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READ IT HERE: The Complete Guide to the 13th Global Siyum Hashas of Daf Yomi
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Photos: The Toldos Aharon Rebbe Visiting the Home of Reb Wolf Sicherman, Author of Sefer Otzar Pelaos HaTorah and Rosh Hakahal of Kehillas Munkatch (JDN)
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Make the Table a Shtender
By Rabbi Elchanan Poupko
Most of what I learned in Yeshiva did not come from my rabbeim. Make no mistake, I was blessed with the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest Talmidei Chachamim and Maggidei shiurim out there. The learning I did in the beis medrash, learning myself or with a chavrusa, for me, far outweighed what I heard in shiurim and shmuzen. What lessons remain with me to this day more than anything? What I learned from rabbeim’s Shabbos tables and hospitality. Those lessons guide me to this day, as an individual, when hosting others, and when working on communal issues. Here are some examples:
I came from Eretz Yisroel to America as a bochur. Since my family were not living here, I often needed to find a place to go for Shabbosim and Yomim Tovim. As a bochur (which I was for a while…) I would go often to the homes of rabbeim and Roshei Yeshiva, who were kind, gracious, and opened their homes to me, and for that I am forever thankful.
Eating at the home of R’ Yisroel Neuman and R’ Dovid Schustal, Roshei Yeshiva at Beis Medrash Govoha, I learned so much. Of course, we spoke in learning a great deal and I benefited from that. Yet more than that I learned what true tznius is about, what leading a modest lifestyle meant, being kind, humble, accessible, and treating everyone with dignity, were all things I remember to this day. They taught me what to aspire to.
I will never forget spending the Pesach Seder at the home of Ha’Gaon R’ Shlomo Feivel Schustal. This was not a seder for Talmidim, it was for family. The very notion that someone would let me in on such an intimate, unique to a family event, is something that will resonate with me for the rest of my life. The powerful lesson of “Kol Dichfin”, not being just a line for a pshetel, but an actual statement that has a backing is something we can all learn from. Yes, there were beautiful divrei Torah said at the table, and so much to be said for the enthusiasm with which the questions, answers, and divrei Torah were recited with, but it is the kindness that will resonate with me more than anything.
When speaking to a dear cousin of mine who is a maggid shiur in one of the most prominent Litvishe yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel, I told him the following: “in ten years from now, not one student of yours will remember anything that you said in any shiur. If, however, you take a student aside, ask them how they are doing and what you can do to help, they will remember that conversation in one hundred years from now”. Indeed, he agreed.
Leaders in our community, whether rabbiem, Kollel families, balebatim, those who teach girls, or those who teach boys, need to know the importance modeling has on Chinuch. Chinuch cannot be contained to the beis medrash of the shiur room, it never has been. Young students need to
When moving to America I was surprised by the contrast between how much more shiur from a rebbe mattered to bochrim in America than it did in Eretz Yisroel where independent learning was valued more. Today, there is no question in my mind that for a bochur debating if shiur is better or sader is better, I would say the best answer is, a Shabbos table is much better. Find yourself a rebbe. It can be the one in your Yeshiva but it does not have to be. You should never feel embarrassed to reach out to a rebbe outside your own Yeshiva. It can also be a new rebbe every week like I had at times. Find yourself a role model you can see.
To this day I am thankful I learned so much halacha and psak in Yeshiva, yet nothing prepared me for the Shaylas I get and interacting with others the way I was zoche to see Rabbi Ya’akov Neuburger Mara De’asra of Teaneck, NJ, respond to shaylos and address questions in psak that came his way. Seeing how he listen, was sensitive, asked for relevant details and worked through the reasons for his psak was something that no sefer could have prepared me for. In an age of a the commercialization of Torah education, we must make sure our educational system does not take the soul out of the Torah. We must make sure that young men and women receiving Torah education get it with a personal, warm, real, and practical way. We cannot confine learning to the shtender, learning should take place at the table and elsewhere. In prewar Europe it was very common for Bochrim to go on walks with their rabbeim, eat at their home, or even go with them on a visit to the local butcher or shalcht-hoyze. As important as rebbe Talmid relationships are, lacking a personal component to them, they lose most of their meaning.
As a young bochur learning in Brooklyn, I had the tremendous zchus of being a ben bayis at the home of R’ Yisroel Reisman, Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Ve’Daas. The chessed and genuine kindness I had witnessed while having Shabbos se’udos at the home of R’ Yisroel Reisman, imparted me with lessons I will never forget. Learning how to speak to people regardless of who they are, knowing that it is possible to be a shul rov, rosh yeshiva, very public personality, and so much more and still know that you could attend to every detail, return phone calls, make sure a child at your table gets a cake for their birthday, listen to a dvar Torah of someone who thinks they know more then you with patience and a smile, caring to see in what way you can help a Talmid who doesn’t even know his rebbe is asking others to see if he can help, and so much more, will forever be with me.
