New Shiur !

Rav Orloweck - Feeling the Pain Of Others

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- Regards from BTI

My Shavuos

By Tzippy Kay

Yom tov started out with a meal at the Sharfman household where something fun and exciting is always going on. (It just gets a bit embarrassing when 7 year old Ezzy knows more answers to the Shavuos questions than you do).
The holiday continued with some learning in the Beis Medrash, followed by three inspirational speakers. Rabbi Kahane, in particular, impacted us with his message of the cyclical nature of the Jewish calendar. He said that on Shavuos we are actually reliving the receiving of the Torah - and just like the occasion at Har Sinai - Hashem goes around and asks us if we want to accept the Torah. The question in our times, therefore, is whether we are willing to give up all of the follies and other things that interfere with us truly connecting to Hashem? This definitely lead to some soul searching in all of us.

By 4:30 am we started walking to the Kotel. The scene was indescribable! The closer you got to the Old City the bigger the crowd swelled. Streams of people became rivers of Jews all heading for one spot - it reminded me of Aliyah L'regel. You really felt like you were part of a bigger picture. When I saw the crowd at the Kotel - filling the plaza all the way back and up into the stairs - I really felt as if I, personally, was accepting the Torah again - it was the perfect culmination to a night of learning and preparation. I will cherish the memory always.

(picture not taken on Yom Tov - duh !)

- Regards from BTI

Greatness !

The BTI Blog has received over 150 visitors in the past 5 days !! You guys are great !!!

I know it seems backwards ...

I know it seems backwards that a symposium on tzniyus should be publicized ... but we'll do it with subtlety and taste.
This annual event here at BTI is an in depth look at a topic that focuses on the shallow ( or rather on how to avoid shallowness in our personal conduct ).
A highlight of the symposium ( or "yom iyun" as we call it ) is the panel that is addressed with all sorts of questions.
We caught up with Mrs. Chana Silver, the event's organizer, while drinking her second cup of coffee ( "only two so far", she mentioned, before sheepishly adding "it's only 10:30, though.").
"This yom iyun is fantastic !" she said " it's really enlightening to discover the many different dimensions of tzniyus - it's really a way of life as opposed to a dress code."
Mati Buchsbaum ( BTI '05-'06, '06-'07 ) pondered aloud "I really appreciate the new self awareness I'm learning - the lectures are interesting and thought provoking." Whereupon a nearby student commented - "provoking ? I thought you were gonna say provocative - that would be totally against the point !"
Indeed.
Other common quotes by students were :
"great", "amazing", "incredible" and, of course, "Hey, Breakfast is great !"

ahhhh life at BTI goes on - just like you remember it ....

- Regards from BTI

The Different Sides of the Beis Medrash

The Lighter Side :
















The Brighter Side :















- Regards From BTI

בין אדם לחבירו by Jeanie Bryskman

We are in the midst of ספירת העומר . Each and every one of us is called upon to make an effort to achieve the goal ואהבת לרעך כמוך.

There are so many instances in a single day where we either blurt out something hurtful that we don't mean, or say something caring that could "make someone's day."

Once, a student and a teacher studied a פירוש together. The young woman read a long paragraph an when she finished, the teacher "happened" to comment: "Wow, it was such a pleasure to hear you read. You did a beautiful job!"

YEARS later, that student came back to tell the teacher, "I have to thank you. I always had a reading problem, but I once read something to you and you complimented me on my reading." (The teacher had no idea that there was a reading disability- she wasn't her regular teacher.) "From that day on," the student continued, "the wall fell down and I never had a reading problem again!" Astounding - what a few kind "unintentional" words can do!

There's a story about the Chofetz Chaim. A young man went off the derech and started smoking on Shabbos. The Chofetz Chaim called him in for a "talk," and after awhile, everyone saw the change. There was so more smoking on Shabbos and the man became a בעל תשובה גמור.

Years later, the story was told in America of how the Chofetz Chaim had such a powerful impact on the bochur, yet no one knew what the Chofetz Chaim had actually said.

After the drasha, a man approached the speaker and said, "I was that bochur!"

"What was it that the Chofetz Chaim said to you?" asked the speaker.

"He didn't really say much. He took my hand in his and kept repeating through his tears, 'Shabbos! Shabbos!' His holy tear touched my hand and it has been burning me ever since!"

Know the power of a word!
The כח of a tear!
The השפעה of a smile!

- Regards from BTI

Lag BaOmer in Meron !

As part of another splendid, all-out, two day tiyul extravaganza, BTI went north ! Lag BaOmer in Meron was described as being "an intensely holy experience." Pictured here are some of this year's Shana Bet as well as several onlookers ( who are no doubt basking in the reflected kedusha of either Rashbi or BTI Shana Bet ).

The tiyul also continued to Amuka, burial site of the Tanna Yonason ben Uziel. After parking the bus, the driver got up and stretched his legs - while the bus rolled a bit back up the hill !! Again the power of kedusha gravitation defeats physics. Wow.

More photos and tiyul testimonials ( there are unconfirmed reports of a wading pool that gave the ability and inspiration to burst into song to several Shana Alef-ers ) coming soon ....

- Regards from BTI

Inspiration !

On the bulletin board this week :

"Before you utter a word - you control it, once you say it aloud - it controls you."

When I cornered Rabbi Sharfman at the coffee machine and asked for inspiration while I balanced one leg ( I don't have such great balance ) - I got this quote :

"It's never too late to become the person you'd like to be"

- regards from BTI