 The Class of ’99
Yeshivas Toras Moshe takestremendous pride in presenting the Class of ’99 with the Ner Michoel Alumni Tribute. Although it’s been nearly twenty years since this outstanding group first arrived in Toras Moshe, their connection to the Yeshiva and to one another has remained strong; their diverse lives and accomplishments all reflect the way they continue to apply the Yeshiva’s high standards to all aspects of their current lives.
There was something very uniqueabout the culture in the Yeshiva,” explains Yossi Seidenfeld. “We were exposed to a shleimus– a wholesomeness in Yiddishkeit; a hashkafas hachaim without contradictions. Toras Moshe was a place with intense clarity on purpose and goal. I was amazed how the Yeshiva masterfully took fifty skeptical, slightly jaded, American bochurim andtransformed them in a matter of months into genuine Yirei Shomayim who were striving for aliyah in Torah. It was a remarkable place to call home; we realized we had something special – we knew we struck gold.”
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R’ Noam Rosen is a distinguished alumnusof the class. “It was the older bochurim who helped create a bridge between the rebbeim and the new arrivals,” he points out. “We saw bochurim who were only two or three years older than ourselves and were way ahead of us, yet somehow we felt that we could also become like them. We knew that only a few years ago they were just like us or even on a lower level, as some talmidim came from weak educational backgrounds and attained great heights in learning; this truly motivated us.”
“Who can forget how the older bochurim would schlepthe suitcases of the new bochurim up four flights of stairs to the dorm in the old building when they first arrived. Amazingly, they never considered it beneath their dignity to reach out to a younger bochur – we’re talking about masmidim who cherished every free moment, yet they made themselves available to discuss learning and personal issues. This certainly came from the hanhalla; I don’t know whether it was by osmosis, or just an awareness of their conviction that basic derech eretz and mentchlichkeit and maturity were essential for growth in Torah. Together, we all created and were motivated by a wonderful, positive sort of peer pressure; you behaved certain way not because of frumkeit, but because it was just the way things were done.”
“One of the special things about our class,” says Rabbi Moishie Mittelman, a rebbi in Silver Spring, MD, “was that Rav Shurkin got ‘promoted’ along with us from first to second year. We had him for two years straight, and he became the center of our lives. I think what stands out most, is that for the first time ever, during Rav Shurkin’s shiur, we all sat there fully focused. Most remarkably, when shiur was over no one hurried off! We would all hang around and schmooze or walk him back to lunch while reviewing the shiur. There were many of us who learned before Toras Moshe, but we didn’t have that ‘ki heim chayeinu ve’orech yameinu’ that we got during those two years.”
“At the beginning of our secondyear, on Rosh Hashanah, there was an unanticipated half-hour of extra time in the schedule. This was not a planned ‘seder’, but everyone found themselves learning during that time; it had become a reflex, it was automatic, we no longer saw it as a sacrifice.”
“On the very first day of thatsecond year, Rav Shurkin picked up exactly where we left off the year before. There was no acclimation, we hit the ground running; that year accomplished so much, that’s when we really became who we are. I quote Rav Shurkin regularly in my classroom; I repeat his sevaros, his stories, and his vertlach to my talmidim.”
“The relationships between theolder and younger bochurim was so special,” Dovid recalls. “I remember being enamored by guys like Ruvi Schwartz, Zev Flaumenhaf, and Tzvi Simon. I asked Tzvi if he would learn with me; the only slot he had available was at 5 AM. Getting up at that hour was quite a challenge….”
“One of the aspects that I always found to be so unique about ToMo was the ruach amongst the guys. Despite the fact that the learning was so intense and focused, there always was this palpable
feeling of excitement, both in and outside of the beis medrash.”
“The level of temimus in mitzvos and avodas Hashem will never escape me,” Yossi concludes. “I believe that a Toras Moshe guy stands apart from the world at large, because we were instilled with emes, kirvas Elokim and a deep understanding of what counts in life. I feel it to this day, and I know my children feel it too.
“Over the years, our schedule changes and we are tested in new ways – but the framework for life that crystallized in Yeshiva lives on. The Yeshiva’s mark is profound and everlasting.”