Not long ago, I shared with a Rebbetzin whose Shabbos table I would frequent, how much I appreciated her kind hospitality. I told her I especially appreciate it now when people ask me to join us for Shabbos last minute, which is not always easy, reflecting on the many times I would ask her late in the week if I can come for Shabbos, not thinking much of it. She responded with a smile and said: “it was a always a pleasure having you…even Shabbos Hagadol”. While I was not able to understand the tircha I was causing her by joining them last minute on the Shabbos before Pesach, there was also no way in which she and her husband, a prominent Rosh Yeshiva and Posek, would allow me to feel that it was a tircha. It was always besever panim yafos. That is a lesson I look up to, to this very day. Sure, at the table there were many divrei Torah at the table and much to be learned from the Rosh Yeshiva. More than anything, what I had learned was how to be mekabel people besever panim yafos. I could have heard all the Toros about the Mishna that says to do so, no one taught me it in practice like they had.
I could learn all I wanted about Areiyvus and caring for others, whether they belong to my community or not, but nothing prepared me for this like observing first-hand Rabbi Benjamin Yudin, Moroh De’asra of Fair Lawn, NJ, and seeing the lengths he went to help other Jews in their time of need. I could have learned all I wanted in the Beis Medrash, no one could have taught me what the holiness of Shabbos is about, like when I sat at the Shabbos table of Hagaon Rav Aharon Schechter, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshivas Rabbi Chaim Berlin.
These are but few of the lessons I have learned when coming into close contact with rabbeim, some of who I had learned by in a formal capacity, most of whom I did not. Some of whom I have mentioned, and many of whom I did not. As I recognize who much of my Yiddishkeit and spiritual life to this day are inspired by my Yeshiva years (which I do not consider to be over), I realize the power of the real-life lessons I learned from rabbeim and gedoley Yisroel. If we want to educate and inspired generation which will take up leadership roles in Klal Yisroel, in Chessed, Limud Hatorah, being Osek Betzorchei Tzibur, and so much more, we must urge younger students to take advantage of these opportunities.
Young people must make sure to seek out these opportunities. While shiurim and chavrusas may be offered to you on a silver plate, opportunities for shimush and observing good role models is something you will need to, and must, seek out. Mechanchim and mechanchos, rabbeim in Yeshiva, and balebatim who are osek betzorchei tzibur must make sure they afford Beni Torah these opportunities. We must make sure our tables are not just tables, but shtenders we can learn with.
Rabbi Elchanan Poupko is a rabbi, a mechanech, and a writer. He lives with his wife in New York City.
{Matzav.com}
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Photos: At the Vort of a Grandson of Rav Chaim Kanievsky at Rav Chaim’s Home (JDN)
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Photos: Chanukah 5780 with the Rachmastrivke Rebbe of Yerushalayim (JDN)
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Photos: Hadlokas Neiros Chanukah 5780 with Rav Chaim Kanievsky (JDN)
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Photos: Hadlokas Neiros Chanukah 5780 with Israeli Sefardi Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchok Yosef (JDN)
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Photos: Chanukah 5780 in Yerushalayim (JDN)
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Mexico City Celebrates its Siyum HaShas
By Sandy Eller
Only days before The Siyum at MetLife Stadium and Barclays Center this January 1st, the words of the final Hadran filled the air with an incredible combination of kedushah and simchah as the Mexico City community celebrated the culmination of its 13th Daf Yomi cycle. This is a city where Spanish, English, and Hebrew all echo in the beis medrash and where bar mitzvahs and weddings are held late in the evening, so that the nightly commitment to Torah learning – k’vias itim – can continue without interruption.
Close to 1,000 people gathered at the Hotel Camino Real to honor the 125 local mesaymim, who ranged in age between 25 and 95 and represented every segment of the local Jewish community. Mexico City, which has had its own kollelim since the late 1970s, has a vibrant community of lomdei hadaf, many of whom have never attended yeshiva but still consider k’vias itim l’Torah to be a top priority in their lives.
The evening’s guest speaker, Rabbi David Ozeri, Rav, Congregation Yad Yosef, who flew in for the celebration, spoke passionately about the power of consistent learning and the effects that a commitment to daily limud Torah have on every Jew. Rabbi Ozeri related numerous stories of individuals who saw tremendous positive changes and significant yeshuos in their lives, following a commitment to daily learning. The benefits of the daily Torah study were experienced by their entire families, elevating the atmosphere in their homes. Those thought were echoed by Siyum sponsor Moishi Markovitch, who shared that on the day that he went to sign the contract with the hotel for the siyum, he was saved from a sure calamity. Mr. Markovitch, one of several Mexico City residents to have completed Shas multiple times, said that he has no doubt that his salvation came about because of his commitment to perpetuating daily learning through the Daf Yomi program in Mexico City.
