The Daf Yomi siyum hashas at MetLife Stadium was outstanding last night (notwithstanding a bizarre two days of delayed/mislaid/cancelled flights, shuttles and trains to get there and back). Being there was a joy, and celebrating with people I did the daf with for years was beyond that. I am grateful to those who brought me there.
As part of the formal celebration of a siyum, we address the text we have studied, and say, "Daatan alach, v'daatach alan." This would seem to mean, "Our mind is on you, and your mind is on us." The dvar torah from last night which resonated most with me took this phrase in a homiletic direction.
Rav Dovid Olewski, Rosh Yeshiva of the Bais Yisroel [Gerrer] yeshiva [update: It's available at 3:27 of the video available here] explained "daatan alach", "our mind is on you," to refer to the way a student of the Daf Yomi keeps his mind on that day's Talmud study, regardless of where he is and what he is doing. He goes to work, he sets aside time to learn. She goes on vacation, she sets aside time to learn. No matter where or when or what is going on, despite pressures for all sorts of other things, the Daf is on your mind. "Our mind is on you," we say to the Torah.
He then continued to explain "daatach alan" along the lines of "your mind is in us," referring to the way a persistent student of Torah absorbs a Torah perspective. Eventually, after many years of true dedication, he will be able to predict a sugya, she will be able to intuit the way Torah would approach a particular question.
I would add another point, within this "daatach alan" - We become truly aware of just how broad Torah is. I distinctly remember when I first came to feel that appreciation for Torah, that awareness of what we mean when we say (citing Iyyov 11:9) it is "longer than the land and broader than the sea," a substantive recognition not simply of how little I knew, but of what it was that I didn't know.
The consistency and persistence of Daf Yomi brings a remarkable bond with Torah. Dedicating yourself to any field of study for such an extended period of time, pushing yourself through all of life's events, through work and play, through family gatherings and crunchtime at work, through happiness and depression, through the various seasons, bonds you with that which you study. And doing it not only with a field of study, but with specific personalities who accompany you along the way - your chavrusas around the table and your chavrusas on the page - deepens that experience still further.
I have my misgivings about Daf Yomi, as I noted in a post here some time back. But this is a definite benefit.
"Daatan alach, v'daatach alan." May we continue to keep our minds on you, and may your mind enter into us.
Showing posts with label Judaism: Daf Yomi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judaism: Daf Yomi. Show all posts
Friday, August 3, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
In honour of the Siyum haShas
Here's an article which ran in the Allentown Morning Call 7 1/2 years ago, for the last Siyum haShas:
Celebration of spirituality
12 Lehigh Valley men will join 120,000 Jews finishing Talmud study.
February 27, 2005|By Ron Devlin Of The Morning Call
When Roberto Fischmann began studying the Talmud, he had daughters in high school, middle school and grade school.
Now, the eldest daughter is a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, another is studying electrical engineering at Duke University and the youngest is about to graduate from Moravian Academy in Bethlehem Township.
"I've been doing this so long," he said recently after a session in Congregation Sons of Israel in Allentown, "it seems like a lifetime."
Fischmann, 49, an Allentown businessman, is about to finish his 63-volume, 2,711-page undertaking.
Reading a page a day, it took 71/2 years to wade through the complex tracts of Jewish legal, ethical and philosophical teachings that date to the Revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
On Tuesday, in a collective celebration, Fischmann and a dozen others from the west Allentown synagogue will join 120,000 Orthodox Jews in New York, New Jersey and around the world to read the final page of the Talmud.
The "Siyum HaShas," as the gathering is called, will fill Madison Square Garden and the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey. Similar gatherings will take place in 40 North American cities and in countries across the world, including China and Africa.
All are practitioners of Daf Yomi, a method of studying the Talmud that utilizes the page-a-day system. Allowing for time differences, Jews across the world read the same page on the same day, enhancing a sense of religious and spiritual unity.
"It's mostly Orthodox, but you will see a wide range of Jewish practice at the Siyum HaShas," said Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner of Congregation Sons of Israel. "Some will have beards and black clothes, others will not; some study the Talmud all day, others for an hour."
Of life and the Talmud
Six mornings a week, the Daf Yomi study group gathers in the library at Congregation Sons of Israel.
Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, now in Los Angeles, started the group in 1997. Two men, Fischmann and Henry Grossbard of Allentown, have been members since the beginning.
For Grossbard, 73, an industrial engineer, the morning sessions are an integral part of his daily routine.
