There were the parts and the whole.

Both would leave participants of Agudas Yisroel of America’s second American Yarchei Kallah — held this past Shabbos through Monday afternoon at the Newark Hilton – feeling uplifted and inspired.

For veteran attendees, the “whole” – the privilege of hearing from and simply being with an illustrious assemblage of Gedolei and Manhigei Yisroel, the atmosphere of conviviality, the aura of kedusha that permeated this unique gathering   — did not surprise and certainly did not disappoint. The feeling among “first-timers,” expressed again and again throughout the four days, was that — notwithstanding all they’d heard and read about it– the event had to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

“Passing from the mundane to the sublime,” was the way one newcomer described walking through the glass doors that separated the lobby of the busy airport hotel from the area that had been specially designated for the Yarchei Kallah.

“I had originally planned to stay only through Shabbos,” said another. “But there was no way I could bring myself to leave. There was just something so pure about it all.”

And then there were the “parts”: the sweet, melodious strains of the Kabbolas Shabbos setting the tone for the beauty and spirituality of the next 24 hours; the powerful draw of the conference room turned beis medrash;  the  rischa d’areisa that characterized the outstanding shiurim by Rabbi Dan Blumberg, Rosh Kollel Yisroel V’Shimshon of the West Side, Rosh HaYeshiva Ohr Simcha, Englewood,  and Rabbi  Noach Isaac Oelbaum, Rav, Khal Nachlas Yitzchok; and the “hallway” sessions, with groups of lomdim reflecting on this drosha, reexamining a point raised in that shiur.

Most memorable, of course, and what every participant would no doubt take back home with them, were the lessons and messages imparted by the Gedolei Torah who delivered those in-depth  shiurim and inspiring droshos.

The program opened Friday night with two shiurim. The first, by Rrabbi Yitzchok Sorotzkin, Rosh Yeshivas Telz, focused on the sugya d’kallah, “Krias HaTorah,” offering an insightful and deep analysis of the requirement of a tzibbur for krias haTorah. Rabbi Sorotzkin was followed by Rabbi Usher Weiss, Av Beis Din, Darchei Horaha, Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshiva Darchei Torah, who delivered a shiur on the parsha, spinning  a seamless web of lomdus, halacha l’maaseh and agadah based on the mitzvah of achilas kodshim.

In describing the impact of the shiurim, one participant said: “I looked around the room at 10:30 and I saw a beis medrash filled with middle-aged people who had just sat attentively through deep shiurim by Gedolei Yisroel. Usually, at that hour of leil Shabbos, I have moved on to the mitzvah of shina b’Shabbos taanug; but no one budged—we all just sat there grasping for more.”

After Shacharis the next morning, Rabbi Sorotzkin delivered a drosha on the incredible koach of tefilla. “There is no question that the Rosh Yeshiva’s words had a strong impact on my Mussaf and the rest of my tefillos throughout the Yarchei Kallah,” said one of the lomdim. “The challenge is to keep them in my mind and heart the rest of the year.”

Later that Shabbos, the lomdim would have the privilege of hearing a spellbinding Sholosh Seudos drosha from Rabbi Yaakov Reisman, rav, Agudath Israel of Long Island,  in which he compared the bigdei kehuna that were fashioned l’chovod u’lesifores with the way a Jew must approach his avodas Hashem.  Explicating a shiur dass by the Telshe Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Avrohom Yosef Bloch, Rabbi Reisman portrayed the end result of this process as l’kadsho v’lechano – reaching a high level of kedusha.

A powerful—and empowering — message of ahavas Hashem was conveyed at the Melave Malka by Rabbi Usher Weiss, who had traveled all the way from Yerushalayim to be part of this special gathering l’shem Shomayim.  Relaying the heartbreaking news of a very recent personal loss, Rabbi Weiss then shared with the visibly moved assemblage what the tragedy had taught him: In times of sorrow, those who feel close to HaKodosh Boruch Hu feel His brocha upon them. “It does not diminish the grief,” he averred,” but  imparts a feeling of calm and submission,” The greatest balm for his pain, the Rosh HaYeshiva told his listeners, is limud haTorah.

