A new perpetuation project -- Ner Tomid -- is taking off. A
new edition of the Shas to be published in tens of
thousands of copies in which names of deceased relatives will
appear on the daf of the day they passed away. There
will only be one daf for each day of the year, first
come first served. The daf revolution is spreading
worldwide from the beis medrash of the Meoros Daf
Hayomi. Around 60 magidei shiurim are learning
from it daily. Twenty-two new shiurim started over the
summer. 40,000 copies of the Meoros Daf Hayomi weekly
newsletter are published in Hebrew and English and
distributed throughout the world.
The gabbai of the shul was amused, "Did you say a
Daf Yomi shiur?" he asked the person on the other
line, "I wish we had a minyan for shacharis."
He sighed. "Those who make it arrive for davening, and
there aren't too many, disappear during Uvo letzion,
and anyone who comes for Kaddish is left without a
minyan. What makes you think they will stay for a
Daf Yomi shiur?"
The gabbai realized that the person on the other end
of the line did not hang up. This information had not
deterred him. "Please give me a list of your regulars and I
will try to talk to them," was the persistent request. "You
do not have to do anything, just give us the list and we will
do the rest of the work." The gabbai capitulated and
gave him the list.
That Friday was set aside for phoning the people who
davened in the shul. Yes, they had seen the
Meoros Daf Hayomi pamphlets and yes, they are
definitely interesting, but a Daf Yomi shiur? That
means a daily commitment -- doesn't look like it could
happen. They are busy people always in a mad rush. Some of
them grudgingly agreed to try it out once.
On Sunday a group of men came to try out the shiur.
Two months later the shiur was still going strong with
twenty-five permanent participants and a maggid shiur
who arrived daily from Bnei Brak to give over a fascinating
shiur. The participants found spare time for the
shiur. They do not leave davening at Uvo
letziyon anymore, and a shul which was having
difficulty getting a minyan together, came back to
life.
Rav Chaim Kovalsky, head of the Meoros Hadaf Hayomi Beis
Hamedrash, smiles as he tells this story. The listener is
given the impression that these incidents are commonplace and
nothing out of the ordinary: another shiur in the
chain of shiurim opening up every few days. Every
shiur has a story behind it, as does every
kehilla.
The principal of the national-religious school spoke almost
disparagingly when the idea of opening a new gemora
class for the oldest grade in the school came up. If he
himself did not already participate in a shiur given
by a maggid shiur from the Beis Medrash of
Meoros Daf Hayomi, he would have hung up a long while
ago. His time was too precious to spend on something that had
no chance of success. He politely tried to explain to the
person on the other line that there was no use trying to
introduce another gemora shiur, since it was the least
popular subject in the school.
But the speaker on the other line was obstinate, "Let's give
it a try. Maybe the reason they dislike gemora is
because they do not understand it. A maggid shiur from
our Beis Medrash will come and he'll show them a new
way to learn the gemora."
The principal found it difficult to refuse. The students were
surprised when they heard about the new optional class. Some
of them came just out of curiosity. Maybe they also wanted to
see this strange character who thought he could convince them
to learn gemora voluntarily. The class soon became
very popular. Those who tasted the sweet nectar never missed
a shiur.
Before the big summer vacation the students asked the
principal to arrange for the gemora shiurim to
continue in the school premises during the summer. Thus this
national- religious school became the only governmental
school to remain open during the vacation. Poor homes in that
city merited a special light: the light of Torah shone upon
them.
Rabbi Akiva in Yevomos 121 gives a parable when
describing the difficulties of golus and how to be
saved from its dangers. A ship is wrecked in a stormy raging
sea, a man grabs onto a passing board from the ship and
survives by holding onto it for several days. In our
generation our lifesaving plank is the Daf Hayomi to
which the whole of Klal Yisroel holds on in the stormy
sea of golus. HaRav Meir Shapira was the architect of
this vision, which became the asset of the whole nation. The
salvation for Klal Yisroel lies in connecting to the
Torah and to those who learn it.
