In a rare and stirring display, live sheep were brought into the main Bobov beis medrash in Boro Park this Chol Hamoed Pesach for a special ceremony marking the completion of Maseches Chullin by the Kinyan Torah chaburah. The centerpiece of the event was the presentation of matanos kehunah—gifts from slaughtered animals that are halachically given to kohanim—a mitzvah rarely fulfilled in modern times.
The event drew a massive crowd, so large that many attendees had to watch from an adjacent hall via live feed.
A specially constructed platform was erected in the center of the beis medrash so that all present could witness the unique proceedings.
The Bobov choir, under the direction of Reb Mordechai Wolf Landau, added a melodic backdrop to the event.
rav Aharon Zuberman, maggid shiur of the Kinyan Torah chaburah, offered a detailed and articulate explanation of each halachic step involved in the ritual, clarifying the significance and legal intricacies of the process.
The honor of presenting the reishis hagez—the first shearings of wool, one of the matanos kehunah—was given to Rav Chaim Dovid Bloom, a mashpia in the chassidus. He handed the gift to Rav Menachem Mendel HaKohen Katz, av beis din of Raslawitz in Boro Park, who graciously received the gifts, offered words of bracha, and recited Birchas Kohanim for the assembled.
Two prominent philanthropists, Rabbi Avrohom Aharon Lazar and Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Rieger, served as representatives of the thousands of participants in the learning program and presented the additional gifts—zeroa, lechayayim, and keiva—to a group of kohanim: Rav Dovid Yehoshua HaKohen Rosengarten, Rav Ben Zion Kadrat, and Rav Avrohom Mordechai Grodzinsky, all distinguished members of the Bobover kehillah.
Later, the Bobover Rebbe led a festive tish in honor of Chol Hamoed and the siyum of Maseches Chullin, attended by thousands of chassidim. The guest speaker was Rav Yitzchok Wolpin, a noted mashpia in the Karlin-Stolin community and a rosh mesivta at Yeshivas Kedushas Tzion in Bobov.
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{Matzav.com}