by continuing in the path of Torah and fulfilling all that I learned in Yeshiva, he is looking down and smiling.

Thanks to all of you, your chesed will never be forgotten.

David Ouaknine (5768)

Yossi Davis (5767)

Yeshiva University

Mitzvah Gedolah Le'Heyot Be'Simcha
It all started with the rumors. Whether he was coming for Shabbat, for a Melaveh Malka, or just for a couple of hours during the week I didn't know, but that didn't matter. Rav Bina was coming to Camp HASC (Hebrew Academy for Special Children). Alumni from all over the New York-New Jersey area would flock to HASC to spend time with their beloved Rosh Yeshiva. As a counselor at HASC, I was eagerly awaiting Rav Bina's arrival to camp, and yes, I was excited. Sure enough, as Shabbat Parshat Eikev came in, and I walked into shul for Kabalat Shabbat, there was Rav Bina, just as I had remembered him.

After a beautiful davening, the whole camp filed into the dinning room for the seudah. Just as in Yeshiva, I went over to Rav Bina's table for a bracha, and just as in Yeshiva, I felt a kind of calming warmth to the Shabbat that I hadn't felt since I left. Feeling a bit nostalgic as I returned to my bunkhouse after the meal, I thought about my memories, and of how much my friends and I had grown as Jewish people in Yeshiva.

Those comforting thoughts carried all the way through Shabbat afternoon, when I had a chance to speak to Rav Bina about camp, my future, and life. As we spoke, a shocking realization hit me - I was an alumnus of Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh. It was only then I could fully appreciate what the conversation meant to me. I was no longer a student of the Yeshiva, and yet I still felt as if Rav Bina was my Rosh Yeshiva, as if I were still his student.

It was then that Rav Bina said that there were two Erev Shabbat davenings which made him feel a special kedusha, more so than any others in his life. The first one was when the Yeshiva davened in Ma'arat Hamachpeila, and the second one was in fact the Davening from that very erev Shabbat at HASC. His selection of shabbatot surprised me a bit. I had been with Rav Bina on each of these two occasions, and had felt a special Kedusha in Chevron, but I didn't seem to feel the same kind of Kedusha during the davening from that Erev Shabbat at HASC. It was beautiful, but it was just like every other Shabbat at camp.

As I pondered the seemingly curious selection through Mincha and Maariv, I still didn't understand how that Shabbat davening had been so special. I had been at many more inspiring services, many of them with Rav Bina, and as I tucked away my campers to sleep, I prepared for the Melaveh Malka, which was going to be amazing. There was going to be great singing, great company, and of course, great food.
After tons of people arrived, chatted, and snacked, everyone sang and danced around an enormous table for some of the most unbelievable singing I had heard since Yeshiva. It was a surreal experience seeing my friends and alumni coming together with such force. I felt like that would have been one of those inspirational times that Rav Bina could have picked, where he felt Kedusha.

When the singing stopped and the real food was eaten, the moment that everyone was waiting for came: Rav Bina started speaking. He started off speaking about the parsha, and how Moshe Rabeinu, the greatest Jew and teacher to ever live, was treated so poorly by the people that owed him everything. Moshe devoted his entire life to his people and yet they gave him nothing in return but heartache. Moreover, when Moshe was punished by Hashem, and was forbidden from entering Eretz Yisrael, his people didn't even pray for God to reconsider.

That wasn't even the worst part. Right after Moshe led his people out of Egypt, they sinned by making the golden calf as Moshe was bringing down the Luchot. Hashem told Moshe that his people had sinned, and yet, even after all the heartache that he was put through, Moshe still didn't seem to believe Hashem.

To this Rav Bina asked a question: Hashem told Moshe when he was on Mount Sinai that his people had sinned and yet Moshe still descended the mountain with the intention of giving his people the Luchot. Why then was Moshe so shocked at the sight of his people sinning that he broke the Luchot? The answer that Rav Bina gave was very simple. Bnei Yisrael didn't just sin; they sinned with simcha. It was to this that Moshe was shocked and horrified enough to shatter the Luchot.

Simcha! That was it!