This is the central message of the Daf Hayomi
revolution which emanates from a simple Beis Medrash
in Bnei Brak called Beis Meoros Daf Hayomi. Their goal
is to go to any place in the world where there are Jews and
to teach them. This is not just another local shiur
which, not denigrating from its importance, is limited to the
Beis Medrash where it is given; it is a worldwide
movement reaching out to any place there is a starving,
deprived Jewish soul.
It is doubtful whether the thousands of people who read the
newsletter of the Meoros Daf Hayomi acknowledge the
strength of the revolution. They feel the difference between
this pamphlet and many others found in the Beis
Hamedrash, not just because of the fascinating contents
of the leaflet but there is a special light emanating from
it. It has the light of kiddush Hashem which gives a
small insight into the meaning of the sanctified concept
"Toras Chaim."
But only a few are privy to its strength and might. In just
two pages the pamphlet spreads the light of the Daf
Hayomi throughout the world both in English and in
Hebrew. Suddenly Jews, who until today had not learned a
daf gemora, are discovering the meaning of the concept
of "Toras Chaim" which is an integral part of a Jew's
life. This wonderful pamphlet, which deals with topical
matters, reveals a small portion from the eternal world of
the Torah wherein is stored the answer to any question.
Questions in any area of life, medicine, business, politics,
the various sciences -- everyone will find his answer in the
pages of the Talmud.
The weekly leaflet has already been republished in book form,
and this format is also very popular. There is little doubt
that anyone who teaches the masechtos on which the
books have already been printed, leafs through them in order
to find some real- life, day-to-day issue to enliven his
shiur. At any level of learning, these questions will
alert the students and generate an in-depth pilpul
debate. It will always take the shiur out of its
routine and give an insight to the essence of our eternal
Torah.
And when the Jewish soul tastes the sweetness of the Torah,
it begins to search. It feels a yearning to join the daf
yomi yeshiva of Klal Yisroel. And somewhere in a
small yeshiva in the Torah City, it finds a reply to its
appeals. Dozens of talmidei chachomim disperse daily
from that Beis Medrash to spread the light of the
Daf Hayomi.
Dozens of shiurim are opening throughout the country,
even in places where people would never dream of a daily
shiur existing. In the Shuk Hacarmel, the
diamond exchange, the Motorola company, and the Azrieli
shopping center, in all sorts of educational institutions and
private homes. Shiurim sprouting up one after the
other.
We have already said that the maggidei shiurim in the
Beis Hamedrash in Bnei Brak work diligently preparing
the sugyos of the daily daf. The aim is to
learn and teach Torah, simultaneously implanting the essence
of the Torah in participants of the shiurim, a living
Torah which accompanies the Jew throughout his life. It is a
combination between explaining the sugyos in the
Shas and adapting the learning to topical subjects.
Many, in conjunction with their learning in the Beis
Medrash, are acquiring the skills of enlightening their
students with the light of the Torah and arousing within them
a love for Torah and its sweetness and to encourage others to
join this learning circuit. The torch has been lit in twenty-
two different countries around the world.
The voice of Torah has also reached these faraway corners,
and the Daf Hayomi telephone center (03- 616-0657)
rings around the clock with telephone calls from all over the
world.
The Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Chaim Dovid Kovalsky, does not rest for
a moment on his laurels. Even when forty thousand copies of
the pamphlet are distributed worldwide in English and Hebrew,
even when his Beis Medrash is becoming too small for
those knocking on its doors, even when they are overflowing
with calls to establish more and more Daf Yomi
shiurim, he is not satisfied. His brain is constantly
working, feverishly creating more ideas and trying to find
more ways of spreading the idea, how to spread it more and
more, so that there will not be one corner on the globe
without that "redeeming plank."
The new publication of the Shas which is being
published by Beis Meoros Hadaf Hayomi is the
Bitzror Hachaim project. A special publication of the
Shas: the "Ner Tomid" edition for those
learning the Daf Hayomi. Printed at the bottom of each
page is a name of a Jew whose yahrtzeit falls on the
day when that daf is learned. This is such an
astounding and awesome idea, it is surprising that no one has
thought of it before.