Rabbi Ozeri’s message – commitment to daily Torah study – echoes the theme of the 13th Global Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi, that ki heim chayeinu, that Torah is our life, can only be made real when we learn Torah each day. The Siyum will be celebrated in countless communities around the world this January 1st, together with thousands of people in MetLife Stadium and Barclays Center. The global nature of The Siyum will be most apparent in the livestreams – translated into five languages – coming to many of those communities, as well as in the Siyum’s programs – Chavrei HaSiyum and Masmidei HaSiyum – which many of these communities have wholeheartedly adopted.
Rabbi Eliyahu Simcha Bamberger, national director of the Agudah’s Daf Yomi Commission, represented Agudas Yisroel in Mexico City. Rabbi Bamberger shared the story of a well-known Rosh Yeshiva who had been consulted about launching a new initiative to further inspire people in their Torah study. Reflecting on his own memories of the Knessia Gedolah in 1923, the Rosh Yeshiva said that he remembered the smile that broke out on the Chofetz Chaim’s face when Rav Meir Shapiro presented the concept of a Daf Yomi program that would unite all segments of Klal Yisroel throughout the world. The Chofetz Chaim’s smile, explained the Rosh Yeshiva, was akin to divrei kabalah, making it very clear that Daf Yomi was the pathway to kvius itim le’Torah in our time!
But the Mexico City siyum is only the first in a series of local Siyumei HaShas arranged around the world with the help of Agudah’s Daf Yomi Commission, giving out of town communities the ability to recognize the accomplishments of the many individuals whose hasmadah has seen them through all 2,711 pages of Shas. Large siyumim are also taking place in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, South Florida, Toronto and several other locations, all in conjunction with the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudath Israel.
“While we are all looking ahead to a joyous celebration at MetLife Stadium on January 1st, it is truly an honor to assist the many distant kehillos who are marking their monumental accomplishments in learning in their own communities,” said Rabbi Labish Becker, executive director of Agudas Yisroel. “As we complete the 13th Daf Yomi cycle, we can truly see Rav Meir Shapiro’s vision coming to life, with the limud Daf HaYomi bringing true unity to Klal Yisroel in all corners of the earth, as we join together with one heart, to share the incredible simchah of the 13th Global Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi.”
{Matzav.com}
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Photos: 50th Yahrtzeit of Rav Shmuel Alter zt”l, Author of Likkutei Bosor Likkutei, Marked (JDN)
Multitudes around the world commemorated the 50th yahrtzeit of Rav Shmuel Alter zt”l, author of Likkutei Bosor Likkutei, with special sedorim in many yeshivas, among them Bais Medrash Govoah, the Highland Park Kollel, and Nitra (Chester), and Torah Vodaas, can as seen in photos below.
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WATCH: Chanukah Kumzitz for Bochurim Last Night in Lakewood with Yehudah Green
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Rav Elimelech Biderman on the Parsha
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PHOTO: Ramapo Supervisor Michael Spect Meeting With Rav Chaim Leibush Rottenberg After Attack At His Home
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WATCH: Forshay Rebbe Makes Melave Malka Shortly After Stabbing Attack At His Home
Rav Chaim Leibush Rottenberg shlit”a made a Melave Malke for his Kehilla shortly after an attack in his home left four injured, including two of his children.
Yosef ben Perel is undergoing surgery after an attacker entered the home of the Forshayer Rebbe and stabbed the man up to six times.
Two of the Rebbe’s children were also injured in the attack. One of them was treated at the scene while the other was hospitalized for further treatment before being released a short while later.
{Matzav.com}
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PHOTO: Rav Chaim Leibush Rottenberg Meets With Governor Cuomo
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WATCH: Man Who Chased Out Stabber in Forshay-Monsey Speaks
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PHOTO: Hachnosas Sefer Torah Arrives At The Home Of Rav Chaim Leibish Rottenberg, One Day After Stabbing Attack
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Project Chai Responds to Monsey Terror Stabbing
Project Chai, the crisis intervention department of Chai Lifeline, is offering practical suggestions and words of chizuk for parents, educators and community leaders on addressing the Monsey attack.
Listen to a recording from Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox, director of Project Chai: Dial-in number: (605) 313-4101 Access code: 730435 Reference number: 5. A Yiddish recording is also available from Rabbi Meir Chaim Fried, Project Chai Team Member. Dial-in number: 515-604-9690 Access code: 660597 Reference number: 27.
Project Chai encourages anyone with questions or concerns about how to address the attack with their children/students to contact its 24 Hour Crisis Helpline: 855-3-crisis or email crisis@chailifeline.org. English & Yiddish counselors are on standby.
{Matzav.com}
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Photos: Media Interviews Armed Jews Standing Guard at Hachnosas Sefer Torah on Forshay Road in Monsey Following Last Night’s Attack
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WATCH: Hachnosas Sefer Torah Today at Scheiner’s Shul in Monsey Passes Site of Last Night’s Terror Stabbing
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