6th
Annual Grand Chidon Of The Seifer HaMitzvos Of The Rambam Competition
For Boys
At the
Grand Chidon, the championship event of Tzivos Hashem’s Seifer
HaMitzvos of the Rambam Competition for boys, Rabbi Mordechai Berger,
Dean of Tomchei Tmimim, Montreal, addressed the crowd saying, “being
here today…seeing the kinderlach, the Tmimim, the young children, so
involved in the Rebbe’s Mivtza of Seifer HaMitzvos, leaves us with no
doubt, that Moshiach is ‘oht, oht…’”
Sunday,
19 Adar II, the Grand Chidon for boys took place in Montreal in front of
an audience of several hundred people. Of the thousands of children from
the dozens of schools that participated in the Chidon this year, sixty
five boys qualified to be finalists in the Grand Chidon.
The
finalists write a lengthy test on Motzaei Shabbos and then are asked
questions at the Grand Chidon to determine first, second and third place
winners. “Some of the questions are tricky, and some require a lot of
concentration,” Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson, Executive Director of
Tzivos Hashem told the audience. “It is astounding to realize the
clarity with which these children understand the mitzvos.”
Most of
the contestants arrived at the Lubavitch yeshiva in Montreal by
bus on Thursday night. They were welcomed by fifty bachurim, who
greeted them with singing and dancing. Shabbos was filled with achdus
and simcha as the boys davened and learned together, and
were addressed by rabbanim and storytellers. Motzaei Shabbos,
after the written test was handed in, they were entertained with a Purim
play that the local yeshiva students had performed just a few
days before on Purim. Accommodations and arrangements were the gracious
and generous efforts of the Montreal community, under the coordination
of Rabbi Yossi Sputz, Principal of Tomchei Temimim in Montreal.
First
place winners on the junior level were Yehoshua Heshel Mishulovin of Los
Angeles and Menachem M. Rosenblum of Pittsburgh. Second place was Shaya
Engel of Montreal. Third place was a four-way tie, with: Dovid Aryea
Leib Ehrentrei of Montreal, Avroham Wolff of Morristown, and Moshe
Blumberger and Yoshai Chaim Strauss both of Chicago.
First
place winner for the senior level was Eitan Goldberg of Pittsburgh.
Second place was shared by Menachem Mendel Ceitlin of Toronto and Shmuel
Avtzon of Crown Heights. Third place winners were Shmuel Hillel of
Montreal and Menachem Mendel Morozow of Crown Heights.
“The
Chidon Mitzvos Competition gets bigger and better from year to year,”
said Rabbi Benjaminson. “ We already have schools who have just
learned about the Chidon who are anxious to participate in it next
year…in Jerusalem, with Moshiach, of course.”
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