PHOTOS: Young boys in Dallas, Texas and Miami, Florida are joining the repertoire of hundreds of others in eighty Likras Shabbos groups held in thirty cities dotting North America in a revolutionary program designed to revitalize the way their families are welcoming Shabbos. Its goal is to instill the value of entering Shabbos peacefully and prepared and simultaneously impart a rich hilchos Shabbos curriculum in a fun and engaging way.

Having celebrated the inception of their sixth year, the program’s director, R’ Yossi Hirsch, is brimming with enthusiasm. “The groups have already begun to learn hilchos bishul this year and there is such palpable excitement.”

The program brings boys in 6th- 8th grades together to learn hilchos Shabbos in an innovative way for thirty to forty-five minutes prior to Shabbos. Considering the fact that most boys spend an intense week of learning in yeshiva, Likras Shabbos’s goals are to inculcate an appreciation for Shabbos, by making the learning a pleasurable and stress-free experience, while still covering a great deal of information.

 Groups meet from the Shabbos following Sukkos until the summer months. Each group is conducted by a rebbe and they all have the requisite nosh, kugel and raffles. Yet, what attracts the boys is the curriculum of hilchos Shabbos they learned to love and love to learn. “It’s refreshing and beautiful to see yiddishe kinderlach running to shul on erev Shabbos to learn,” comments Rabbi Tuvyah Shirken, the rebbe of a group in Los Angeles.

A series of illustrated seforim, adapted especially for Likras Shabbos, based on the world renowned Meorei Halacha by Rabbi Yechezkel Feldberger, is the key to the success of Likras Shabbos. Each illustration teaches an entire concept visually. The participants do not have to read a word, lending to the relaxed environment the program initiators hoped to attain.

To supplement the learning, they have customized MP-3 CDs featuring master storyteller, Rabbi Fishel Schachter bringing the halachos to life, which reinforce what was learned before Shabbos. There are reviews as well. Voluntary tests are given at the end of each year, with majority of the boys opting to be tested and acing the tests.

Rabbi Zeiger, the rebbe of a group in Monsey, enthused, “I was amazed when I was doing chazarah in the spring at how much information these boys retained and remembered from the beginning of the winter.”

Following the first year of its inception, most boys were so disappointed to stop their Erev Shabbos learning come summer that they insisted on bringing the program to camp. “Today,” says Rabbi Hirsch, “Two thousand boys are prepared for Shabbos early and learning the Likras Shabbos program in camps that run the gamut of the Jewish spectrum; Camp Stolin, Bobov, Hamachaneh, Camp Milwaukee, Camp Morris, Camp Romimu, day camps…”

The summer curriculum, which covers either the melachos of choresh, kotzer or tochen, is even more relaxed than that which is learned during the school year, as they are less detailed.

Aside for the obvious benefits of preteen boys gaining an appreciation for Shabbos and learning important, applicable halachos, Likras Shabbos groups have changed the family and shul dynamics as well.

The mothers are thrilled that the menfolk are out of the house early, the home is ready for Shabbos well in advance, even in the winter when Shabbos starts early. As one mother told Rabbi Perlstein who arranges a group in Far Rockaway, “It used to be the boys fought over the last shower, now they fight over the first shower.”

Also, as most fathers escort their sons to their groups, they remain in shul to learn prior to Shabbos as well. Even the walk home from shul and Shabbos table talk are enhanced with lively discussions about the halachos the boys learned that day. “Parents comment to me,” says Rabbi Dovid Kushner, the rebbe of a group in Lakewood, “that at the Shabbos table their children are commenting about the practical application of halachos they’re learning, like cautioning their siblings not to pick out the food they don’t like. They are more aware of hilchos Shabbos, even though they’re so young, and they’re catching on to material that most people don’t cover until they are much older.”

Additionally, when men enter a shul where there is a Likras Shabbos group in session, the entire atmosphere is one of heightened kedusha. “Rabbi Schorr, the rav of the shul, Tiferes Gedalya, where I run a group, has so much hanaah from Likras Shabbos,” says Rabbi Zeiger.

With each passing year, as more people hear of the success of these groups, the Likras Shabbos office has been inundated with calls to start new groups across America. At the culmination of another successful year, Likras Shabbos groups have proven once more that this is a revolutionary program with a timeless mission.

To bring Likras Shabbos to your neighborhood, begin a Likras Shabbos group or for more information, please call the Likras Shabbos office at (732)363-0669 or [email protected]. TLS.