OU Kosher CEO Rabbi Menachem Genack delivered a shiur in January on masechet Yevamos to the 500 students of Yeshiva Shaarei Shmuot, an elite yeshivah in Beit Chilkiya, located on a moshav in central Israel.
Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Naftali Schapira and his co-rosh yeshivah and nephew, Rabbi Aryeh Schapira also attended. Also present were OU Israel’s Rabbi Yonatan Korach and Rabbi Genack’s son, Rabbi Moshe Genack, who is assistant rabbi at Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Englewood, N.J., and gives shiurim at Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah in Teaneck, N.J.
Rabbi Genack maintained a close relationship with Rabbi Naftali Schapira’s father, the preeminent Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Schapira z”l, founder of Yeshiva Be’er Yaakov located between Ramle and Rishon Letzion, where he was rosh yeshivah for 60 years. Born in then-Minsk, he came to Israel at 18 and was one of three remaining students of Rabbi Yitzhak Velve Soloveitchik z”l. Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Schapira’s son and grandson went on to become the founders of Yeshiva Shaarei Shmuot. The date of Rabbi Genack’s shiur at the yeshivah marked the yahrzeit of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Schapira’s wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Faiga Tzipora Schapira, z”l.
“It was truly a pleasure to teach the students of such a wonderful, growing yeshivah,” Rabbi Genack said of Yeshiva Shaarei Shmuot. “These are top students, and it’s an honor to give a shiur to such fine minds.”Afterward, Rabbi Genack gave a shiur at Yeshivat Shaalvim in Israel’s Ayalon Valley, where two of his grandsons are studying.
Rabbi Genack said he tries to give a shiur at Yeshiva Shaarei Shmuot every time he visits Israel. During the first years of the coronavirus pandemic, he delivered the shiurim virtually.
