The Celebration of Torah - A Day of Unity

Truly impressive. I must give credit where credit is due. Today at approximately 1:00 pm EST, Agudah will be hosting an estimated 100,000 people at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in celebration of the completion of Talmud  - the Siyum HaShas held every 7 ½ years. This is the 11^th time this celebration is being held and by all accounts will be the largest by far.

I am proud to say that this is the 4^th time I have gone through Shas. Or as I often like to say, Shas has gone through me. Because in truth learning a Blatt  (another word for Daf meaning ‘leaf’ or two sided page) a day in about an hour does not really do service to the depth and breadth of study required to to fully understand it let alone master the Talmud. Especially when there is no Chazarah – review of the material after quickly running through a Blatt for an hour.

So I am not patting myself on the back too much here. But I still do feel a sense of accomplishment. Because the truth is that a lot of material does stick. Making it easier to study as each day passes and another Blatt is learned. The methodology of Talmud study is one of the things that you encounter each day - helping you to understand the next day’s Daf just a little bit better.  And I do try to go through each Daf more than once - although I don’t always succeed. 

When the idea of studying a Daf per day was first suggested by Rabbi Meir Shapiro at an Agudah convention almost a century ago, I doubt that anyone dreamed that we would be celebrating it with an event of this magnitude a century later. But here we are.

How did we get here? In my view there are two important things that happened that made studying the Talmud a popular enterprise. The first is the community Kollel. These are actually ‘in-reach’ organizations that began to proliferate in communities outside of the New York / New Jersey area in the early 1980s. They reach out to observant Jews of all stripes inviting them into their Beis HaMedrah by giving regular Shiurim and providing  Chavrusos (study partners) at any time of the day that is convenient for a working public. 

The Daf Yomi Shiur became an integral part of their program. The idea of going through the entire Talmud by going to a daily shiur for about an hour every day appealed to a lot of observant Jews – many of whom had been educated in Yeshivos and understood the importance of studying the Talmud and being Koveiah Itim – setting aside time every day for Torah study. Daf Yomi was an enticing way of doing it. Especially now that there were Shiurim that made it easy.

But perhaps more important than the advent of the community Kollel was the advent of the ArtScroll Shas. Which began at around the same time. This English translation and elucidation made it easy for anyone - even those with little to no background to study the Talmud. Combined with a daily Shiur the  study of Daf Yomi exploded. So much so that new Daf Yomi study groups opened up in virtually every Orthodox community – from the most left wing Modern Orthodox to the most right wing Charedi. There are probably more lay people studying Gemara now than at any time in Jewish history. That is something that – were he still alive – R’ Meir Shapiro would surely be very proud of. 

I wish to express my profound gratitude to ArtScroll founders Rabbi Nosson Scherman,and (posthumously) to Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz - and all the Talmidei Chachamim who spent many years executing this project, thereby providing the English speaking public with this - their Magnum Opus. 

I attended the 10^th Siyum HaShas in Madison Square Garden after completing my first cycle. It was an amazing experience then. And I’m sure it will be even more amazing this time. To their credit, Agudah recognizes that those studying ‘The Daf’ are not only its members or supporters. They know that its study includes people whose Hashkafos differ widely from their own. So as they have in the past, I’m sure they will not be promoting their own worldviews but instead focusing simply on the idea of studying the Talmud in all its glory and how widespread and popular it has become. And for this I give them credit.

I have had my issues with Agudah, but this is not the time for any criticism. I can only offer my sincere heartfelt praise and congratulations for an event that in one very important way unites us all. At least for one day.

For those interested, there will be a live feed of the event starting at 1:00 pm - ending 4:00 pm. It can be accessed here.