[COMMUNICATED] By: Shimmy Blum. “A Heavenly Hand Helps Establish Mosdos HaTorah and a Community That Changed our Chinuch Scene for Good” “I’m from Brooklyn.” “I understand.” It was fall of the year 2000.

Rav Ahron Kaufman, shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Shmuel of Waterbury, was explaining to the local zoning officer why he placed 30 bochurim into a home zoned for far fewer occupants. The officer in this iconic blue collar city, “understood,” but wasn’t particularly fazed. He ordered the makeshift dormitory of this new mosad haTorah shut.

Today, Rav Kaufman –incredibly outgoing and cheerful by nature – laughs when recounting the incident.

In the decade and a half since, “Waterbury” has been transformed into a full-fledged Torah community of 200 families, with a network of vibrant mosdos haTorah at its core: yeshiva ketana elementary school, Bais Yaakov elementary and high schools, a mesivta, a bais medrash, a kollel, several shuls, mikvaos, a kosher grocery, a pizza shop, and more. Within the past half-year or so, approximately twenty new young frum families moved into town.

But Waterbury’s earliest stage – fervent idealism battling seemingly insurmountable odds – remains a symbol of the unbelievable siyata diShmaya that produces miracles in this city every day.

A Revival Based on a Vision

When the present-day Orthodox community of Waterbury “opened” at the turn of the century, it did so on the ruins of a once proud Jewish community.

For the bulk of the 20^th century, Waterbury had a strong Jewish community of all denominations, and a full community infrastructure. Jews enjoyed the so-called “Brass City”’s vibrant industrial economy. The famed Telsher Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Mordechai Gifterzt”l, served as rov of Waterbury in the 1940s.

As the decades passed, and America’s manufacturing economy lost out to overseas, the Waterbury Jewish community was on the verge of extinction. Its day school had closed, and its non-Orthodox congregations were practically empty. The city’s historic Orthodox congregation was aging and gathering a minyan was difficult. Its rabbi, Rabbi Judah Harris, was only in town over the weekends.

Jewish Waterbury was at a crossroads.

At the same time, a man who had never been to Connecticut was at a crossroads too.

In the late 1990s, Rav Ahron Kaufman was serving as a successful maggid shiur in Yeshiva of Far Rockaway. Rav Kaufman was beloved by his talmidim.

Yet, despite the successful track he was on, Rav Kaufman believed that it was time for him to fill a gaping void in our community’s chinuch scene.

The phenomenon of teens who felt passivewithin the Yeshiva system was coming to a head. Roshei Yeshiva and mechanchim were all grappling with these uncharted waters. Rav Kaufman recalls thinking, “There must be an infrastructure that offers every boy a chance to succeed.”

There was much discussion about how to cater our children’s unique needs, and prevent them from possibly heading on an unhealthy track.

Various options were discussed surrounding establishing yeshivos that combined some level of learning with full academic and/or vocational programs, or other forms of a watered-down yeshiva system. Rav Kaufman wanted to be bolder. “Trying to keep a bochur frum and within a positive structure is great, but still to some degree just ‘patchwork,’” he says. “Our working goal should be to turn him into a productive ben Torah.”

This was no small undertaking, neither logistically nor idealistically. But Rav Kaufman’s vision struck a chord. This was just what the yeshiva world needed for the 21^st century: A full time Yeshiva, in sync with a solid mainstream Torah hashkafa, that was broad enough to appeal to bochurim who weren’t feeling the proper fulfillment in other yeshivos.

Among others, Rav Kaufman was in discussion with Rabbi Yehoshua Fishman and Rabbi Nate Segal of Torah Umesorah, who were working on building a Torah community in Waterbury, in addition to leading philanthropists Rabbi Yaakov Rajchenbach, Mr. Moshe Wolfson, and Rabbi Avrohom Fruchthandler. HaRavAhron Schechter, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, offered Rav Kaufman significant encouragement and intimate guidance.

“If this isn’t a sign from shamayim, what is?”

Rav Kaufman’s vision, along with the dreams of those pained at Waterbury’s Jewish demise, intersected at the perfect time. Within a short period of time, the Novominsker Rebbe, activist Rabbi Shmuel Rieder, and others, were actively involved in the project as well.

The pieces of the puzzle came together, one by one.

First, a local community college offered the new yeshiva a building amidst its campus for use at no cost. As tantalizing as the offer was, Rav Kaufman concluded that it was a “no go.” This building’s proximity to the co-ed campus’ other facilities made it unsuitable for a Yeshiva.