It was at this point that I could understand why Rav Bina had felt such a unique Kedusha from the prior night's davening. If simcha had been such a strong factor with regard to a sin, then it could be all that much stronger with regard to a mitzvah. I believe that what Rav Bina felt was the simcha of a HASC davening, something to which I had already become accustomed. This realization set me on a thought process that changed my entire outlook on my summer and on my entire year at Yeshiva.

A bit earlier in his speech, Rav Bina had mentioned that a Rebbi, or someone involved in chinuch puts a lot of work into his or her students, and in general doesn't get much in return (like in the case of Moshe Rabeinu). Rather, a Rebbi gets every last bit of himself squeezed out by his students, and that if one expects thanks or recognition, they are naïve. Rav Bina then compared this to what the counselors at HASC do all summer: we work all summer living and doing for ourselves as well as our campers and we rarely get thanks from our campers.

As counselors, we get every last ounce of energy squeezed out of us, and at the same time, most if not all of the counselors have some of the best times of their lives. I know that I personally have had an amazing summer while giving every ounce of energy. As difficult as it has been at times, every one of those times must still be greeted with simcha.

Listening to Rav Bina had helped me understand the beauty of working at HASC. I can honestly say that I was the happiest I have ever been at camp, feeding, showering, and changing campers. The reason for this is because when my campers would laugh I would feel great about myself and laugh with them. When my physically and mentally disabled campers would learn a new name or word, or walk a step in physical therapy, or feed themselves something, I felt the same feeling of accomplishment that they did. They were having a great summer and as I was living through them, as I put my all into them, I too was having a great summer.

This again reminded me of the parallel Rav Bina had mentioned to rebbeim. I took this specifically to mean my rabbeim at Yeshiva. They put their whole souls into the Yeshiva and its students. At times, it certainly wasn't easy but even at those times I know that I was always greeted with simcha. My rabbeim put so much into me and in order to truly thank them I would need to accomplish something, and only then, would they too feel accomplished.

Just as with my campers I felt accomplished by a word, or a step, I am sure that my rabbeim at Yeshiva would feel accomplished by something just as small: a Rashi, a Tosfot, a step in the right direction. That's all they would want. That of course tied into the conclusion of Rav Bina's speech, where he indicated that no one is perfect, and we all sin, but we should never sin b'simcha, because there is a very special power to simcha.

While no one is perfect, perfection is the goal to which we endlessly strive. This power of simcha is the main ingredient towards that goal. I, as well as many other HASC staffers, have felt closer to that perfection than ever before, due to the fact that we are doing mitzvot b'simcha. It is something that my Rebbeim did for me this past year, and now that I understand what a sacrifice it is to truly do a mitzvah with happiness, I can fully appreciate what they have done for me. I can truly thank each and every one of them for teaching and guiding me b'simcha.

So, this is now my responsibility to my rabbeim, to Hashem and to myself: everything I do should be done with zeal and simcha. And as Rav Bina ended his speech in an all-too-familiar Rav Bina way, "There are no excuses!" I understood that it was up to me to take what I had learned from Yeshiva and camp, and live by it. This Shabbat was a follow up to Yeshiva. There are no excuses. Rav Bina and the other rabbeim really care so much about their students, and they get so much simcha out of their students' successes.

Here is my success of the summer: Mitzvah Gedolah Le'Heyot Be'Simcha

It was a pleasant irony that made my year and a half in Israel so amazing. My father’s death in July of 2002 was undoubtedly the most traumatic event of my short life. My world had been turned upside down, and the future, once filled with dreams and aspirations, became a discolored blur. During the shiva, my friend Scott bunked in my room and assumed the position of on-call psychiatrist. His questions and comments were immensely therapeutic and comforting. One query he posed a number of times was, "Do you feel like you’ve been cheated out of having a father in your future?" I thought about the question intensely and responded that, indeed, I did not feel cheated. I had had an outstanding father for eighteen years, and I felt that I was never supposed to have a father after that in the first place.

