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1 Sivan 5765 - June 8, 2005 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Agudath Israel of America Dinner Pays Tribute to Daf Yomi Maggidei shiur

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

The special tribute to Daf Yomi maggidei shiur resonated with the large crowd that gathered at the New York Hilton last Sunday night (27 Iyar-June 5) for Agudath Israel of America's 83rd Anniversary Dinner.

"Just a few months ago," Agudath Israel executive vice president Rabbi Shmuel Bloom reminded the dinner guests, "more than 100,000 people worldwide celebrated the 11th Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi." While that event characterized the very essence of Agudath Israel, more significant still, said the Agudah leader, was what happened the next day, when thousands of newcomers to Daf Yomi joined up for the twelfth collective journey through Shas.

The remarkable phenomenon that is Daf Yomi could not have evolved without the toil, dedication and mesiras nefesh of the maggidei shiur, 150 of whom are represented by the evening's honorees, said Rabbi Bloom.

"While every maggid shiur will tell you that he gains the most from the teacher-talmid relationship, it still behooves the community to show its appreciation for their tireless efforts."

And what better place to do so than at a dinner of the achsanya shel Daf Yomi — Agudath Israel of America?

That sentiment would be echoed by speaker after speaker, beginning with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, both of whom lauded Agudath Israel's efforts at promoting Torah study.

The officials were introduced by Agudath Israel executive vice president for government and public affairs Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel.

As he does every year, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe and Rosh Agudath Israel delivered the main address of the evening.

Rabbi Perlow began with remarks in English, in which he praised Agudath Israel for its faithful representation of the part of the Jewish people that remains loyal to the Jewish religious tradition in the face of a culture so often inimical to it.

The Rebbe made reference to recent attempts by some to tamper with shechita and milah, and asserted that broader society's "whimsical notions of right and wrong," would never modify the observant Jewish community's dedication to its religious mandate. And he declared that the protection of the community's right to remain faithful to its traditions and the championing of moral issues, "what the Torah considers normative and Jewish behavior," comprises the "philosophical mandate of Agudas Yisroel."

"Living in a democracy" the Rebbe continued, "for which we are eternally grateful, we believe it to be part of the function of government to help secure education for all its citizens, including the ways and means to help preserve Torah education. And we expect the officials of government to seek every constitutional opportunity — and there are many — to safeguard religious education in our land."

Rabbi Perlow went on to refer to the community's deep concern for "our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land," and declared that "we look to the President and expect him to see through the false facade of respectability" being presented by "agents of Palestinian terrorism" and to "stand steadfast to support the protection of Israel as the only light in that jungle of darkness called the Middle East."

Switching to Yiddish, the Rebbe extolled the importance of giving honor to Torah which, as the dinner was honoring the maggidei shiur of the Daf Yomi, was the order of the evening. He also paid deep tribute to Reb Yosef Friedenson, editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort, who received the Rabbi Moshe Sherer Memorial Award. Referring to the long-time Agudath Israel activist as "a bridge" to the Orthodox world of an earlier age, he extolled Mr. Friedenson's more than fifty years of service to the Jewish community and thanked him for imparting the essence of the European Orthodox community to a younger, American generation.

"Reb Yosef!" he declared. "You outlived the resho'im," the Nazis and their henchmen who destroyed that European Jewish world. And to us, you are a paradigm of netzach Yisroel lo yishoker" — "the eternity of the Jewish people will never be undermined."

Rabbi Perlow's address was followed by a presentation to the "Pillars of the Daf" — the maggidei shiur — by Rabbi Shmuel Dishon, menahel, Yad Yisroel.

Rabbi Dishon spoke movingly of the mesiras nefesh of those who teach Torah to others. He noted how, according to one opinion, Moshe Rabbenu's wife and children were not present at Mattan Torah, and asked why Moshe would not have sent for them before that singular event. An answer he had heard, he said, was that their absence was intentional, that they were to be the living examples, as recipients, of the transmission of Torah. They were to set the historical stage of Torah's transmission over the ages to generations far removed from the day of Mattan Torah. And so the seemingly puzzling fact, Rabbi Dishon explained, was in truth a shining example of both Moshe's and Tzipporah's mesiras nefesh for the good of the klal. "Self-sacrifice," he declared, "is the dam hanefesh, the life-blood, of marbitzei Torah in every generation.

A beautiful and inspiring commemorative volume entitled Pillars of the Daf was distributed at the dinner. The publication features a color portrait of each honoree, along with his personal reflections on the challenges and rewards of being a maggid shiur. The wives of the maggidei shiur were each presented with a specially-commissioned 14k gold pin.

The program continued with a moving audio-visual presentation chronicling Mr. Friedenson's long-time association with Agudath Israel's late beloved president.

The program concluded with yet another audio-visual presentation, "The Eleventh Siyum HaShas: Across America and Around the World," which perfectly captured the scope and passion of that truly unforgettable event. The video was produced by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Golding.

The 83rd Anniversary Dinner was chaired by Dr. Menachem Rubin.

 

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