Then, in 2000, came some virtually unimaginable developments.

First, University of Connecticut was building a brand new campus in downtown Waterbury. Its existing seven acre campus would be vacated. Waterbury’s mayor respected Rav Kaufman’s objection to the co-ed neighborhood, and decided to offer the entire property to the new yeshiva with a 50-year lease at a low annual cost.

Then came another offer. Waterbury’s Conservative Congregation Beth – El was empty. They were desperate to sell their large and architecturally stunning building on Cooke Street, and were on the verge of selling it to a church. The new yeshiva had the option to purchase it instead.

“You see that the offer for the shul came right after the offer for the campus,” Rabbi Fruchthandler told Rav Kaufman. “If this isn’t a sign from Shomayim, what is?”

Waterbury Opens its Doors

With the gedolim and activists firmly behind him, Rav Kaufman took the plunge.

The shul was purchased and the campus was leased. The shul would be used for the Bais Medrash, and the campus for the infrastructure that the new community would need.

Rav Kaufman had never undertaken anything close to this magnitude before, and he admits that it was a wild ride. “I had mortgage commitments, with no money and no talmidim,” he recounts. “I didn’t even know how to register the new mosad as a non-profit.”

Nevertheless, everything worked out. By the end of the summer, there were 30 bais medrash bochurim enrolled in this revolutionary new mosad. They were referred to Rav Kaufman by various rabbanim and mechanchim, including Rav Zelik Epstein zt”l, who believed that they would succeed there like nowhere else.

Rav Kaufman also recruited nine young exemplary yungerleit– some of them his former talmidim– to move to Waterbury and form a kollel. Rav Kaufman was so busy arranging all the logistics and getting talmidim that he didn’t even work on setting and collecting tuition.

During the yeshiva’s and community’s early years, Rav Kaufman slept in his office in the yeshiva. The yeshiva’s food expenses went on his personal credit card. The wives of the yungerleit taught preschool for the makeshift Talmud Torah and Bais Yaakov.

The seeds were planted. A beautiful, lifesaving makom Torah blossomed.

A detailed look at present day Mesivta and BaisMedrash of Waterbury will iy”H be featured in an upcoming issue

The Man Behind the Revolution

Based on both personality and background, Rav Kaufman was the ideal person to do something “different.” He could relate to any child or bachur, and their unique struggles, in a genuine way.

Rav Kaufman’s father was a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia and his mother a third-generation American. Rav Kaufman learned in Yeshiva of Flatbush and was an active member in the youth chapters of Bnei Akiva and the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.

While in the upper elementary grades, Rav Ahron began enjoying his learning more and more. For that, he credits his principal, Rabbi Abraham Kahane, who took a personal interest in each student and initiated an exciting Mishmar program.

Though his peers and educators were all squarely on a different lifestyle track, Rav Ahron and five of his peers wanted to attend a high school with a more intense Torah learning curriculum. They selected Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin. The Yeshiva didn’t seem intimidating. “They’ll learn in Chaim Berlin but remain Zionists,” remarked Rabbi Harold Greenberg, father of one of Rav Kaufman’s peers. (Rabbi Greenberg headed the educational department of the Jewish Agency [Suchnut].)

“When I arrived in Chaim Berlin, I didn’t know what a ‘yeshiva ketana’ is, and the only ‘laining’ I knew of was what’s done in a Sefer Torah,” Rav Kaufman recounts.

Over the subsequent years, Rav Kaufman developed into a dedicated ben Torah, and a prized talmid of Rav Yitzchok Hutner zt”l, and his son- in- law, Rav Yonasan David shlit”a. Rav Kaufman learned in Rav David’s yeshiva, Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok  in Eretz Yisroel.

A Gem at the Core of the Gems: The Waterbury Kollel

Walk into the Waterbury Yeshiva’s bais medrash at any time, and fifteen down to earthy, friendly yungerleit– mostly between ages 25 and 35 – are sitting there immersed in learning. Their desire to learn Torah and contribute to the Waterbury community goes to their very core.

“I have the dream rosh kollel job,” says the rosh kollel, Rabbi Chaim Cohen, with a large pile of open seforim on his table. “I can focus on being marbitz Torah. I don’t have to make anyone come – or want to come – learn.”

