(Click on images to ENLARGE) It used to be that yeshiva bochurim were not necessarily on the cutting edge when it came to Hilchos Shabbos.  Now, thanks to Mifaal Hilchos Shabbos program, a program partially sponsored by Tzeirei Agudas Yisroel, that is no longer the case.  This past Isru Chag, close to two hundred Yeshiva students gathered in the Ateres Chynka Simcha hall to take an extremely difficult exam in hilchos Shabbos – specifically the laws of Hatmana, Sheyiha, Chazara, and Afiah. The Yeshiva students came from throughout the greater metropolitan area and beyond.  They drove in from Monsey, Far Rockaway, Lakewood, Nassau County, and Queens to take a written examination on this complex area of halacha.  “From the start the idea was received very enthusiastically by the bochurim and the hanhalla of the Yeshivos,” said Rabbi Pinchas Pilchick the national director of the program.  The attendees prepared diligently for months, studying from the world renowned series on Hilchos Shabbos entitled “Klalim B’Hilchos Shabbos.”

The test included 46 multiple choice questions and fifteen essay questions across a very broad spectrum of Hilchos Shabbos.  Students prepared well for the exam.  Prior to the exam a Long Beach Yeshiva student was quizzed as to whether there was a prohibition of Hatmana regarding keeping ice cream cold.  “According to Rashi, yes, but we do not paskin like his opinion,” was the rapid response.

“Boruch Hashem, it has been three years since we have launched this program, and we have Bochurim from over forty Yeshivos who take off from their own time to study and be tested on this material.  It demonstartes that Bochurim see the importance of knowing Hilchos Shabbos,” said Rabbi Yosef Hirsch, the founder of the Mivchan HaShabbos program of the Mifaal. “It is a zchus to be a part of it.”

This year, for the first time, the multiple choice section of the exam was marked electronically by computer.  This allowed for students who wished to see how they performed on this section of their exam to examine it right after the test.  The technology will be furthered for the next round of examinations.

Anyone who received a perfect score on the exam will receive a $150 cash prize.  The next tier of scorers will receive a $100 cash prize. A Yeshiva of Far Rockaway mother expressed her pride in her son’s accomplishment saying, “He worked hard and he knows the material.” The next test will take place on Sunday after Isru Chag of Pesach. For more information call the Mivchan HaShabbos office at 732-363-0669.

(Exclusive to YWN by Yair Hoffman – Lezecher Nishmas his parents: Nassan Yosef Ben
Moshe and Sara Bas Eliyahu)