The Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson Yeshiva Ktana, the leading educational institution of the Dnipro Jewish Community for boys, held a festive opening of the new season of the international children’s organization Tzivos Hashem. The organization was founded at the initiative of the Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to educate Jewish children in the spirit of Torah, the fulfillment of mitzvos, and Chassidic traditions.
The festive opening program took place on 7 Cheshvan, the day on which, in the Land of Israel, the request for rain is added to the Amidah prayer—a request that, according to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s explanation, has a special connection to the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel. In the festively decorated hall of the yeshiva, after watching a video dedicated to Tzivos Hashem, the students recited the Twelve Pesukim—selected passages from the Torah and the sayings of our sages that the Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed every Jewish child to learn. The boys then watched a video of the Rebbe, and Rabbi Akiva Romanovsky addressed the participants with a talk dedicated to the significance of 7 Cheshvan.
The central part of the celebration was the formal acceptance of the first-grade students into Tzivos Hashem. Seven boys recited the traditional promise to uphold the principles of the organization, received their first insignia, berets, and books, after which all those present welcomed the new members to the anthem of Tzivos Hashem.
This year, Menachem Mendel Engelsman, Dovid Lazarev, Yosef Listengurt, Eliyahu Segal, Yosef Yitzchak Smilyansky, Schneur Zalman Feldman, and Levi Shufotinsky joined the organization. For each of them, this day became an important event symbolizing the beginning of a new stage of participation in the shared program of Chassidic education.
The gathering concluded with a presentation of the Tzivos Hashem system, during which the students were told about the opportunities for advancing through its ranks, the distinctive berets, and a special reward store where achievements in learning, fulfilling mitzvos, and good deeds receive their deserved recognition. Thus, the new season opens up additional opportunities for the boys to express themselves, strengthen their knowledge, and take joy in participating in the life of their yeshiva.
“It is very important to us that participation in Tzivos Hashem helps every boy feel the joy of studying Torah, fulfilling mitzvos, and doing good deeds,” notes the director of the Yeshiva Ktana, Rabbanit Chana Segal. “It is especially joyful to see our first-graders become participants in this great international program that unites Jewish children around the ideals taught to us by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. We are proud of our students and are confident that their striving to grow as true Chassidim will bring nachas to the Rebbe, to their families, and to the entire unified and cohesive Dnipro Jewish Community under the leadership of the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki.”
