Rabbi Gavriel Aghavian
Learning in the Kollel
Learning in Kollel
Alumnus
Kollel Toras Chaim
Biography
Rabbi Gavriel Aghavian grew up in Queens, New York. After yeshiva high school in America, he began at Queens College, then took a break to learn at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh in Israel.
He returned to America to complete his degree at Lander College, then came back to Israel to learn at Yeshivat Medrash Shmuel. From there, he came to Kollel Toras Chaim.
He was searching for a serious halacha kollel: a place where Torah learning is given the importance it deserves, guided by a talmid chacham with daas Torah and a mesorah from the Gedolim. Together with the Kollel’s outstanding avreichim, he found exactly that.
“He believed in me more than I believed in myself.”
During his years in the Kollel, from 2022 to 2026, Gavriel trained in learning halacha through the sugyos. He also gained something just as important: the confidence that, through effort and a sincere desire to know Ratzon Hashem, he could arrive at answers of his own.
Above all, he credits Rabbi Travis. “He believed in me more than I believed in myself,” Gavriel says. Rabbi Travis saw his strengths, helped him use them, and guided him at moments when he could have taken the wrong path. That care began in his very first days in the Kollel, and it continues to this day.
Watching Rabbi Travis’s proactivity and drive to help Klal Yisrael was a lesson in itself.
Today, Gavriel continues learning in a kollel in Beit Shemesh, where he lives. His hope is to keep growing closer to his Creator, and one day to spread Hashem’s light, His will and His Oneness to the world.
Torah Reflection
The Ramchal, author of Mesillas Yesharim and Derech Hashem, wrote an essay explaining the tefillos of Rosh Hashanah. In it, he reveals a beautiful secret. But first, some background.
Why did Hashem create the world? Why did He create me? The Ramchal explores these questions in depth in Daas Tevunos, building on earlier sources including the Arizal.
His answer: Hashem created the world in order to reveal His Oneness. That revelation is the greatest pleasure a soul can ever taste, greater than anything we have ever experienced. Hashem wanted to bestow His ultimate good upon His creations, and in Olam Haba we will experience it in ever-deepening degrees.
“Hashem created the world in order to reveal His Oneness.”
This is where Rosh Hashanah comes in. The Ramchal writes that on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem “sits” as King over His world. This is not meant physically, of course. It means that this is how He reveals Himself in the world on that day.
We feel it in the tefillos: “HaMelech HaKadosh,” and the addition of Malchiyos in Mussaf. (Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus taught that you can tell the essence of a Yom Tov from the nusach Chazal established for it: Shavuos is zman Matan Toraseinu, Pesach is zman cheiruseinu, and Sukkos is zman simchaseinu.)
Then comes the secret. Precisely because Hashem reveals Himself as King on Rosh Hashanah, it is the perfect time to ask Him to reveal His Kingdom completely. His full Malchus. His Oneness.
On the very day Hashem created Adam HaRishon, we have the chance to close the circle and bring the world to the perfection He intended from the beginning.
“On the day Hashem created man, we have the chance to close the circle.”
Rosh Hashanah may have passed, but the opportunity hasn’t. Every time we say Aleinu, and every time we ask in Shemoneh Esrei for Hashem’s Kingdom to be revealed, we are reaching for that same moment.
Our personal needs matter, and we should pray for them. When we ask for them in order to serve Hashem, we are really praying to serve Him, uplifting the physical into the spiritual (Baal Shem Tov).
But let us also hold the big picture. Let us ask our Father and King to come home to us, so we can live together with Him in closeness, in love and in unity.
Let us tell Hashem that we want to be His servants and His children, and truly decide it, so that He will be our King and our Father.
Immersed in the limmud
Rabbi Travis Reflects
To become a true posek, it is not enough to know a great deal of Torah. A posek must also know how to connect with people on the deepest level, so that they feel loved and understood.
Gavriel has both. He writes teshuvos in the tradition of Rav Ovadia Yosef, and he cares for people in the spirit of Rav Aryeh Levin.
It is the combination of these two qualities that can make him a true leader of the Jewish people. We look forward to seeing it happen.
Rabbi Daniel Travis, Rosh Kollel, Kollel Toras Chaim