Up at 6 a.m., he's at the synagogue by 6:45 a.m. for Daven, the morning prayer service. By 7:45 a.m., he's delving into the depths of the Talmud.
In its complex polemics, Grossbard finds the meaning of life.
"To me, this is our life," he said. "In order to understand and know it, you must study it."
Torczyner, who leads the sessions, explained that Jews originally handed down their traditions orally. Then, when the Romans banned teaching the Torah on penalty of death, they began writing them down.
By the 3rd century, there was a canonized text called the Mishnah. By the 6th century, it had grown into the Gemara.
"The Talmud combines them all," Torczyner said. "It contains ethics, philosophy, medicine, advice on living -- all facets of life."
In the Schottenstein Daf Yomi Edition, used by the Allentown group, the Talmud passage is in the center of the page, surrounded by commentary from rabbis across the ages. On a given issue, students can read the original text and the opinions of rabbis in 11th century France, 13th century Syria or 17th century Poland.
Fischmann compares the system to an Internet link, its passages allowing the student to go back and forth in history.
Roger Nagel of South Whitehall Township, a computer science professor at Lehigh University, finds the Talmud insightful and stimulating. Its ethics, he said, parallel those in courses he teaches.
The Talmud's tractates, or books, contain discussions on the courts, their powers and justice. It examines social classes, positions of power and the humanities.
Nagel has discovered not much has changed from ancient times to the present.
"You still have the good and the bad," he said.
Using a kind of inquiry method, the rabbis of the Talmud argue with one another rather than make pronouncements.
Jeff Blinder, who's been studying the Talmud for three years, describes the method as "conflict, then agreement."
A retired radiologist, Blinder is so committed he takes the Talmud with him when he volunteers at a hospital in Alaska. "I study the Talmud," he says with a chuckle, "with the only Jew in Ketchikan."
Blinder finds comfort in that, through Daf Yomi, he's reading the Talmud with Jews around the world.
"The amazing thing is that in London, France and South Africa -- across the entire world -- we're all reading the same page," he said. "The idea of an international community of Jews all doing the same thing on the same day is exciting."
Challenging, life-changing
Roberto Fischmann has a degree in engineering and a master's in business, as well as a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Yet, he finds the vastness of the Talmud intellectually challenging.
"I don't think I ever took a course where so many aspects were so challenging," said Fischmann. "Intellectually, it's hard to learn."
Persistence, though, pays off. Gradually, says Fischmann, the universal lesson emerges.
"What you eventually start learning is that, in every single aspect of life, you can find spiritual meaning," he says.
In a practical way, the daily exercise has changed the way Fischmann lives. He used to wake up worrying about his business. Now, he's rearranged his schedule to put the Talmud first, business second.
"It's been good for my health," he said. "I'm calmer, more peaceful."
Murray Schechter, 69, who taught mathematics at Lehigh University, has been studying the Talmud since he retired four years ago.
"I cannot explain the mechanism," said Schechter, whose snow-white hair and beard give him the look of a learned elder, "but the cumulative effect has changed my life."
Richard Greenberg, too, begins his day with prayer and the Talmud.
"You pray first, learn next," said Greenberg, 60, a retired real estate developer. "It provides structure to your life."
Sitting across the table from Schechter, Greenberg projects a quite different image. Instead of a yarmulke, he wears an Eagles baseball cap and uses sports analogy to explain his commitment.
The Talmud is exercise for the mind, Greenberg says, just as working out at the gym is exercise for the body.
"It's a spiritual elevator," said Greenberg, "no matter who you are."
Celebration of spirituality
12 Lehigh Valley men will join 120,000 Jews finishing Talmud study.
February 27, 2005|By Ron Devlin Of The Morning Call
When Roberto Fischmann began studying the Talmud, he had daughters in high school, middle school and grade school.
Now, the eldest daughter is a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, another is studying electrical engineering at Duke University and the youngest is about to graduate from Moravian Academy in Bethlehem Township.
"I've been doing this so long," he said recently after a session in Congregation Sons of Israel in Allentown, "it seems like a lifetime."
Fischmann, 49, an Allentown businessman, is about to finish his 63-volume, 2,711-page undertaking.
Reading a page a day, it took 71/2 years to wade through the complex tracts of Jewish legal, ethical and philosophical teachings that date to the Revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
On Tuesday, in a collective celebration, Fischmann and a dozen others from the west Allentown synagogue will join 120,000 Orthodox Jews in New York, New Jersey and around the world to read the final page of the Talmud.
