(Shifra Chana and Jason Segal, Image by Rabbi Yisroel Bernath)
In today’s world, threats to Jewish
continuity are very real. It is a challenge for the entire Jewish people to
battle growing apathy by encouraging Jewish pride and leadership. In the face of
over-arching adversity, the impact of Mayanot’s efforts to educate the next
generation of Jewish leaders has a profound and far-reaching effect when alumni
choose to marry Jewish and build homes of Torah and chesed.
It is therefore with great joy that the
Mayanot family announces a ground breaking number of recent weddings,
celebrating the marriages of eight of our alumni in the span of only two and a
half weeks time.
These weddings took place all over the
world and amazingly Rabbi Shlomo Gestetner, Dean of the Mayanot
Institute of Jewish Studies, and Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, Executive
Director, were able to attend five of the eight weddings, collectively.
Celebrating a wedding, which is such a momentous
occasion in a student’s life, hearing how much their learning impacted their
journey, is as consequential for the faculty as it is life changing for the alumni.
Thus, it is a great privilege for us to share a few alumni testimonials from
those couples recently married.
Chava Hinsey, a 2015 Mayanot alumni articulated, “Baruch Hashem, I got married a month ago and I am now
living in Morristown with my husband. As I look around the little
cul-de-sac where we are living, I see how many people here have been impacted by
Mayanot. In my journey of returning to Yiddishkeit , Mayanot was a fundamental
experience in my growth. At Mayanot, I learned how to balance my passion for
Torah study with the larger picture of what it means to be a Jewish woman.”
Sabrina
Benros a 2016 alumni from Arizona
recounted, “Mayanot allowed me to open my eyes to the importance of having a
Jewish home and even more so, the importance of having that home follow the
path of the Torah. My time at Mayanot was very well spent and the memories I
made will certainly impact my life forever.”
Yacov Segal, a 2017 alumni
related, “The rabbis at the Mayanot yeshiva showed me that not only was it
OK to be myself, but they encouraged me to delve into my neshama and find a way
to inspire those around me. I am ecstatic and very grateful to Hashem that
several months after returning to Vancouver, Canada I met and married Shifra
Chana Landry from Montreal on Yud Beis Adar. I want to send a special thanks to Rabbi Baitelman who officiated our wedding and Shira Malca Zornitsky who was our shadchan.”
Chaya Bekermus, who recently married Adam Garcia a current student from
California, shared, “Mayanot
serves as a stable and balancing platform for my husband to learn Torah and was
an immense support for us during our dating process, and continues to be
in our marriage. I am deeply thankful to Mayanot for being such a conduit of
holiness and acceptance.”
The list of recent weddings:
Ruchama Steben to Eliezer Phillips
(February 22)
Bracha Rivka Kappah to Moshe Nachman
Abramson (February
28)
Sabrina Benros to Harel Baruchi (February 28)
Yacov Segal to Shifra Chana Landry (March 1)
Adam Garcia to Chaya Bekermus (March 4)
Chava Hinsey to Chaim Ahron Green (March 5)
Danielle Savva to Yoel Kaufman
(March 6)
Zach Gilbert-Burke to Ayla
Pastelnick (March 8)
We want to wish a big Mazal Tov to these
and the hundreds of other alumni couples from past years of Mayanot, as well. It’s a pleasure to watch our Mayanot family grow and flourish.
(Chaya and Adam Garcia)
(Sabrina and Harel Baruchi)
(Chava and Chaim Ahron Green)