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A year after Amsterdam (Holland) welcomed a Yeshiva under the guidance of Rabbi Mordechai Frankenhuis, this week marked the founding of a new Kollel in the city. The only Kollel in Amsterdam, it is based in the Jewish district in South Amsterdam in the Ets Chaim Beis haMedrash.
The Kollel consists of five English-speaking Avreichim, – R’ Mordechai Tzvi Ball; R’ Chaim Burman; R’ Yisroel Rose; R’ Simcho Stanton and R’ David Sztejnhauer – and is guided by organisations which support Kollelim in Eretz Yisroel and abroad. The Avreichim have moved from Eretz Yisroel to startthe initiative. They will learn under the guidance of Rosh Kollel Rabbi Yaakov Ball.
The Kollel was initiated by a prominent American machzik Torah (a descendant of the Chacham Tzvi) who asserted that, as he does business in Amsterdam, he would like to have a Kollel in a town which has such a rich Jewish history and was the home of numerous Gedolei Yisroel, such as the Ba’al Harokeach, the Binyan Ari’el and the Chacham Tzvi (after whom the Kollel is named) and, as the Netsiv says, that the Hashgochas Hashem on the Jewish people after the churban Habayis is through the “arbo amos shel halocho”.
The idea of the Kollel was conceived by two local askanim, R’ Yisroel Loonstein and R’ Danny Elburg and a third representative in Eretz Yisroel, Rabbi Shlomo Frankenhuis. The Avreichim will be learning Issur V’heter (Kashrus) for a year and a half after which they will travel to Eretz Yisroel to be tested by Poskim. Aside for their morning and afternoon seder in the Kollel, the Avreichim will be dedicating time in the evenings, Friday and Shabbos to work with the extended Amsterdam Jewish community in both formal and informal educational contexts and in outreach. Both the Avreichim and their wives are graduates of the Ner Le’elef rabbinic training program and will be working together to enhance Jewish community life in the city.
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One Response
Dear readers please note that till 2 1/2 years ago there was a kollel Chacham Zwi with more than 10 avreichim for more than 35 years in Amsterdam ( founded by Hechower Moishe Jehude Magnus s.z.l. in shutfus with Hechower Nechemje Roosen a.m.v.s.. I am very happy that someone has reopened a kollel in Amsterdam and wish them lots of success.