Tov Sachra

Divrei Torah to inspire personal growth

Andy Serotta and his wife, Stephani, began their married life as relatively new baalei teshuvah in Boston. When his work as an investment portfolio manager relocated him to Stamford, Connecticut, he was advised to "just hang on to the yeshivah in Stamford" — and there, at Yeshivas Bais Binyomin, the unlikely talmid found his rebbi in the yeshivah's legendary mashgiach, Rav Michoel Bender zt"l, one of the hidden tzaddikim of the generation. Every Shabbos they learned together for an hour and a half — no sefer open, only questions — and for nearly three decades, through moves to Passaic and then Houston, through the pressures of a demanding trading career and the joys of building a community, Rav Michoel remained at his side every step of the way. Today the Serottas are pillars of Houston's flourishing Torah community, anchored by the Houston Kollel they helped establish. This sefer, dedicated to Rav Michoel's memory, gathers the weekly divrei Torah Andy has shared for years — words from his heart, drawn from the pure wellsprings of his rebbi.

By Andrew Serotta