Although this was not my first visit to my eldest son Shimon and his family in Modiin Illit, also known as Kiryat Sefer, being in Eretz Yisrael on Chanukah was quite a different experience. In fact, knowing that the Chanukah story all began with a confrontation in nearby Modiin and that the seven major battles of the Maccabean Revolt took place in Judea and Samaria made the holiday come to life. So did my trip to Moshav Matityahu, namesake of one of the heroes of Chanukah.
Moshav Matityahu is located between Kiryat Sefer and the village of Hashmonaim. Compared to Kiryat Sefer, with its population of over 70,000, it is small; there are only about 100 families on the moshav (60 to70 percent, Israeli). It has undergone numerous changes since its founding by a group of about 20 American families who moved there in 1981. Under its first Rav, Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin, the moshav was a Religious Zionist collective endeavor. Today, it is privatized under the tutelage of Rabbi Zev Leff (an alumnus of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland and former Rav of the Young Israel of Greater Miami) and attracts a yeshivishe element.
Rabbi Yoni Fischer, son of Mrs. Ethel Fischer and the late Eugene Fischer of Baltimore, is the Rosh Hayeshiva of the only yeshiva on the moshav, Yeshivat Moshav Matityahu, more fondly known as “Fischer’s Yeshiva.” I had the pleasure of being escorted on a personal tour of the moshav and learning about the vital roles he and the yeshiva play in their community.
After clicking open the security gate from his car and driving down the dirt road leading into the rustic moshav, Rabbi Fischer pointed out a few trailers that served as the first dorms for the post-high school yeshiva when it opened three years ago. No longer sufficient to house the growing student body – it has quickly morphed from 30 to 140 students (and there is a waiting list!) – we proceeded down the road to see the rest of the moshav and the yeshiva’s expanding campus.
Born and Bred Baltimorean
The Fischer name is a familiar one to longtime Baltimoreans. Rabbi Fischer was born and raised in Baltimore; he is a product of TA and Ner Yisrael, high school through kollel (and a Ravens and Orioles fan, of course). His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Leopold Fischer, was the Rav of Zera Israel on Seven Mile Lane. Ironically, it was right across the street from Yeshivas Lev Shlomo, which Rabbi Yoni Fischer founded in 1998 and named after Rav Shlomo Friefeld, zt”l.
“I was in kollel when Avi Rosenbluth approached me to help him with the ruchnius part of a program he started with some boys who met at Agudah of Greenspring. This was before the concept of teens-at-risk became known,” explains Rabbi Fischer, who loves people and showing them the beauty of Judaism and their connection to life. “That led to the founding of Lev Shlomo.”
In 2005, Sh’or Yoshuv Institute, in Lawrence, New York, approached Rabbi Fischer about helping the yeshiva, and the Fischer family moved to Far Rockaway. Subsequently, in 2014, the Fischers settled in Moshav Matityahu, where he opened Yeshivat Moshav Matityahu.
As we drove through the palm tree-lined streets, past the seven added caravans and dorms, the yeshiva’s multi-purpose room, and the moshav’s three-million-dollar pool, which his students use all the time, Rabbi Fischer shared, “This whole campus, which is incredible, is a miracle; it’s all siyata d’Shmaya.”
Rabbi Fischer attributes the popularity of his yeshiva to its isolated location, its connection to a quiet American moshav, and its proximity to Kiryat Sefer, where his students can experience what an Israeli kollel town is like. The international student body is comprised of boys from TA and from almost every yeshiva, including the Mir.
“The advantages of being in a moshav is that it’s suburbia. You have houses and grass, like in Baltimore,” says Rabbi Fischer. “You know everyone, and everyone is part of the community. There’s a certain judgment letov (positivity), a certain achdus and acceptance of different types of people in Baltimore, and that is true of a moshav. City life has much more rigid expectations; it’s a rat race. On a moshav, you are better able to get in touch with yourself and be yourself.”
About half of the yeshiva’s 20 rebbeim live on the moshav, so they are able to host the students on Shabbos. The other half live in Kiryat Sefer, a short walk away. There is a lot of interaction between the yeshiva and the moshav. Its residents often daven in the yeshiva’s shul, and Rabbi Fischer gives a well-received shiur to the kids who live on the moshav.
Maryland Ties
Rabbi Fischer next showed me the yeshiva’s beis medrash, located on Rav Gifter Street, another Baltimore tie! It was filled with students learning, despite the fact that most had not yet returned from their Chanukah vacation. Outside the beis medrash, we met two of the yeshiva’s rebbeim, who also help run the day-to-day logistics of the yeshiva. They proved to also have a connection to Baltimore.
Rabbi Yaakov Frydman, another TA graduate, whose parents Avraham and Madalyn still live in Baltimore, happens to be Rabbi Fischer’s first cousin and the brother of Baltimore make-up artist, Adina B. Living on the moshav for 20 years, he was instrumental in helping the yeshiva find its location. Previously, he was a rebbi in Rabbi Leff’s yeshiva, which closed two years prior to Rabbi Fischer’s yeshiva opening.