I had just graduated high school and was planning on studying in yeshiva for a year. I was starting a brand new chapter in my life, and my father just wasn’t going to be in it. I actually felt worse for my siblings and my mother, all of whom were still in the midst of the same stage in their respective lives that they had been in before the tragic loss. It just seemed to me like I would have an easier time moving on because of the situation I found myself in. I did, however, expect it to be the most difficult and stressful year of my life.

Two weeks after the shiva, I left to Israel knowing I wouldn’t see my family for eight months. After a few weeks in yeshiva, I realized I had been completely wrong about what I expected to experience. My time in yeshiva changed my life almost as much as my father’s passing had, and they were surprisingly wonderful complements to each other. My father had always been my religious and spiritual guide, and now I had a chance to utilize his lessons and find my own place in Judaism.

The greatest gift I received in Israel was a chance to see the world with an entirely new outlook. For my entire life until then, my days consisted mostly of school and everything a normal child cherishes. Torah was just another class, a sermon on Shabbat, and pretty much an afterthought. In yeshiva, Torah is life and everything else comes second. I spent countless hours each day hunched over a gemara instead of a television, chatting about Rabbeim instead of athletes and rock stars, and focusing on my own image of Samuel Frommer, as opposed to everyone else’s. I could see my life taking shape once again, and in a way that I had never imagined.

The mourning I was going through only added to the effectiveness of my time in Israel. My responsibility to say kaddish was my motivation to make it to every single minyan except for one while I was there. That helped me prove to myself that my dedication and diligence were going to define me as a Jew. I found it easy and exciting to learn when I dedicated a shiur or a study session to my father’s memory. I had finally found ways to thank and repay my father for all that he had given me. I was connecting with him on a spiritual level, as if he was right there with me, helping me learn and grow and overcome. My situation forced me to become close with many Rabbeim I normally would not have spoken to, and I can honestly say they were all instrumental in my development as a Jew and as a person. My father was having a profound impact on my life, despite his physical absence, and I can’t thank anyone more (except my mother, of course).

After losing my father, my role model, and my best friend all in the same instance, I knew my life would enter a period of intense reconstruction. My innocence had disappeared and it was time for me to become a new person – a better person. Yeshiva provided me with a fantastic foundation to build upon. It allowed me to see my past and future in a new light. I finally learned how I could make Judaism a way of life, not just a belief. My father’s passing was the ultimate pain, and Israel was the perfect remedy.

Samuel S. Frommer

From a very personal perspective.... in the aftermath of the tragedy in Israel last week.

When one sends a son to a yeshiva, in Israel, one trusts that the person responsible for the boy's soul will guard it as if it is his own son. matthew called and told me a story last night...

HaRav Bina, is the Rosh Yeshiva of Netiv Aryeh, Matthew’s current yeshiva and the yeshiva where our other son Bobby spent two years. on wednesday night HaRav Bina told his entire yeshiva, all of the talmidim and Rebbes, to take their sefarim, their chevrusas, learning partners, if from outside the yeshiva and to go on to the buses. he said this was not a tour so no cameras. once on the buses he said... we are going to learn tonight's seder at ......... Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe.. !!!
Mercaz Harav was founded in 1924 by influential Rabbi Avraham HaCohen Kook. There are 500 students enrolled in Talmudic study these Students are mainly high-school age and young adults. The graduates serve as rabbis and rabbinical judges in Israel and Jewish settlements. This yeshiva has played a major role in ideology and theology of Israeli religious settlement movement. On March 6, 2008 an Arab gunman, who had previously worked at this yeshiva, entered the library at the Mercaz Harav where about 80 students were gathered, and fired an AK-47 rifle for several minutes, killing eight young souls.

Matthew said, they got off the busses and walked, en masse into the yeshiva, sat down and started learning. matthew happened to be at HaRav Bina's table and many of the young men from Mercaz came up to HaRav Bina and remarked: "you came to be with us? thank you, your being here is great chizik, encouragement for us ."
matthew said there was some blood on the sefarim in the corner and other signs of the tragedy. Netiv Aryeh had taken their own security as they always have to do when they travel. But matthew said, “Dad, this yeshiva, right now is probably the safest place in all of Israel” .... yes, it was very troubling for all the boys.... but they all stayed.... over 200 Netiv guys learning and wanting to be with the Mercaz boys.

