B''H

Thoughts about HaRav Chanan Velvel Simcha ben Bryna, may he have an elevation of the soul.

I just heard that Chanan Feld has past out of this world. He had seemed sick before I left for Israel, and I guess his condition just deteriorated as the weeks past. He was my mother’s age, which is too young to leave a wife and three children. Hash-m works in mysterious ways sometimes.

My first memory of him was a my brother’s bris 14 years ago. He was the mohel. He did most of the brisim in the Bay Area for the past 25 years. He probably would have done mine too. I remember my mother was crying because she was so happy that her 2nd son would be circumcised. I was only 8 years old, but that memory was a big reason for my wanting to have my own bris done when I was twelve, before I became bar mitzvah.

Chanan also co-founded that Berkeley Beis Midrash, which is now a small but thriving community that is now suffering greatly from losing him but will, im yiratz Hash-m, continue to be place of torah and tfilah. He taught there every week until he became too ill, and he and his wife brought countless yidn back to yiddishkeit. He was one of the people that guided me to be where I am now, at this great little Yehsiva in Yerushalaim.

I don’t know if this is true, but I heard that Chanan used to be a professional soccer player. He became frum as an adult, m’karev by Rabbi Ferris. He went from not even knowing aleph beis to one of Nor Cal’s most beloved rabbis. He’s even got his own spot in the new Jewish museum.

He’s going to be buried here in eretz hakodesh. I’m sad that I can’t be with our community in Berkeley right now, but my roommate, who knew him also, and I are going to hold a little farbringen in his honor, im yiratz Hsh-m.

Take care all, and may there be only revealed good in your lives.

Yoel David

I’m going to try my best to catch up to current events. High Holidays will probably need a whole entry of their own.

Mayanot has about 60 bocherim, though during the summer they have almost twice that. The guys are from all over the English and Spanish speaking world. I’m lucky that I can speak both languages, but it makes learning Hebrew that much more confusing. I can’t count how many times I’ve accidentally ordered a falafel or tried to buy something in the shuk in Spanish instead of Hebrew.

I was worried my Hebrew would stagnate here, being around Anglos and Latinos instead of Israelis, but there is plenty of opportunity to improve if you’re motivated. We have written Ulpan for 4 hours a week, and spoken Ulpan for 6; most of the guys who have already been here a year or more speak Hebrew fine. I hope I’ll be at that point by the end of my stay here.

Our spoken Ulpan teacher is an older Temani man who we call moreh Atzmi. He’s clever and funny, and speaks with that funny Temani accent. The other teachers are all Chabad rabbis with a few exceptions. The Navi teacher has Rabbanut smicha, and I think our written ulpan teacher does as well. The faculty is a pretty mixed bag overall: There’s a chasid from Antwerp, Belgium, who teachers Chumash, our history teacher moonlights as a dentist, and my Gemara teacher is actually a Mayanot graduate himself.

If I were to go all the classes, including the lectures and tutorials in the evenings, I could literally be studying for 9 or 10 hours a day. Add eating and sleeping and basic hygiene, and I could never leave the walls of the yeshiva if I wanted to. Fortunately, neither I nor most of the bocherim are quite so inclined. Jerusalem is an interesting and exciting city after all, and we make sure to get out at least every week. There’s a group of guys who like to perform on Ben Yehuda; one does devil sticks, one juggles cigar boxes, and another guy does a routine involving a burning rope.

Shabbos is coming early. More later.

Yoel David