by Noam Mayerfeld (’19)
On Friday, Rabbi Kerner’s shiur headed out to Monsey for the shiur shabbaton. The first stop was the St. Lawrence gym. After exciting games of basketball, and many losses to Rabbi Kerner in racquetball, who still remains undefeated, the talmidim headed to their hosts to prepare for Shabbos. They gathered in Kehillat New Hempstead (KNH) for a beautiful Friday night davening, followed by a delicious meal at the Kerner residence. After the meal, they went to learn in a nearby beis medrash, and then returned for an oneg with former Maggid Shiur Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhoffer as a guest speaker. Rabbi Bechoffer opened their minds to major issues with society today, and showed them the many questions that they should ask. The students enjoyed a very inspirational experience throughout the meal, oneg and post-oneg tisch (in the other room), with the songs they sung, further infused by some of the boys in the shiur that recently returned from their time at Yeshivat Makor Chaim. After some late night chulent, the boys went to sleep already excited for the day to come.
The next morning, they davened again at KNH, where they were joined by Reb Yonah Hazzan (known as Rabeinu Yonah), the boys YU shoel umaishiv for bekius. After davening and kiddush, the boys went to a shiur by Rabbi Dani Staum. After the shiur, the talmidim returned to the Kerner home for lunch, where they were taught a Sephardic zemer by Rabeinu Yonah. The boys then proceeded to mincha which was followed by an inspirational mussar shmooz from Rabeinu Yonah. They then had some free time, where they played, learned, walked or just relaxed; after this, they returned to Rabbi Kerner’s house for shalosh seudos. Finally, they davened maariv and proceeded to “Bounce! Trampoline Sports”. After the wonderful experience “bouncing,” the boys enjoyed a tasty melava Malka at the home of Yaron Kahan (’19) to cap off the incredible weekend. The students really enjoyed, and are looking forward to a great rest of the year with Rabbi Kerner.