Matthew will remember many things from his two amazing Israel years, the learning in the Beis HaMedrash with his view of the Wall, daily. His trip with the yeshiva to Poland last year and the emotions at the concentration camps made their mark on his soul. He will remember the luxury of being able to just “learn” 12-15-18 hours a day with top Rebbeyim, and may other milestones. Near the the top of his list will be this short trip for night seder, learning.
Matthew saw the effect of the action that night of his Rosh Yeshiva. HaRav Bina knew that the most important thing was not just his own Talmidium learning, but to insure that other young souls, hurting, would continue to learn and not abandon the Derech Hashem.

We have been very fortunate in the Rosh Yeshivas for our sons at both Derech Etz Chaim and Netiv Aryeh. These are men that understand their holy responsibility for young men’s lives and souls.

Yes, last week, when I read streaming across the internet, that this tragedy had occurred, I was very anxious until Matthew called to tell me he was ok. That night, I did not sleep very well, as I wondered about the fathers who were not able to talk with their sons that fateful day. Fathers who would be traveling to Israel to arrange funerals for their fallen sons. There are too many emotions to type here, but I will conclude as I usually do. Hug those kids, every kid in your world. Hug them dearly, you have a luxury some do not. Hug those kids, they need it and so do you.

Good Shabbos
Barry Faigen, Father of Robert (5763-64) and Mathew Faigen (5767-68)

Dear HaRav Bina, One of your talmidim, our son Robert, is I’YH, getting married on Monday, January 29, 2007, 10 Shevat 5767. We are very grateful to HaRav Bina, as you were directly involved in this shidduch. The Rosh Yeshiva advised Bobby, to go to work at HASC, his first summer after Shana Aleph and it was at HASC that he met the Kallah, Ariella Fessel of Monsey, NY.

The Rosh Yeshiva is responsible for helping Bobby to develop the skills and to be diligent in his learning and in following the Derech Hashem. We are very grateful to the Rosh Yeshiva and to Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh for all of their efforts on behalf of Bobby. We have complete faith that these qualities will also be imparted to his younger brother Matthew, currently attending Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh.

Bobby has asked HaRav Yitzchak Korn to be the Mesader Kiddushin and we are so very honored that HaRav Korn has accepted. Bobby is very close to HaRav Korn and they speak frequently. During Bobby’s 2 years at Yeshiva and in the 3 years since, HaRav Korn has provided valuable guidance for our son and now Matthew has HaRav Korn as his shuir Rebbe.

We realize how critical learning is in the development of young men. Matthew is our third son to attend a Yeshiva in Israel, full time after high school, strictly to learn.

We realize that staying at Yeshiva and attending every shuir, staying in Beis Medrash to learn, is important in the growth and development of Matthew. We fully support Matthew in his desires to develop the necessary skills to be a Ben Torah.

Thank you Rav Bina, for giving Matthew permission to leave Yeshiva and attend this important family simcha. We also thank you for your diligence in the structure and program of Yeshiva Netiv Aryeh. May Hashem bless the Rosh Yeshiva with strength to continue to guide young men on the Derech Hashem.

Barry Faigen, Father of Robert (5763-64) and Mathew Faigen (5767-68)

Daniel Renna (5752)

Yom Kippur has come around again, and for another year, I have been grateful to have been able to spend the Holy Day at yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem. This year, like last, I have come from Armenia, where my wife and I currently live as I work there at the U.S. Embassy as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. After being posted in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Banjul, The Gambia, Yerevan, Armenia, is my third overseas posting; after already working there a year, we have two left before our next posting, to another location on the globe that will be revealed to us sometime late in 2008. Unlike more popular locations in the US or the UK, living as a frum Jew in Armenia is neither easy nor convenient. In many ways, the State Department experience has made us appreciate how difficult it is to be Jewish in this world. For Yom Kippur, though there is only one place on earth I'd like to be.

