How a bold vision sparked a movement that put lomdei Torah back in the spotlight
Photography credit: AE Gedolim, Shlomo Schorr, Eli Cobin, Yossi Gee
On Sunday night, over 30,000 strong packed the rafters in the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, PA to celebrate the kollel yungeleit of Lakewood’s Beth Medrash Govoha — and that was just the event’s main location. Some 30 miles away, another 7,000 men filled every seat in Trenton’s CURE arena to join the event from the satellite location.
The gathering, which is now a cherished staple on Lakewood’s calendar, was inconceivable just five years ago. Then, as now, the batei medrash of the famed yeshivah were full to capacity. But there was a growing sense that Lakewood had moved on from the days of yore, when its most cherished asset was the yungeleit.
There was a contributing factor to that uneasy sentiment. Thanks to the extraordinary business success of several yeshivah alumni, coupled with the incredible growth of the local population, Lakewood emerged as an economic powerhouse. Just a few short blocks from the yeshivah, soaring Class-A office buildings shot up at breakneck speed — reshaping not only the city’s skyline, but, some feared, its collective sense of priorities.
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