The "Siyum HaShas," as the gathering is called, will fill Madison Square Garden and the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey. Similar gatherings will take place in 40 North American cities and in countries across the world, including China and Africa.
All are practitioners of Daf Yomi, a method of studying the Talmud that utilizes the page-a-day system. Allowing for time differences, Jews across the world read the same page on the same day, enhancing a sense of religious and spiritual unity.
"It's mostly Orthodox, but you will see a wide range of Jewish practice at the Siyum HaShas," said Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner of Congregation Sons of Israel. "Some will have beards and black clothes, others will not; some study the Talmud all day, others for an hour."
Of life and the Talmud
Six mornings a week, the Daf Yomi study group gathers in the library at Congregation Sons of Israel.
Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, now in Los Angeles, started the group in 1997. Two men, Fischmann and Henry Grossbard of Allentown, have been members since the beginning.
For Grossbard, 73, an industrial engineer, the morning sessions are an integral part of his daily routine.
Up at 6 a.m., he's at the synagogue by 6:45 a.m. for Daven, the morning prayer service. By 7:45 a.m., he's delving into the depths of the Talmud.
In its complex polemics, Grossbard finds the meaning of life.
"To me, this is our life," he said. "In order to understand and know it, you must study it."
Torczyner, who leads the sessions, explained that Jews originally handed down their traditions orally. Then, when the Romans banned teaching the Torah on penalty of death, they began writing them down.
By the 3rd century, there was a canonized text called the Mishnah. By the 6th century, it had grown into the Gemara.
"The Talmud combines them all," Torczyner said. "It contains ethics, philosophy, medicine, advice on living -- all facets of life."
In the Schottenstein Daf Yomi Edition, used by the Allentown group, the Talmud passage is in the center of the page, surrounded by commentary from rabbis across the ages. On a given issue, students can read the original text and the opinions of rabbis in 11th century France, 13th century Syria or 17th century Poland.
Fischmann compares the system to an Internet link, its passages allowing the student to go back and forth in history.
Roger Nagel of South Whitehall Township, a computer science professor at Lehigh University, finds the Talmud insightful and stimulating. Its ethics, he said, parallel those in courses he teaches.
The Talmud's tractates, or books, contain discussions on the courts, their powers and justice. It examines social classes, positions of power and the humanities.
Nagel has discovered not much has changed from ancient times to the present.
"You still have the good and the bad," he said.
Using a kind of inquiry method, the rabbis of the Talmud argue with one another rather than make pronouncements.
Jeff Blinder, who's been studying the Talmud for three years, describes the method as "conflict, then agreement."
A retired radiologist, Blinder is so committed he takes the Talmud with him when he volunteers at a hospital in Alaska. "I study the Talmud," he says with a chuckle, "with the only Jew in Ketchikan."
Blinder finds comfort in that, through Daf Yomi, he's reading the Talmud with Jews around the world.
"The amazing thing is that in London, France and South Africa -- across the entire world -- we're all reading the same page," he said. "The idea of an international community of Jews all doing the same thing on the same day is exciting."
Challenging, life-changing
Roberto Fischmann has a degree in engineering and a master's in business, as well as a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Yet, he finds the vastness of the Talmud intellectually challenging.
"I don't think I ever took a course where so many aspects were so challenging," said Fischmann. "Intellectually, it's hard to learn."
Persistence, though, pays off. Gradually, says Fischmann, the universal lesson emerges.
"What you eventually start learning is that, in every single aspect of life, you can find spiritual meaning," he says.
In a practical way, the daily exercise has changed the way Fischmann lives. He used to wake up worrying about his business. Now, he's rearranged his schedule to put the Talmud first, business second.
"It's been good for my health," he said. "I'm calmer, more peaceful."
Murray Schechter, 69, who taught mathematics at Lehigh University, has been studying the Talmud since he retired four years ago.
"I cannot explain the mechanism," said Schechter, whose snow-white hair and beard give him the look of a learned elder, "but the cumulative effect has changed my life."
Richard Greenberg, too, begins his day with prayer and the Talmud.
"You pray first, learn next," said Greenberg, 60, a retired real estate developer. "It provides structure to your life."
Sitting across the table from Schechter, Greenberg projects a quite different image. Instead of a yarmulke, he wears an Eagles baseball cap and uses sports analogy to explain his commitment.
The Talmud is exercise for the mind, Greenberg says, just as working out at the gym is exercise for the body.
"It's a spiritual elevator," said Greenberg, "no matter who you are."
