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Commercial plants who prepare shofars for sale often use electric drills to widen the space�in the mouthpiece. It is not uncommon that the drill accidentally perforates the shofar’s�wall, posuling the shofar. It is also tragically happens that the guilty technician tries to save�the shofar by filling the hole with putty and sanding it over to make it invisible to the�untrained eye. Of course, the shofar remains posul, but the average consumer wouldn’t�know how to detect that.

The avreichim at the Center for Kehillah Development in Yerushalayim spent a night in Elul�constructing their own shofars so that they could see the process and learn how to�distinguish a kasher shofar from a posul one.

A few weeks later, HaRav Moshe Bransdorfer of the B’datz Eidah HaChareidis, spent the day�with the CKD avreichim teaching them how to identify when someone has tampered with an�esrog to make it appear more “mehadrin” while simultaneously creating a p’sul invisible to�the untrained eye. HaRav Bransdorfer also trained the avreichim in the subtle standards for�identifying genuine hiddur in all arba minim.

A few weeks later, the avreichim began their weekly sofrus course. Each CKD avreich is�trained as a sofer and actually writes his own Megillah. “Our goal is not to produce sofrim,”�explained Rav Leib Kelemen, Dean of CKD. “In order to truly know how to poskin sheilos in�Sifrei Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzos, a rav needs to thoroughly understand the process from�beginning to end, and that’s not something that can be learned theoretically. You need to�get your hands dirty.”

The Center for Kehillah Development’s goal is to train high-level rabbinic leadership for�English speaking communities around the world. Rav Kelemen explained that in addition to�getting multiple smichos and mastering hundreds of dapim of Gemara, the avreichim get�shimush learning the halachos and practice of Sta”m, milah, shechitah and a host of other�parts of real rabbinic life. The avreichim also get high level training in chinuch, marriage-�counseling, and crisis-intervention.

Today the CKD has 20 exceptional avreichim, and it plans to accept a few more similarly�talented avreichim this Elul. Their registration has begun, and as in previous years�applications are being reviewed on a first-come- first-served basis. Avreichim between ages�25-30 who aspire to spend their lives in rabbanus, chinuch, or kiruv can find out more about�the program by visiting www.c4kd.org or may apply by emailing [email protected].