EDUCATION & CULTURE
When the Denver Community Kollel began more than 16 years ago, its bais medrash (study hall) was located on Denver’s West Side.
Rabbi Yaakov Meyer was then building a community in Southeast Denve, and he invited the Kollel to hold a weekly Wednesday night Torah study session at his facility in the Denver Tech Center area.
Fast forward to 2014.
Rabbi Meyer is now the rabbi of Aish Denver, an Orthodox outreach synagogue with hundreds of members. As Aish has grown, the Kollel’s involvement has grown as well.
There is now a Torah study session every night of the work week at Aish Denver to complement the sessions on the West Side. Three Kollel families and several Kollel alumni make their homes in Southeast Denver, and the Kollel offers numerous classes to both men and women on a weekly basis in the Southeast community.
Some months ago, Rabbi Meyer offered the Kollel the opportunity to rent its own bais medrash in the Aish Denver building, and the Kollel accepted. Rabbi Moshe Heyman, the Kollel’s director of programming and one of the original Kollel families who moved to the Southeast over seven years ago, was a driving force behind the new study hall.
“Having watched this community develop, it is very gratifying to have reached this point,” he says. “We look forward to further growth of the Kollel and the community here.”
Last June, Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler, dean of Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, NJ, the largest yeshiva in the US, visited Denver to mark the Kollel’s inaugural event at its new Southeast Kollel Torah Center.
Before introducing Rabbi Kotler, Kollel Dean Rabbi Shachne Sommers discussed the importance of the new center.
Rabbi Sommers noted that although the Kollel has been involved for many years with the Southeast community, having its own place marks a new level in stability.
“Sixteen years ago Rabbi Yaakov Meyer invited the Kollel to come to Southeast Denver to create a bais medrash,” said Rabbi Sommers. “With the development of the community, we have reached . . . a new level of stability and permanence.”
In his address, Rabbi Kotler said that a kollel brings more than just Torah study to the community; it also brings the pleasure of a Torah lifestyle.
“That’s what a kollel is. Bringing the presence of Torah . . . in a way that brings a pleasantness, a sweetness . . . it brings life, it brings joy.”
“Listening to Rav Kotler, I felt an awe at his presence,” said Joyce Litzman. “His depth and sincerity made an impression.”
“He gave me a greater understanding of a Kollel’s influence on a community as it creates an establishment of Torah,” said Chaya Sara Singer. Rabbi Kotler also delivered a talk for women, a Talmudic lecture for men and several talks on Denver’s West Side.
Copyright © 2014 by the Intermountain Jewish News