Affected as much by the speaker’s incredible dignity and deep emunah as by his distressing besura, the crowd fell almost eerily silent at the conclusion of Rabbi Weiss’ remarks. The normal tenor of a Melave Malka was restored only when, at Rabbi Weiss’ request, the men broke into spirited z’miros.

Addresses delivered the next evening would bring additional messages of chizuk and hisorirus.

“When two people sit and learn,” said the Lakewood Mashgiach, Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon, “the Schechina is with them.” Alluding to the week’s parsha and its focus on the building of the Mishkon, the place in which the Schechina rests, Rabbi Salomon went on to explain the concept of gilui Schechina.

 “When the Ribbono Shel Olam’s hashgacha is recognized, when it can be seen making contact with creation – as it was in the Mishkon and in the Bais Hamikdash — that’s gilui Schechina.”

 Giving numerous examples of the nissim Hashem regularly performed in those holy places, Rabbi Salomon brought the discussion back to the Chazal that tells us that when two Jews engage in Torah study, the Schechina is present.

“It would be a pity to go away from such a gathering without recognizing the nissim that brought us all here,” the Mashgiach observed.  “To have in this day and age a head and a heart pure enough to learn is a ness, one that Hakodosh Boruch performs for us because He wants us to come closer to Him and to realize that our lives have to change.”

Rabbi Salomon closed his remarks with an eitzah tova for the lomdim: “When you return home, examine your life and resolve to live it with the Shechina. Because living with the Shechina affects every facet of our lives.”

“And, it all begins,” the Mashgiach proclaimed, “with two Yidden coming together to learn Torah.”

The subject of Talmud Torah, and, more specifically the laws of Birchas haTorah and their “profound effect” on limud haTorah, were addressed by the next speaker, Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Feuer, rav, Kehillas Bais Avrohom.  Galvanizing his listeners with his characterization of the Torah’s transformative properties, the speaker went on to examine the various halachos related to Birchas HaTorah – “ they should be said with trepidation, from a Siddur, slowly and deliberately and with yishuv hadaas.” Birchas HaTorah, which Rabbi Feuer called “the most important” brochos of the day  “set the stage for proper limud, lead us back to Sinai” and inspire us “to learn in the way Moshe Rabbeinu intended.”

Rabbi Feuer’s electrifying talk reached a crescendo with his observation that limud haTorah benefits not only the learner, keeping him spiritually afloat, but the Torah itself, which depends on those who learn it to keep it alive.

The penultimate shiur was delivered by Rabbi Yeruchem Olshin, Rosh Yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha, who gave a fascinating talk about the different halachos surrounding the last eight p’sukim of the Torah.

The final drosha of the Yarchei Kallah was delivered by Rabbi Avrohm Schorr, Rav Khal Tiferes Yaakov who, in his inimitable style, delivered a riveting talk about the sanctity of Shabbos and its connection to krias haTorah and limud haTorah.

Quoting the Ben Ish Chai, Rabbi Schorr informed his listeners that “learning a blatt Gemara on Shabbos, is equivalent to learning 1,000 blatt during the week.”  But, the Rav stressed, this benefit is obtained only if one has the proper understanding of the kedusha of Shabbos and conducts himself accordingly. Women, too, have a special power on Shabbos, Rabbi Schorr observed;  when they bentch lecht with the proper kavana, they have the koach to change their lives and the lives of their descendents for generations to come.

It would be hard to imagine an audience more receptive to Rabbi Schorr’s message – indeed, to all the inspiring words of Torah they had been privileged to hear throughout the Yarchei Kallah – than  these  baaleibatim who had chosen to spend  an unforgettable four days learning Torah and mining its riches.