As Harav Bina is apt to note often, you never leave yeshiva. You can live anywhere in the world and be involved in any profession, but you are always a talmid of the yeshiva. In this way, each time I come back for the yomim noraim, it is a kind of homecoming, even after so many years. This year is my shana tet-zayin. In so many ways, the yeshiva experience that I had in 1991-92, just following the Gulf War and the scuds that rained down on Israel at that time, was much different from the experience that this year's shana alef guys are experiencing. Back then, my shana alef consisted of only 34 guys; with the Shana bet crew, we totaled 50. It was probably the only year in the history of Yeshivat Hakotel's chutznik program that Americans did not make up the majority. That year changed my life, as I know it did my fellow classmates and as it has affected the lives of yeshiva students both before and after me. We had 11 Brits, 10 Americans, 8 Canadians, 2 Australians, 1 Dutch, 1 Belgian, and 1 Swiss, a truly international group that in many ways greatly influenced my desire to live all over the world.

Times back then were different as well. While they were on the way out, asimonim could still be bought for telephone use. The kikar in the rova was always teeming with yeshiva students using the pay phones there, especially when the four pay phones we had in the yeshiva were occupied. We had no cell phones or ipods, and even the internet was unavailable to us back then. I distinctly remember scribbling messages home on small pieces of paper that Dina would run through the fax machine. At the same time, the learning was intense, and got more so around Chanukah when I can remember many of my friends and I would be struggling over an inyan in the Gemara or over a difficult shita in Tosafos at 3 or 4 in the morning. And Thursday mishmar would begin with one of Rav Lee Podolsky (z"l)'s shiurim and end with at least one siyum and the distribution of cakes at around 2am. Those were indeed good times.

While many things have changed since the first time I davened in yeshiva within view of Har Habayit, the important things have remained the same. The kedushah of Yerushalayim, the imspiration that can be drawn from the people, the views, even the stones of the city are still unmatched and timeless. The feeling of itzumo shel yom, the power of the day of Yom Hakippurim, is there just as it always has been. I think all of the Yeshivat Hakotel/Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh community is most grateful for the strength and vitality of Harav Yaakov Katz, shlit"a, whose davening through the avodah of Musaf still brings to mind striking images of the Kohain Gadol in the Bais Hamikdash in a way that it is difficult to visualize in any other setting or with any other chazzan. Most stirring is Harav Katz's Neilah that brings the 500 people in the room to the realization that the shaarei shamayim are closing and that HKBH Himself is reaching out to accept our tefilos. It is those types of experiences that it is too difficult for me to imagine being without on Yom Hakippurim; in many ways, for me at least, they define the Holy Day in my mind.

What Harav Bina termed long ago, the "recharging of batteries" is such an important concept for me, and continues to be so as I go through years that seem to increase in challenge as they progress. When I lived in Banjul, The Gambia, a small town in a small country in West Africa, I thought I had found the most G-dforsaken -- and Jew-forsaken-- place on earth. Little did I know that moving to my next posting in Yerevan, Armenia, would pose challenges even more difficult. The remnants of a Soviet legacy have left a shambles of a Jewish community that has no idea what it's like to be Jewish. To face challenges like that, it has been imperative in my life to go back to the roots, once or twice a year, to remember who I am and what Yiddishkeit means to me and to the frum world. It just takes two weeks in Tishrei or a week in Nissan to bring that perspective back into focus. B""H, HKBH has allowed me to be zocheh to return to Israel, to Yerushalayim, to the foot of Har Habayit almost every year for the past decade and a half. May I, my family and all of my fellow yeshiva classmates and their families be so zocheh in the future as well.

I would be remiss in completing this article were I not to offer the requisite hakaras hatov warranted to the Rabbonim of the yeshiva who understand how zocheh they are not only to be able to teach Torah in the shadow of the Kodesh kadashim, but how lucky they have been to be able to influence young people from a diversity of international backgrounds to be Torah-True Jews where ever they end up. Tremendous thanks goes to those baalei tzadaka who keep and have kept the yeshiva running strong for such a long time. Finally, the greatest hakaras hatov needs to go to Harav Bina, whose vision for the yeshiva and whose strength of purpose in molding so many young Jews to be loyal and committed to Torah and mitzvos for so many years has remained unwavering. Shana tova and gmar tov!