Parsha Vaeira featured a very special Shabbos in Yeshivas Mir. Bais Shalom, Hagaon Harav Asher Arieli Shlita’s shiur had a shiur Shabbos. This meant that all the tefillos and seudos were held in Bais Shalom except for Shabbos morning which was davened in the Mercazi with the rest of the yeshiva. The description of the Shabbos was that “Rav Asher’s shiur” went away for Shabbos to Bais Shalom.

The leil Shabbos davening was filled with tremendous ruach and singing with a special Kabbala’s Shabbos peppered with many musical interludes. Lecha Dodi itself was moving and gave everyone a tremendous feeling of achdus bringing in Shabbos together. Between Kabbalas Shabbos and Maariv, Moreinu Hamashgiach shlita spoke about the chashivus of gaining from yeshiva all aspects of avodas Hashem including emuna (which means davening in yeshiva) and bein adam l’chavero. He spoke passionately as usual with the bochurim hanging on to every word. He quipped that he spoke so long because his rule is he speaks according to how long the singing takes:).

The seudos were filled with a genuine feeling of an opportunity to get to know many of the other bochurim that doesn’t necessarily happen. The shiur represents a microcosm of the greater Yeshivas Mir with bochurim coming from all over the world and from greatly diverse backgrounds. As one of the speakers described the Shabbos as opportunity for everyone to feel like mishpacha within the greater Mir mishpacha. Hagaon Harav Asher Shlita himself spoke Leil Shabbos by the Seuda about how achdus is the perquisite for the geula. He spoke again by the Shabbos day kiddush after davening. In that drasha he spoke about how every little effort that is made to do mitzvos receives great schar and nothing goes unnoticed in Shamayim. After the kiddush he gave a little chabura upstairs in the bais medrash during the seder preceding the Shabbos day Seuda for the bochurim who crowded around his shtender.

The speakers at the Leil Shabbos seudos were Rav Pam Shlita and Rav Moshe Aron Friedman Shlita, who spoke toward the end of the meal, concluding with a few shailos on the sugyos that were learned since the beginning of the zman, It was amazing to see how one after the other, the bochurim answered with clarity on the Rishonim and Acharonim spanning over ten blatt gemara.  During the Shabbos day Seuda two bochurim spoke, one Israeli and one American. By shalosh seudos Rav Shamai Berenstein Shlita, a rosh chabura for the European bochurim, spoke.

Immediately after Maariv and Havdalah, one was already able to hear the sound of bochurim learning with their chavrusos, as they channeled the chizuk from this special Shabbos into the start of a new week with passionate energy and intensified hamada.

For days after Shabbos was over all one could hear from the bochurim was how uplifting the Shabbos was and how they truly felt rejuvenated to continue with the tremendous hasmada and shkius that are the hallmarks of the shiur.