Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz

Let's just talk about the importance of Simcha.

It just happens to be yesterday I had the privilege of going together with a group of Datilu Umi Rabbanim from Eretz Yisrael who are here to... I'm not sure what they're here for, but I think they're here to learn about American Judaism.

And they've gone to all sorts of different places in America today.

to see from Jews and the different Tashkafos and the different ways of doing things, and they visited Lakewood, and they saw BMG, and they met with Ramal Kiel Cutler, and they visited Yeshiva University, and they met with our Rashi Yeshiva, and they visited the Chabad Kinas HaShluchim, and they visited our scroll headquarters, and they asked them, when are you going to start translating Rav Kook?

And the answer was, never, ever, ever.

But whatever it was, they visited a whole bunch of places.

Yesterday, I happened to have gone with them to Yeshiva Darchei Torah.

They were in the five towns, and they were visiting

DRS and they're visiting Darche so I figured I want to be on the fly a fly on the wall when they go to visit Darche and because you know Darche is more yeshivish more I guess they would identify as Haredi but American Haredi and much more open-minded Haredi and certainly a very different experience than let's say BMG or Lakewood and this group was going to be meeting

with Ravelli Brudny for lunch as well, who's obviously a member of the Moetz Eskedolei HaTorah of the Agudah.

So anyway, with that background, while we were in Darche, they brought us to, I think it was a 7th grade classroom, and there was a Rebbe, Rebbe Halbertal, I think is his name, who is, I think he lived in Israel, maybe is Israeli, so he was able to communicate with

in Hebrew, you know, a real shein yid, as they say, a very, very, very special, sweet person.

I don't know him, but just by seeing him behave in those few minutes, you could tell right away, you know, some people you could tell right away that they're extraordinary.

And I'm sure it was no accident that Darche chose his classroom to bring these Rabbanim to.

And, you know, they had an Israeli flag hanging in the classroom, which I assume was the cover of these Rabbanim and was not...

you know, something that's there every day.

But it was very, very sweet, very nice.

And Rabbi Halbutzal asked Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, the Rashi Sheva of Merkes Harav, he said, Harav, you're here.

You know, he was clearly the Arisha of the Chabura.

There were a lot of great Talmudic Chachamim that had come.