First seder, they learn masechtos – aliba d’hilchosa – with a mastery of Tur, Shulchan Aruch and halacha l’maasa. In the afternoon, they learn Gemara, with the goal of completing the masechta over the year with regular chazarah sedorim and written bechinos.

This past summer, the kollel went to noted poseik and mechaber of Sifrei Baadei Hashulchan Rav Feivel Cohen, father of the Rosh Kollel  and father-in-law of Rav Kaufman,  for a farher on the halachos of niddah and tevilah. Rav Feivel was immensely impressed by the broad knowledge and understanding the yungerleit demonstrated.

—

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

In Waterbury, every part of the community, every part of the chinuch, is intertwined.

The Kollel is an outgrowth of the original chabura of pioneering yungerleit who came to establish the Waterbury community and mosdos. Members of the group serve in various chinuch positions in Waterbury, from elementary school through Bais Medrash. The local Rov of Khal Bnei Shalom, Rav Yosef Sonnenschein, was a member of the original chabura, as was Rav Daniel Kalish, the Menahel of the Waterbury Mesivta and rov in the local Blue Ridge neighborhood.

The kollel, in its current form, was launched in 2004, when Rav Cohen, an esteemed talmid chacham, arrived. Rav Cohen previously served as Menahel and rebbi in Bais Medrash and Mesivta of Baltimore, under the leadership of his father-in-law, Rav Tzvi Dov Shlanger. Previously, Rav Cohen was a longtime member of the Edison, NJ Kollel. He is a uniquely dedicated Rosh Kollel both within the kollel and yeshiva and within the community. The yungerleit savor his knowledge of any sugya or halachos they learn, as well as his weekly shiurim and shmuess.

Waterbury’s kollel yungerleit are at the core of everything in the community. Many yungerleit have progressed to klei kodesh positions within Waterbury. Others are upstanding Torah bale batim in the community and/or at the helm of outstanding Torah institutions.

The Kollel provides an ongoing contribution to the kol Torah in the main Bais Medrash, which is shared by the Bais Medrash bochurim. The yungerleit serve as the ideal role models for the bochurim as to what a wholesome, well- rounded ben Torah is. The bochurim and yungerleit interact with each other amiably, happy to schmooze about both Torah- related and personal matters.

Most of the yungerleit spend their night seder learning one-on-one with local baalei batim, as part of their community night Kollel led by Rav Cohen, the Segan Rosh Kollel Rabbi Shea Lazenga and Rabbi Tzvi Thaler, a rebbi in the Bais Medrash. This ensures that Waterbury’s Torah reverberates within the entire community.

—

“Their Hearts and Their Actions Are Equal”

The caliber of Waterbury’s kollel yungerleit and their learning would be lofty by the standards of any kollel, in any American community. In fact, for instance, the Shas Illuminated program, which is utilized throughout the Torah world, is a project of a Waterbury yungerman, Rabbi Yaakov Metz.

Rabbi Shlomo Gigi initially came to the yeshiva, while in school at night to receive a degree in prosthetics. Rabbi Gigi eventually abandoned that path, and dedicated himself to full-time learning. He has been in Kollel now for over a decade. He serves as a Rosh Chabura for BaisMedrash bochurim and can be found in Bais Medrash late every night.

Rabbi Gigi’s first seder chavrusa is Rabbi Adam Heavenrich, a native of the Detroit suburbs and an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Rabbi Heavenrich serves as the director of the Meor  Kiruv program at Yale University, which is not far from Waterbury.

Though his position at Yale is essentially a full-time job, Rabbi Heavenrich extends himself to learn a full morning seder in Kollel every day. Waterbury is a very useful kiruv resource for Yale students. Rabbi Heavenrich frequently brings them to the community for Shabbatons to see how beautiful Torah life is.

Rabbi Heavenrich’s daily seder also helps him be who he is, which in turn helps him inspire others. “This is my oasis,” he says with a smile, as he heads towards his daily trip to Yale. While in Kollel, Rabbi Heavenrich makes sure that is phone is completely off. “I come here because I want to be 100% in the olam haTorah before I do kiruv; it is pikuach nefesh for me.”

Please join Rabbi Aaron Kotler this Motzei Shabbos for some for fabulous sushi, catering and good spirit at the Gross residence, 122 Arbutus Drive. Come see why over 50 boys from Lakewood have made Waterbury Yeshiva their home away from home. Come meet the most grateful fathers and warm Rabbeim, and ensure that they’re able to continue their vital mission. We will hear from the Mesivta of Waterbury choir