Over One Thousand Lomdim Led by Gedolim Come Together to Celebrate Amud HaYomi, Daf HaYomi and Yerushalmi Siyumim

The music had stopped… but the dancing? The dancing continued! You had to see it to believe it. It was past midnight at the expansive Ateres Golda Hall in Boro Park. More than a thousand men and hundreds of women attended Dirshu’s triple siyum on the Amud HaYomi Masechta Shabbos, Daf HaYomi Masechta Bava Basra and Seder Zeraim in Talmud Yerushalmi.

The siyum was over, the drashos were over, even the music stopped at midnight, but the Yidden kept on dancing! They couldn’t stop! The simcha was so overwhelming, permeating the air as the Yidden danced, celebrating their unique kesher with Toras Hashem.

The siyum was a beautiful mosaic of achdus as Yidden from Boro Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush and even as far as Lakewood came to celebrate Torah accomplishments. At a Dirshu event, outer clothing is just superficial. It makes no difference if you wear a shtreimel, a spodek, a hat with the brim down or up. Dirshu is all one big mishpacha unified by the ultimate unifier, Torah!

The more than a thousand men and hundreds of women who came to participate, merited to hear powerful words of Torah and chizuk from HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Yehuda Zilber, shlita, Rav of Khal Emunas Yisroel, HaGaon HaRav Zev Smith, shlita, maggid shiur for Dirshu and Irgun Shiurei Torah, the leading posek, HaGaon HaRav Yechiel Michel Steinmetz, shlita, Skverer dayan of Boro Park who made all three siyumim and Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, Nasi of Dirshu.

The musical accompaniment and zemiros by the Berko brothers added tremendous taam to the melava malka.

“When a Yid Has a Problem, He Should Learn a Blatt Gemara! When He Has a Bigger Problem, He Should Learn Two Blatt Gemara!”

Rav Naftuli Friedman, the MC introduced Rav Zilber by highlighting the deep, abiding kesher between his grandfather, the gaon and tzaddik, HaRav Moshe Wolfson, zt”l, and Dirshu.

Rav Zilber related in the name of Baal Shem Tov that it is impossible to survive in galus if we are even missing limud haTorah for a half a day! The power of Torah and constant limud haTorah is incalculable! He continued by saying that one of the Slonimer Rebbes commented that whenever a Yid is faced with a problem and doesn’t know what to do, he should learn a blatt Gemara. The kedusha and seichel of the Torah will enable him to see things straight and thereby find an answer for his problem. When he has a bigger problem, he should learn two blatt and when he has a very, very big problem, he should learn three blatt!

“Torah makes us think straight and see things straight even in times of confusion! Look at how much Torah you lomdei Dirshu are learning,” Rav Zilber exclaimed, “Torah is the antidote for EVERYTHING! That is how we can survive this galus!”

When Listening to the Kol Torah Was Considered Walking with Her Husband!

Another highlight of the evening was the riveting address of Rav Zev Smith. Rav Smith pointed out what the Gemara tells us about Abaye, who made a Yom Tov every time a talmid finished a masechta.

“Rabbosai! Imagine what Abaye would say tonight if he was here! This isn’t one siyum, it is thousands of people making siyumim - Masechta Shabbos, Bava Basra, Seder Zeraim. What a colossal Yom Tov we are celebrating! Ashreinu!”

Rav Smith also hailed the integral role that Dirshu women play in ensuring that their husbands can spend so much time learning, reviewing and taking tests. He related a fascinating story about a young couple from pre-War Germany who left the comfort of their home in Germany so that the husband could come to Ponovezh and learn in the Yeshiva there.

He related that one day the Ponovezher Rav noticed the young wife walking outside near the beis medrash. He approached her and asked, “Can I help you with anything?”

She answered that everything was fine, but she was just taking a walk with her husband.

The Rav said, “If he is late, I would be happy to go in and call him for you.”

