[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Twenty year-old Moshe Mentchikov just celebrated a siyum in Maseches Bava Kama. He’s not your average bochur: he grew up behind the Iron Curtain in a family who knew little about Yiddishkeit. But Hashem intervened on behalf of this precious soul—by way of the kiruv organization Oorah—and rescued him from religious oblivion.
The story begins with a bochur from New York, Ephraim Eidensohn, who flew out to the Ukraine to serve as a counselor at a summer camp called Yad Yisroel where Moshe’s older brother Yaakov was a camper. Ephraim took an interest in Yaakov and corresponded with the boy once the summer was over.
Five years later, the Mentchikov family left Russia, immigrating to a town near Atlanta, Georgia. Ephraim Eidensohn was instrumental in convincing the Mentchikov family to send their children to a Jewish Day school. The Menchikov children also attended Oorah’s Jewish Summer Camp for 5 years!
Moshe ultimately ended up living with the Eidensohn’s in Lakewood, NJ and attending Darchai Torah in Far Rockaway. After graduating, Oorah stepped in again, sending Moshe to Eretz Yisroel to study in Yeshiva. But the big news in this story is Moshe’s siyum. Boys and men only dream of such a siyum for a tractate of some 100 blatt to cover. Moshe’s siyum was held in the cafeteria at Oorah in Lakewood, while Moshe was home for Pesach.
Moshe’s rebbe from high school, Rabbi Leibush Langer, came all the way from New York to Lakewood to be there as did Moshe’s rebbe from Eretz Yisroel, Rabbi Yisroel Appelbaum, who flew to Lakewood for the siyum. Also in attendance was 50 Oorah volunteers, both married and single, who came to give Moshe chizuk.
Says Rabbi Akiva Goldberger of Oorah Israel, “I was at his last siyum in Eretz Yisroel a year ago, and then I said I would see big things from him. Now he’s coming for a third year which is just incredible”. Oorah is a family for Moshe as it is for all the families with whom we get involved,” says Rabbi Goldberger. “Oorah is a full package.”
(Varda Epstein / kars for kids)
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6 Responses
A beautiful story. But considering that the Iron Curtain fell in Ukraine in 1991, 22 years ago, I wouldn’t quite say that the bochur grew up behind the Iron Curtain.
What year is the story from? Anyone who grew behind the Iron Curtain is middle aged now. Most Yidden are too young to remember there ever was a place called the Soviet Union.
This story is 100% legit ! I learn with him in yeshiva ! Oorah has done what not for this family and thanks to that he was able to finish a few mesechta’s already , keep it up Moshe
yentemonkey : If he’s in his 20s today, it is impossible for him to have grown up behind the iron curtain (unless he is a time traveller, which is unlikely). It is possible the author of the article was unaware of what the “iron curtain” was.
definitely did not grow up behind Iron Curtain
although Ukraine is not a paradise even now
seriously people, we’re talking about a real-live bochur here. Get over yourselves and your need for historical perfection, and just see the beauty of the story!