Any Jew who wants to support Torah can buy a page and merit
thousands of people learning le'ilui nishmas his
relatives and friends. In the month of Tishrei of this year,
some Jewish soul will have an aliyas neshomoh the
likes of which has never been seen before. This will begin at
dawn in Australia and will spread throughout the world. For
twenty- four hours Jews will be learning the first daf
of maseches Sanhedrin, in perpetuation of the memory
of a person whose relatives bought the rights to have his
name printed on that daf.
But the greatest zchus is that these monies will fund
all the different activities of the Beis Meoros Daf
Hayomi and thereby allow these activities to branch out
and grow, igniting the fire of Torah in more hearts in new
localities. The gedolim were consulted about this idea
before it materialized and they gave their sweeping support
and praise for the project.
HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner wrote enthusiastically: "Those who
head the holy enterprise of Meoros Daf Hayomi are
doing immense things by enlarging the number of those
learning the Torah Shebe'al Peh and Torah
Shebichsav, by giving shiurim. We should therefore
encourage the wonderful idea of purchasing daf rights
to the learning for the le'iluy neshomoh of the
daf as indicated at the bottom of each daf. The
daf will be learned by thousands of Jews which will
give the neshomoh a tremendous aliya."
HaRav Chaim Kanievsky also praises the idea. HaRav Chaim
writes: "Meoros Hadaf Hayomi is renowned for
establishing shiurim in many places and for its
wonderful pamphlets which are distributed on a weekly basis.
Some generous people have decided to acquire rights for
aliyas neshomoh through Torah learning by buying pages
of gemora so the learning will be le'iluy
nishmas the deceased indicated on the daf." By the
way, the 23rd of Menachem Av of next year is taken. HaRav
Chaim Kanievsky bought it le'iluy nishmas his father,
the Steipler ztv"l.
The Nadvorna Rebbe praises the rosh Beis Hamedrash Rav
Kovalsky enthusiastically: "This is a wonderful idea which
has increased Torah amongst the nation and expanded the
numbers of those learning Torah in amazing proportions. You
were zocheh with siyata deShmaya to expand the
boundaries of the holy Torah with greater vigor through your
blessed messengers within the framework of Meoros Daf
Hayomi, which is renowned and acclaimed by all. You have
come up with a wonderful idea, to print a Ner Tomid
edition of the Shas masechtos learned according to the
daily schedule, and to give the merit of the learning of the
living to deceased neshomos, by endowing the daily
pages for the memorialization of their neshomos. This
is certainly a sublime idea, especially worthy because the
monies donated for these pages will then be used for the
meritorious and admirable activities of the Meoros Daf
Hayomi which are all geared towards teaching Torah
berabim and disseminating its wisdom throughout every
community and spreading its wellsprings outwards."
The Tzanser Rov added his blessings for the "Ner Tomid"
venture to this letter.
This remarkable idea has become an integral part of Rav
Kovalsky's vision. To fulfill his dream he needs to transform
the entire Jewish world into a huge beis hamedrash. A
yeshiva where multitudes of Jews will learn the same
masechta anywhere they may be at the same time, any
Jew will be able to join this universal yeshiva and be an
integral part of it.
Every revolution begins with small steps which gather
momentum. So it is with the Meoros revolution: the
beginning was difficult, but now Meoros has great
support. The idea of the memorialization of neshomos
through the daf unites the tens of thousands of people
learning everywhere in the world. It instills them with a
feeling of belonging to a universal yeshiva framework and
inspires Jewish unity, which has no meaning other than the
connection to Torah.
Can there be a greater aliyas neshomoh than spreading
Torah to another location around the globe? Can there be a
greater aliyas neshomoh than thousands of Jews
learning Torah for the memorialization of this
neshomoh for which his family gave money in order to
strengthen the Torah? The gedolim praised this venture
and some hastened to buy this zchus for a relative,
because first come first served. There is only one daf
a day and only one person can have the merit of buying the
right for the memorialization of his relative's
neshomoh on one specific day of the year. This is
another important step towards the actualization of the great
revolution, of which people learning in a beis medrash
in Bnei Brak are at the forefront.