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Completing the Daf Yomi cycle - what it means to me
Tomorrow, I expect to complete my first “cycle” of teaching the Daf Yomi here in Allentown. I started teaching the second chapter of Kiddushin in the early summer of 2001, shortly after arriving here, and we are slated to begin that chapter again tomorrow.
I would not have expected it, but this is a very exciting moment for me.
It’s not the issue of completing another round of shas; I know quite well that there is no such thing, at least for a human intellect like mine, as completing shas. Besides, I have had substitutes for 100-150 of the daf along the way, so this can’t really count as a completion.
Part of it, I suppose, is that learning by teaching is so much deeper than learning personally. Certainly, I understand the gemara much better now, for having had to explain it.
And part of it is the simple fact that I showed up every day for so long, consecutively, to do this.
But what really moves me is the group, the Daffies, my guys. (And women, of course; we have a couple of women who attend daily as well. But they’re all “my guys” to me.) Learning Torah with anyone creates a unique link, learning Gemara moreso, and learning daily much more. (Frankly, this makes me somewhat uncomfortable with the co-ed aspect of it, but that’s a topic for another post.)
And through that link, I can see growth.
I always have mixed feelings about encouraging people to attend classes. In my student days, I learned much more through chavruta (partner) study than through shiurim (classes); I emerged from personal study with rich understanding, but I usually emerged from shiurim with a set of notes. So it’s hard for me to encourage people to come to classes; I tend to push private study more.
But Daf Yomi is different. Here, through the day after day after day, I actually see the change in people. I’m not talking about a change in religiosity, or a change in knowledge; I’m talking about a change in their approach to gemara, a maturity and sophistication so that when people say gemara or talmud, my Daffies comprehend what those words mean. It’s not about the words or the pages or the volumes, it’s about the system as a whole. My crew may not get every shiur, we may not understand every page, but we emerge with a greater respect for the analytic methods, for the commitment, for the expertise, of the sages who compiled the gemara.
And that’s what moves me, on the eve of completing the cycle and beginning again. It’s the knowledge that I am playing a role in helping Jews come to a real appreciation for this essential part of our heritage, this mass of knowledge and thought and hope and analysis which is lengthier than the land and broader than the sea.
Their appreciation for our heritage, their grasp of the spectrum of Jewish intellectual tradition, their comprehension of what it means to be heir to Judaism’s great repository of wisdom – this is their reward for participating in the Daf, and it is my reward as well.
I would not have expected it, but this is a very exciting moment for me.
It’s not the issue of completing another round of shas; I know quite well that there is no such thing, at least for a human intellect like mine, as completing shas. Besides, I have had substitutes for 100-150 of the daf along the way, so this can’t really count as a completion.
Part of it, I suppose, is that learning by teaching is so much deeper than learning personally. Certainly, I understand the gemara much better now, for having had to explain it.
And part of it is the simple fact that I showed up every day for so long, consecutively, to do this.
But what really moves me is the group, the Daffies, my guys. (And women, of course; we have a couple of women who attend daily as well. But they’re all “my guys” to me.) Learning Torah with anyone creates a unique link, learning Gemara moreso, and learning daily much more. (Frankly, this makes me somewhat uncomfortable with the co-ed aspect of it, but that’s a topic for another post.)
And through that link, I can see growth.
I always have mixed feelings about encouraging people to attend classes. In my student days, I learned much more through chavruta (partner) study than through shiurim (classes); I emerged from personal study with rich understanding, but I usually emerged from shiurim with a set of notes. So it’s hard for me to encourage people to come to classes; I tend to push private study more.
But Daf Yomi is different. Here, through the day after day after day, I actually see the change in people. I’m not talking about a change in religiosity, or a change in knowledge; I’m talking about a change in their approach to gemara, a maturity and sophistication so that when people say gemara or talmud, my Daffies comprehend what those words mean. It’s not about the words or the pages or the volumes, it’s about the system as a whole. My crew may not get every shiur, we may not understand every page, but we emerge with a greater respect for the analytic methods, for the commitment, for the expertise, of the sages who compiled the gemara.
And that’s what moves me, on the eve of completing the cycle and beginning again. It’s the knowledge that I am playing a role in helping Jews come to a real appreciation for this essential part of our heritage, this mass of knowledge and thought and hope and analysis which is lengthier than the land and broader than the sea.
Their appreciation for our heritage, their grasp of the spectrum of Jewish intellectual tradition, their comprehension of what it means to be heir to Judaism’s great repository of wisdom – this is their reward for participating in the Daf, and it is my reward as well.
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