Rabbi Peretz Goldberg, who grew up on the moshav, is married to a Poupko, a sister of Shoshana Feldman, a’h. His mother-in-law is a sister of Dr. Aviva Weisbord. He was the second connection for Rabbi Fischer when he moved to the moshav to start the yeshiva.
Soon after taking leave of these rebbeim, Rabbi Fischer waves to a student passing us on his bike as yet another Baltimore connection, Ozzie Steiman, a third-year student from Monsey, appears. Ozzie, who entered the yeshiva from Waterbury, is the grandson of the Wollners, former Baltimoreans. When I asked him how he was enjoying the yeshiva, he replied, “I wouldn’t be happy anywhere else.”
Ozzie, Rabbi Fischer mentions, is just one of his many students who have Baltimore/Silver Spring ties. Others include Boruch Goldsmith, Rocky Kelemer, cousins AB and Akiva Reznick, Asher Samberg, Yehuda Shwimmer, Yehuda Shnidman, and Yehuda Vershleisser.
Widening the Path
As we toured the rest of the campus, Rabbi Fischer remarked over the din of chirping birds, “What you see here works. It definitely validates the fact that when you give boys warmth, love, acceptance, and space, it works. Incorporated in the learning day is basketball and swimming, motivating them to learn. I have built monthly one- or two-day trips all over the country into my curriculum, too, because I feel it creates tremendous achdus. It evens the playing field. In the beis medrash, you have higher and lower, more and less successful, but on a trip everyone is the same. Also, this is Eretz Yisrael! This is our country. You can’t come to Israel and not experience it!”
We somehow got on the topic of off-the-derech kids, and Rabbi Fischer explained, “These kids aren’t off-the-derech at all. They are your B and C students. The system has become so rigid, and our world has become so polarized. You are either in or out, and there are so many great kids who are in the middle.”
Rabbi Fischer, who is also the director of SHMA Boys camps, quotes Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald, a”h, with whom he was close. Rabbi Greenwald, a chinuch maverick, once shared with him, “Why are so many kids off the derech? It’s because when you make the derech so narrow, there is not enough room for everyone. You’ve got to open it up.”
Rabbi Fischer provides an explanation: “Judaism is beautiful, and every person has a part of Judaism. We have to help them by trying to figure out a way to present that beauty to them. It’s not that they have to fit into Judaism; we have to fit Judaism into them. That is really what our yeshiva is all about, because there are a number of boys who need something just a little bit alternative, a little bit colorful. Everything is so rigid nowadays. I’m not negative to the system. I’m just trying to provide a needed service as I did in Baltimore.
“I think people appreciate our mechalech (path). Someone can learn here and learn very strongly. Usually a yeshiva is one or the other: You are either learning very strongly with no diversity, or you are diverse but you can’t get any seriousness in learning. We have a combination of the two, which I think is unique.”
In the Footsteps of His Father
As Rabbi Fischer drove me back to Kiryat Sefer, he concluded, “Everything I do here is based on the chinuch of my father, Eugene Fischer, a”h, a known educator at Ner Israel. This is what my father taught me: Love everyone, respect everyone, and help everyone succeed. My father didn’t believe in trying to “get kids” – giving bad marks or punishing kids if they do something wrong. He believed in helping a kid succeed and making him feel good. Show him that he can do it – not what he can’t do.”
Howard Reznick, AB Reznick’s father and Akiva Reznick’s uncle, corroborated that Rabbi Fischer was following in the giant footsteps of his father, whose first yahrtzeit was on Tu B’Shvat. Mr. Reznick, who visited Yeshivat Moshav Matityahu a couple of weeks after my tour, shared his observations with me: “I noticed that a lot of the rebbeim were walking and talking with the boys, and it really impressed me that much of the action happens in the beis medrash and much of the action happens on these walk and talks.
“It’s as if the rebbeim are saying, ‘I’m here to get to know you, and I am really opening to listen to where you are at. If you want advice, I’ll give you advice; if you want just an ear, I’ll give you my ear; if you want me to make a connection for you so you can move forward in whatever it is you need to move forward in, I’ll be there for you.’
“I was duly impressed. The yeshiva conveys the message, ‘Don’t get stuck in what you were doing; act on what you really want to be doing.’ I think for a lot of kids, it’s a really helpful, healthy message to change their lives in more positive, productive ways. Certainly, as a mental health professional, I think that is a good mahalach, a good way to go.”
His son AB confirmed this when he added, “I chose Fischer’s because it has a lot of diversity and an energetic atmosphere. It’s a place where kids from all walks of life are in it for one thing: to grow. The staff is unbelievable – always accessible and looking out for your best interest. This is my second year, and I’ve seen tremendous growth in myself and the friends around me
