Synagogue to Host Yeshiva Session in Memory of Slain Students

A Stoughton, Mass., synagogue decided to honor the eight Jerusalem yeshiva students killed by a Palestinian gunman earlier this month by hosting a yeshiva night of its own.

Shaloh House Chabad of the South Area will be holding its learning session March 30. For the event, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Mendel Gurkow, the community center's spiritual leader and executive director, will lead a text-based discussion on the requirement to burn any chametz, or leavened products, in one's possession prior to the onset of Passover.

Gurkow called the topic "healing fire with fire."

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"We are responding to the fire of the victims," he said, referring to the March 6 attack on Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva, "with a discussion about the fire of chametz."

The rabbi asserted that one of the best way's to bring peace, healing and fulfillment to those touched by the yeshiva tragedy is to engage in Torah learning in memory of the victims. He emphasized that no Hebrew knowledge is necessary for the event, and that both men and women are invited.

"The average person has had no experience in a yeshiva setting," he said. "Now, they'll have the opportunity to experience the rigorous study of Judaism that yeshiva is known for. By participating in this one-time study session in memory of the eight victims, we will bring fulfillment and meaning to their sacrifice for their Torah study."

Following Gurkow's discussion of a dialogue about chametz recorded in the Talmud, participants will pair off to examine the text on their own, just like yeshiva students do every day around the world.