A Legacy of Leadership: Farewell from Rabbi & Rebbetzin Fried
Plain Text of Letter
From the Desk of
Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried
May 9, 2025
Dear Esteemed Colleagues, Students and Friends,
It is with mixed emotions, joy, excitement and sadness that I pen these words to you. After 33 wonderful, meaningful and successful years in Dallas, my wife, Rebbetzin Marcy and I have decided to make Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. Our plan, with the help of G-d, is to go during the month of July.
These 33 years have been some of the best years of my life. I have had the good fortune to work with lay leadership completely dedicated to Klal Yisroel and the Dallas community. I have had the zechus to be surrounded by illustrious Yungeleit and Rebbetzins of the Kollel, who have dedicated their lives to Limud Hatorah and spreading that Torah to the Jewish people.
Most of all, I am appreciative of the thousands of Jewish men and women who have passed through the halls of DATA over the past decades. Through the many classes, seminars, retreat weekends, trips, Shabbos meals and more, I have been humbled and enriched to have been exposed to and to share Torah with so many beautiful Jewish souls.
A sage of the Talmud proclaimed, “I have learned much from my mentors, more from my colleagues, and from my students more than all.” Whether it has been from the students from within the Kollel program or the lay students from throughout the community, from all of you students I have learned the most of all.
This beautiful, world-renowned community has been established, with the help of Hashem, through our efforts and the efforts of many joining forces with us. This community has become my extended family. The relationships, which now span generations, will forever remain family and will always be carried in my heart. In recent years, as Rebbetzin Marcy has joined me in this holy endeavor, so many more have joined our extended family from the far corners of the Jewish community through her classes and women’s programming. I “schep” tremendous nachas in seeing the fruit of these past three decades, often observing DATA’s “ur einiklach”, the “great-grandchildren” of the Kollel outreach. So many children and grandchildren of our original students are, today, studying Torah in the most esteemed bastions of Torah on the East Coast and in Israel. It is also a testimony to the eternal nature of our Torah, that it will never be forgotten amongst Klal Yisroel.
It has been a tremendous zechus to have taken part in, and merit to see the success of, so many Torah-based organizations in Dallas which have been either a direct outgrowth of the Kollel or headed by its students and alumni. Shuls, schools for all ages, outreach organizations, a gorgeous Mikvah, the list goes on. Organizations that, like all, have ups and downs, successes and challenges, and all marching forward, growing and with a bright future ahead with dedicated leadership at their helm. I am proud to see the new leadership of DATA, alumni of the Kollel, step up to the plate to lead our beloved organization into the future. Rabbi Shaya Fox, CEO and Rabbi Hillel Muller, COO are a tremendous team in leading and growing the organization and Kollel to new levels of growth. Rabbi Tzvi Rosenshein, Rosh Kollel, is doing a magnificent job in leading the next generation of Yungerleit in their learning and connection to the community. He is a Talmid Chochom of note and I’m confident the community will continue to learn so much from him in the years to come. B”H they’re a great team. It’s with profound Hakoras hatov that I see in these leaders, together with the esteemed leaders of all our branches, supported by dedicated and generous lay leadership, ensuring that our investment of 33 years will continue to bear fruit for many years to come!
With this, I feel deeply confident that the guidance I received from my holy Rabbeim of the past generation, upon sending me off to Dallas, has been realized. When I asked them when I should return to Eretz Yisroel, their reply was, “Bring it to the stage that it’s standing on its own. When it gets to that stage, come back home.” With the leadership mentioned above, coupled with our shuls and branches being led by such able and accomplished Torah scholars and leaders who have grown into their own through our system, I’m confident the building we built is “standing on its own” and will march into the next generation.
I have eternal appreciation to my original partners, Rabbis Aryeh Feigenbaum, Bentzi Epstein and Sholey Klein and their esteemed Rebbetzins, who together with me and with tremendous dedication and mesirus nefesh, laid the foundation for all which was to follow. All of the amazing Yungerleit and Rebbetzins who followed, and are too many to mention here, added their own important contributions in the growth of the Kollel and community in ways that cannot be enumerated. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my appreciation for our dedicated office staff who have done so much behind the scenes for so many years. As we all know, nothing would have happened without the tremendous dedication of Rabbi Yehuda Abrams. With all that was going on in so many arenas, I have often said that he was “the glue that held everything together.” I am indebted to him forever for all he has done for me and the organization. And of course, none of this would have transpired without the foresight, dedication, self-sacrifice and love for Klal Yisroel of one individual who has, together with his wife, made this community his life’s work. Mr. Oscar Rosenberg. He was my partner from day one, and together with his entire illustrious family, will go down in the annals of Jewish history as one of the great builders of Torah in America.
I am at a loss for words to properly thank my dear and beloved children for standing with me for all these years, often having to give up precious time spent with them to give to the community. I love all of you so much, and may we celebrate many simchas together and share in the nachas of what has been built. Every one of you has a great share in the building of this community; may it be a tremendous zechus for you all!
Acharona, acharona chaviva, to my Rebbetzin, for becoming my partner in all things Dallas. In the six years since you have joined me here, you have become so beloved by so many women throughout the community, who consider you like a mother and confidant. You have revitalized women’s programming with great dedication and immense investment of your time to forge a path to connection for women in this community of all stripes. Your many students from Mesorah
consider you their teacher for life. The women of JWBLNG, Nach Yomi and so much more are so indebted to you. I know you, too, consider this community like your family and through this letter, are expressing your appreciation and warmest wishes, as well as an open invitation to all of your students and anyone from this community to our home in Beit Shemesh. No words adequately express my appreciation to you, and so many feel that same way in this community. I thank you for the myriad of gifts you have given our family. May we enjoy eternal nachas together.
“B’haaloscha es haneiros,” when you “uplift” the lights of the menorah in the Temple, explains Rashi, the Cohen should hold the fire on the wick until it rises and is burning brightly. Only then can he go on and light the next candle. Now that the fire of Dallas is burning brightly, it is time for me to light my next candle, a new Kollel to service the rapidly growing Anglo community in Ramat Beit Shemesh, one of the fastest growing communities in Israel and perhaps the world. My wife and I are working to open a Kollel to continue the Dallas model, building leaders of the highest caliber, growing community in a place that community does not yet exist and providing guidance for the thousands of young families pouring into the area. All this will be a continuation of the work and experience of Dallas. As I have told many, we are not leaving Dallas, rather paving the way for everyone else to join us there.
My wife joins me in our appreciation to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who has brought us all these years of success and to this point in our lives. We raise our hearts in prayer that He continues to bring success to us, the Kollel, and the growth of this beautiful community.
May the Dallas Kollel and Community continue to grow and prosper in Torah and in every way. And may the growth of Dallas be the merit that uplifts all of Klal Yisroel and brings to Eretz Hakodesh, where we will all, together, celebrate the coming of Moshiach, bimheira v’yameinu.
The Rebbetzin and I are hoping to see you at our send-off reception sponsored by DATA the evening of June 23rd. Details to follow.
B’ahava rabboh v’yedidus ne’emanah,
With much love, respect and eternal friendship,
Rabbi Yerachmiel Fried
Rosh Hakollel, DATA
Rosh Kollel, Kollel Ohr Hashemesh, Ramat Beit Shemesh Dalet4