The young woman answered, “No, I am not waiting for him to come out, I am taking a walk with his kol Torah. I like to walk outside the window of the beis medrash so that I can hear his sweet and delicious kol Torah!”

The Rav was so taken with emotion by her answer and her love of Torah that he told her, “I am giving you a bracha and I am certain that your husband will one day become a great Rosh Yeshiva and when that time comes, I want him to name the yeshiva, ‘Yeshiva Kol Torah,’ in the zechus of his wife who so appreciated the kol Torah!”

“That young man was Rav Yechiel Michel Schlessinger who eventually moved to Eretz Yisrael where he established the famed Yeshiva Kol Torah! It is this kind of ahavas haTorah that is embodied by the Neshei Dirshu. All of the siyumim here and simcha is also a credit to them,” Rav Smith exclaimed passionately.

“Hashem Wants Us to Feel the Pain of Our Brethren!”

The final speaker of the evening was the Nasi of Dirshu, Rav Dovid Hofstedter. Rav Hofstedter was supposed to attend the siyum in person but on the way to the airport he found out that the flight was delayed and would preclude him from coming on time. He therefore spoke via zoom. There was pin-drop silence as Rav Hofstedter gave a rousing drasha vividly depicting what the call of the hour is in today’s precarious times.

In his drasha, he brought out how Yidden all over the world are living in great tzaar.

“Since last Simchas Torah, Yidden in Eretz Yisroel are suffering as war is being waged against them. People are suffering! All over the diaspora, antisemitism has reared its ugly head in ways unprecedented since the 1930’s.

“In times such as this, we must feel the pain of our brothers, the churban of our brothers just as Yosef Hatzaddik and Binyomin cried when they met and felt the pain of the churban Beis Hamikdosh and the churban of Mishkan Shilo that happened in their respective territories.”

Rav Dovid then related details of a remarkable story about the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim was very close with Rav Yechezkel Abramsky, the Rav of Slutzk. When Rav Abramsky was sent to Siberia by the Bolsheviks for the great sin of teaching Torah, the Chofetz Chaim constantly davened for him. It was erev Yom Kippur, eighteen months after Rav Abramsky had been imprisoned when the Chofetz Chaim raised his hands and exclaimed, “Baruch Hashem, the Bolsheviks were forced to release the Slutzker Rav!”

“That part of the story has been told before,” Rav Dovid continued, “but recently, I heard another, heretofore unknown part of the story. From the day that Rav Abramsky was imprisoned, the Chofetz Chiam said eight chapters of Tehillim daily for his release. After Shacharis on erev Yom Kippur, the Chofetz Chaim stopped saying those kappitlach. The Chofetz Chaim was so deeply connected and so deeply felt the pain of his talmid that when he davened for him, he felt his pain. On that erev Yom Kippur, before he even found out that Rav Abramsky had been released, he did not feel the same pain and suffering for his talmid, so he did not say the kappitlach! ”The Chofetz Chaim tefillos were answered because they emanated from the depth of his heart. He felt such a deep connection to his talmid and therefore his tefillos pierced the heavens. In fact, the bond was so close that even the yahrzeits of the two were on the same day, 24 Elul.

With great feeling, Rav Dovid proclaimed, “Hashem wants us to feel the pain of our brothers, to daven for them! He wants our tefillah and our dedication to Torah. When we learn more and more, when we upgrade our learning and our goals, we are me’ached ourselves with all of Klal Yisrael! It is that connection with each other than can bring the geulah!”

That was the feeling that permeated the melava malka. It was the simcha of the limud haTorah of a Dirshu family that constantly demands more and more of themselves as they unite, bringing Klal Yisrael together with achdus forged through Torah!

Now that Amud HaYomi has embarked on Masechta Eiruvin, it is the perfect time to join the journey through Shas! For more information or to establish or access a shiur in your community please call 1-888-5Dirshu or email info@dirshunj.org.