Spirituality Cover Story IICE11.1111'griE From pre-dawn to near-midnight, the Kollel Institute is alive with learning, prayer and guidance. SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN StaffWriter T o step inside the Detroit Kollel is to walk through a sound barrier that silences the outside world and engulfs one in the ener- getic blast of active, often boister- ous learning. With 40 prayer services held each week and almost continuous classes and partnership learning, there is very little silent time at the Harav Menachem and Rochel Goldberg Kollel Institute of Greater Detroit. But the constant buzz of learning is a part of the appeal of the Oak Park-based Kollel, a center of advanced Talmudic study, outreach Rabbi Irons teaches a small group of young men. and adult education. "The hum envelops you and helps you learn," said Rabbi Reuven Spolter of Young Israel of Oak Park. Reuven Green, the Kollel's executive director. "We Established in 1974 as the first center of its type are open 17 hours a day, 7 days week, 365 days a in the United States, the Kollel began as a learning year." The doors are open at 6:30 a.m. and not center and later expanded into a large Orthodox locked until 11:30 at night. "In between those synagogue as well. times, there is a lot of study and a lot of prayer, and And to prove the dictum that the Kollel stands for a lot of advice given out," he said. the promotion of Torah study, not only is there no synagogue membership fee and no charge for classes, lectures and advanced seminary programs, but a A Dream _Fulfilled stipend is offered to many who want to come and "[The late] Sol Nusbaum had a dream that there be learn. a Kollel in our community," said Rabbi Shmuel "The Kollel is a spiritual community center where Irons, co-dean of the Detroit Kollel with Rabbi there is always something going on," said Rabbi Moshe Schwab. "He had heard about the impact on the community of Toronto when the first Kollel in North America was start- ed there in 1970. But he didn't live to see our Kollel. His son, Rabbi Yosef Nusbaum, of Oak Parsk took over and planted the seed money for the Kollel in Detroit." From the graduate student body at the acclaimed Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., Rabbi Schwab was chosen to lead • the new Kollel. He asked his ▪ classmate Rabbi Irons to be • his co-dean. Seven other classmates and a graduate student from another advanced learning program were chosen and, in 1974, the 10 men, their wives and children came to Detroit. "We started with almost nothing," Rabbi Irons said. "I took my savings and bought a house and started the Kollel in my basement." A year later, the house next door was purchased and renovated and the Kollel was moved. Today, the Kollel is still there, with an addition three years ago doubling its size. The rabbi and his family remain next door. With nearly 30 part- and full-time staff members, the Detroit Kollel is large compared to many of the other 33 American community Kollels and eight