Community Magazine February 2019

“It’s Torah and tefillah in its purest level – no ulterior motives.” This is how one student describes his experience as an avrech (young married student) in Kollel Milhamta Shel Torah in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, a unique full-time Torah learning program serving the Bukharian community of Queens. The kollel was founded in October 2013 by Rav Ariel Baal-Lev, a Bukharian Jew born in Vienna, Austria, with the encouragement of his rebbe, Rav Mordehai Lamet, and Rav Yaakov Moshe Hillel, Rosh Yeshiva of Ahavat Shalom. The students are scholars of the highest caliber who relocated from Eretz Yisrael with the specific goal of spreading Torah in Queens, which is home to the largest Bukharian Jewish community outside Israel, numbering approximately 100,000. Beyond providing a framework to enable its outstanding avrechim to realize their potential as Torah leaders, the kollel also runs numerous programs for all thevarious segmentsof thepopulation. KollelMilhamta is run under the guidance of RavMeir Stern, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic; Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedola Zichron Moshe South Fallsburg; and Hacham Yosef Raful, Rosh Yeshiva of Ateret Torah, to whom the kollel brings its complex questions regarding the community. The kollel has also received the endorsement of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt”l . In an interview with Community Magazine , Mr. Ariel Yagudaev, the devoted administrator of Kollel Milhamta, shared the unique history of theBukharian Jewish community, anddescribed the struggles it has faced upon reaching these shores. He also outlined the bold, ambitious vision that guides this very unique Torah institution which seeks to spiritually energize thecommunityand lead it tohigher levels of Torahcommitment. The History ofBukharianJewry Bukharian Jews are Sephardic Jews from Uzbekistan. Bukhara comes from the word 'nivchar' - chosen. A part of the chosen nation. The Jews of Bukhara traditionally spoke Bukhori, or Judeo-Tajik, a dialect of the Tajiki-Persian language that includes some Hebrew. Bukharian Jews worked as merchants and craftsmen, trading along the series of trade routes known as the Silk Road. As one of the most isolated Jewish communities in the world, Bukharian Jews often had difficulty maintaining their standards of Jewish practice. In1793, aMoroccan-born rabbi fromSafednamedRabbi Joseph Mamman Maghribi traveled to Bukhara and was disturbed by the low level of observance among the community. He decided to stay in order to reeducate the Bukharian Jews about their Sephardic traditions and prayers. Rabbi Mamman had a profound impact on the community, and is creditedwith revitalizing religious life for generations of Bukharian Jews. In 1920, during the Russian Revolution, the RedArmy arrived in Central Asia, and in 1924, Bukhara became part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan, a republic of the Soviet Union. As in the rest of the Soviet Union, the Stalinists launched a campaign to eradicate Judaism. They left just one synagogue for each large community, and made religious practice all but impossible. In the late 1930s, the Soviets ELLEN GELLER KAMARAS Rabbi Eli Mansour delivering a speech at the Queens parlor meeting. Rabbi Ginsburg speaking at Rabbi David Ozeri's house in a parlor meeting for the kollel. 28 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE A Spiritual Home for Torah andTefillah Kollel Milhamta Shel Torah of Queens