The Keren Olam HaTorah delegation boasts some of the greatest tamidei chachamim and tzaddikim from Eretz Yisrael, most of whom are well-known and revered by the American Torah community.

Yet one of the revelations of this trip has been Rav Yisroel Bunim Schreiber, rosh yeshivah of Yeshiva Nesiv Hadas in Ramot, a gaon of astounding breadth who is on his first public trip to the United States and had been heretofore unknown to many Americans, even in its premier Torah town.

Rav Bunim has recently undergone treatments for an illness, which has left him in a weakened state and hairless. Rather than travel on the delegation’s trips across America, he has stayed in the New Jersey and New York area. While he has, of course, attended some fundraising events, the many shiurim he has delivered here on topics across Shas have already become legendary.

One shiur Rav Bunim delivered was in BMG’s Bais Moshe beis midrash on the sugya of Mikvaos.

His gabbai relates that the shiur was originally scheduled to take place in the ezras nashim, but when it became apparent that a much larger crowd than anticipated was gathering, the decision was made to move it to the beis medrash. Rav Bunim delivered a remarkable shiur as he usually does, deeply impressing attendees with the depth and clarity of the presentation. On the drive home, Rav Bunim told the gabbai that before giving the shiur, he had heard that around 150 avreichem were learning Mikvaos, and he had prepared a shiur geared specifically to them. But when he arrived and saw that far more than 150 people had shown up, it was obvious that many had come simply to hear the Rosh Yeshivah’s shiur and were not learning the sugya. He instantly decided to set aside the shiur he had prepared and instead delivered a different shiur on the sugya— one that could be appreciated and followed even by those who were not deeply involved in the inyan.

And he delivered the entire shiur without a sefer.

On the same day, he visited Yeshiva Toras Chaim (Slomovits) to deliver a shiur. It was only upon arriving that Rav Bunim asked someone what the yeshivah was learning. Told that it was Merubah, he delivered a masterpiece of a shiur to the entire yeshivah on the spot, also without a sefer in front of him.

He gave shiurim in Keren HaTorah on Hamafkid and in Lakewood Mesivta on Kim Lei B’d’rabba Menei on the same day as well.

After one of his many incredible shiurim at a local yeshivah, the amazed rosh yeshivah, Rav Eli Yagod, asked Rav Bunim, “How long did it take to prepare this shiur?”

 Rav Bunim replied, “Forty years… and five minutes.”

There have been numerous similar stories displaying Rav Bunim’s brilliance on this trip. During shiurim, he has recited entire lengthy Rashis verbatim. One bachur asked him a kasha on Maseches Bava Basra that required him to review the entire masechta to find every machlokes between Rabbah and Rav Yosef; a video shows Rav Bunim running through the entire masechta in his head.

 In another incredible incident related by his gabbai, Rav Bunim had been scheduled to say back-to-back-to-back shiurim Friday. He delivered the first two shiurim to a total of 650 people. The third shiur was to be at Rav Shlomo Feivel Schustal’s yeshivah, Tiferes Yerachmiel. On the way, Rav Bunim told the gabbai he had no strength left and asked him to pull over so he could rest.

The gabbai suggested they cancel the shiur, saying, “It’s not shayach,” but Rav Bunim insisted, “There’s no such thing as not shayach.”

They pulled over in the parking lot of a supermarket so Rav Bunim could rest and they could buy him a drink. But when they returned to the car, Rav Bunim said he simply could not make it to the shiur. He felt terrible about backing out of the shiur and suggested that he walk over from his host on Shabbos to the yeshivah and say the shiur then instead.

Told that was impossible — it would be more than an hour walk — Rav Bunim told the gabbai to turn the car around right then and go to the yeshivah. “I’ll at least give them one good, geshmake kasha on their sugya for five minutes, and they’ll think about the answer.”

The gabbai protested, saying it was not shayach, and once again, Rav Bunim replied, “There’s no such thing as not shayach.” “So we went back,” the gabbai relates, “and we just said, ‘Rosh Yeshivah, just be careful; make sure it doesn’t get longer. Only five minutes,” to which Rav Bunim agreed.

“He goes inside, the place was packed, he sits down, and he starts saying over his kasha,” the gabbai continues. “He started saying over a second kasha. The oilam started answering. He started handling with the oilam. For 20 or 25 minutes, he was there in the front, giving his shiur to the oilam as if nothing happened. Just mind-blowing.

“When he got back into the car afterward and went home, he was like a ghost. But when it came to saying the shiur, he wouldn’t hear of canceling.”

Another time, he came to a beis medrash to deliver a shiur. Told that there were three kollelim there, each holding in a different sugya, Rav Bunim on the spot created a shiur that synthesized the three sugyos. All, of course, without a sefer in front of him.

One of the questions most heard around town these days—in yeshivos, in shul coffee rooms, and even in newsrooms, where it’s our job to know everyone who’s anyone—is “Have you ever heard of Rav Bunim before?” Another is “Where has he been hiding?”

Those who have experienced these shiurim have remarked about how people of all ages, from mesivta bachurim to kollel yungeleit to older talmidei chachamim to baalei batim, have been drawn to this gadol not only because of his geonus, but because of his chein, simchas hachaim, smile, wit, and manifestations of ahavas Yisrael.

An old story is told of a rosh yeshivah who was forced to go from town to town to collect for his yeshivah. When someone remarked how sad it was that the rosh yeshivah had to spend so much time schlepping around, the rosh yeshivah replied that it was in fact fortunate, for he was now forced to visit with and speak with so many Yidden whom he could inspire.

This story has been told in so many versions about so many people, it’s become a “name your favorite gadol” story. But we in the United States in 2026 are feeling it now, as the Israeli yeshivos’ financial crisis has brought us many talmidei chachamim and gedolim in the Keren Olam HaTorah delegation whom we may not have met otherwise—and some of whom we may never have even heard of.

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