[RBS] Josh Friedman - An amazing story of how a boy made it to Lezion B'rina

Wed May 2 16:22:40 IDT 2012

Dear Ramat,

By: Michael Gros

Published: April 17, 2012

<http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/judaism-101/the-ultimate-title-match/201
2/04/17/>
http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/judaism-101/the-ultimate-title-match/2012
/04/17/

Pesach is the time of redemption and salvation, which can often come from
the most unexpected sources. Such is the story of a boxing title fight in
Yankee Stadium that launched a young boy from Russia on a journey to
discover his Jewish heritage in Israel.

Rabbi Josh Friedman of Lezion B'rina with boxer Yuri Foreman

Following the fall of the Iron Curtain, Jews streamed out of the Soviet
Union heading to greener pastures, especially Israel and America. They
succeeded in rebuilding their lives, but seven decades of religious
persecution left them ignorant of even the most fundamental tenets of
Judaism.

In December 1990 the Karliner Rebbe of Jerusalem took note of the problem.
One Wednesday he called in Rabbi Moshe Weiss, the Mashgiach of the Karliner
Yeshiva. He gave him an ambitious mission - to start a high school for
Russian Jewish boys. His deadline - that Sunday morning.

After picking himself up off of the floor, Rabbi Weiss began to meet the
challenge. He found a building in Bayit Vegan, borrowed tables and chairs
from a nearby school and put ads in Russian language newspapers. At first a
trickle of students joined.

The school, the Lezion B'rina Institute, now has a beautiful sprawling
campus in Beitar. Its students study religious subjects in the morning and
secular subjects in the afternoon. They come from homes with little
knowledge of Judaism and all graduate with a greater appreciation of their
religion.

Hundreds of students have passed through the school's doors and many have
become observant. Following graduation they go on to join the IDF, yeshivos
gedolos or trade schools and universities in Israel. An affiliated girls'
school located in Jerusalem, Bat Zion, has similarly helped many Russian
girls.

In 2010 the entire student body of Lezion B'rina, and every Russian home
throughout the world, had one name on their lips: boxer Yuri Foreman. He
grew up in Gomel, the second-largest Jewish community in Belarus. As a young
boy he realized his fighting skills could keep anti-Semitic bullies away. He
soon discovered that his agility and boxing prowess could become a career as
well.

Yuri moved first to Israel and then to Brooklyn. He trained and entered the
professional circuit in 2002. He quickly moved up the ranks, remaining
undefeated in 29 fights. At the same time he was becoming observant. Along
the way he made a commitment to never fight on Shabbat. That personal
pledge, combined with his Jewish pride that he literally wears (in the form
of a Magen David on his boxing shorts), made him an inspiration for Jews
around the world.

Rabbi Josh Friedman is a graduate of Yeshiva University and the Director of
Development of Lezion B'rina. He saw Yuri as an amazing role model for the
students of the school and the two men struck up a very warm friendship.

On June 5, 2010 Yuri had his big fight in Yankee Stadium for the
Middleweight Division title. It made him a household name throughout many
Russian communities. The fight was later than usual on a Saturday night and
Yuri spent Shabbat in a nearby hotel.

The students of Lezion B'rina produced a video wishing Yuri success in his
fight. On the Thursday before the match Rabbi Friedman e-mailed him the
video.

Yuri e-mailed him back later that day to thank him for the chizuk before his
fight. Though he would go on to lose the match, he has remained a favorite
son to Russian Jews. He has continued on his own path of Jewish growth and
is currently studying for smicha.

Outside Moscow lived a young Jewish boy named Sasha. He knew he was Jewish
and was proud to be so, but knew very little about his religion. And so when
Yuri Foreman came on the scene, he fanned the spark of Jewish pride in
Sasha.

Sasha, a student at Lezion B'rina 

One day, shortly after the big fight, Sasha was searching on the Internet
for any information he could find on Yuri. He stumbled across the video
produced by the boys of Lezion B'rina on the school's website. He had never
heard of the school. The video touched him, and when at the end when the
video there appeared an e-mail address for Misha Ziloniy, the head of
recruitment for the school, Sasha e-mailed him for more information about
the video and Lezion B'rina.

Misha travels frequently throughout the former Soviet Union to meet
potential students and their families, and to run seminars about how Lezion
B'rina and Bat Lezion are providing students with a brighter future. On his
next trip to Moscow he arranged a meeting with Sasha who jumped at the
chance to travel to Israel to learn more about his heritage. He was accepted
and has been a student in Lezion B'rina ever since. He is quickly advancing
on his journey to discover more of his Jewish identity.

Rabbi Friedman notes that Sasha was one of the only students to ever find
the school on his own. Typically the recruitment seminars target students
who have been referred by local Jewish organizations. And yet Sasha had
completely slipped under that radar and only came to the school because of
the video.

When Rabbi Friedman told Yuri about Sasha, he was deeply touched and said he
is looking forward to meeting him on his next trip to Israel.

"I am so honored that the video had a role in helping Sasha discover his
heritage," Yuri said. "It's amazing how the one video could light such a
spark in him."

For Rabbi Friedman, the most inspiring message of Sasha's journey is how
unexpected it was.

"This video was produced by boys who had themselves been saved from a dismal
future in the former Soviet Union, and it was able to help save another
Jewish child and bring him to a better life in Israel," Rabbi Friedman said,
"We intended the video to give chizuk to Yuri Foreman, which it did, but it
also gave tremendous chizuk to Sasha."

For the students of Lezion B'rina, Yuri Foreman continues to motivate and
uplift them. But for Sasha, he will never forget how Yuri threw him into the
ring to help him discover how to live a fully Jewish life.

Wishing you an enjoyable summer,

Josh

Lezion B'rina Institute, Director of Development

http://www.lezionbrina.com/

US line 718-576-1335

Israel line - 02-999-7326

cell - 052-768-3824

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