The revolution has gone mainstream! The Ateres Esther Hall in Lakewood was full to the brim on Motzoei Shabbos Parshas Noach. The massive crowd at the Amud HaYomi Masechta Yoma Siyum, is the clearest testament that the Amud HaYomi revolution has gone mainstream.
Three years ago, Dirshu inaugurated the Amud HaYomi program in Vienna, the same city where the Daf HaYomi had originally been inaugurated by Rav Meir Shapiro at the First Knessia Gedolah. It was a wonderful idea, and many started to learn the Amud HaYomi but at that early stage it had not yet taken over Klal Yisrael.
At the melave malka in Lakewood, however, the number of tables kept multiplying! The chasunah hall in Lakewood, the Torah heartbeat of the diaspora, was literally packed wall-to-wall with tables, with every additional table quickly filling with lomdim from Lakewood and the entire tri-state area who came to celebrate the Amud HaYomi siyum on Masechta Yoma and to begin Masechta Sukkah.
To observe the venerated Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood, HaGaon HaRav Yeruchem Olshin, shlita, dancing with Dirshu’s Nasi, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita; to see the Gaon in kol haTorah kulo, Rav Asher Dovid May, shlita, Rosh Kollel of Passaic and Rav of Khal Beis Tefillah in Monsey, talking about the Amud HaYomi with such genius was almost surreal.
When, despite the late hour, one saw that even when the program ended, the lomdim wanted to dance for longer, to savor the simchas haTorah, it was clear that the tzibbur had a very deep bond with the Amud HaYomi.
Rav Yeruchem Olshin: The Torah Loves Those Who Love the Torah!
A highlight of the evening was the inspiring drasha delivered by Rav Yeruchem Olshin, Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha. After being introduced by Rav Eliezer Don Ralbag, Rav of the Lakewood Courtyard shul, Rav Olshin expressed his deep joy at being able to participate in such a maamad of kavod haTorah. Rav Yeruchem related in the name of his Zeideh, HaGaon HaRav Aharon Kotler, founding Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood, that the Torah itself says, “If he honors me and shows that he loves me, I love him!”
“The Torah loves him,” Rav Yeruchem continued, “If the Torah loves him, the Torah will ensure that he will be zoche to learn and understand the Torah. When you give kavod to the Torah, when so many hundreds and hundreds of Yidden come and attend a maamad like this, a maamad whose whole purpose is to give kavod to the Torah, that will bring every person here to greater levels of ahavas haTorah and lead them to greater and greater levels of kinyan Torah!”
Rav Olshin went on to praise the lomdei Amud HaYomi for completing the entire masechta and for their dedication to steady limud haTorah day in and day out without a break. He encouraged everyone to try to make a point of learning b’simcha, because “learning with simcha shows that you truly love the Torah!”
A “Wedding” Celebration: The Torah with Klal Yisrael
The hadran on the masechta was said by HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Eisenberger, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Telshe and the Kaddish after the hadran was said by HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Cynamon, shlita, Rav of Khal Bnei Torah of Flatbush and a Dirshu maggid shiur.
What transpired as soon as the Kaddish was over was, simply put, indescribable.
The entire hall erupted in simcha as hundreds began to dance, weaving in and out of the tables… The sight of the Gedolei Yisrael led by Rav Yeruchem Olshin and Rav Asher Dovid May dancing together with the Dirshu maggidei shiur and Dirshu’s Nasi, Rav Hofstedter in an outpouring of simcha and kavod haTorah defies description.
The music went on and on and on. No one wanted to stop.
The energy in the Ateres Esther Hall rivaled that of an enthusiastic wedding because indeed, what was really being celebrated was the wedding of Klal Yisrael with the Torah through the Amud HaYomi.
Torah, the Unifier
Looking around at the unique achdus that only a Dirshu event can produce aroused such tremendously warm feelings. The tables were packed with Yidden from all walks of life dressed in the myriad different types of clothing representing the entire gamut of observant Jewry; Ashkenazim and Sefardim, wearing hats and wearing no hats, wearing shtreimelach and spodeks, with beards and without beards… The achdus so visible at a Dirshu event provides a microcosm of Klal Yisrael through the ultimate factor that unites all Yidden, the Torah hakedosha.
Rav Asher Dovid May’s Breathtaking Torah Tapestry
There was a hush in the hall as the chairman of the evening, Rav Eliezer Ralbag, introduced the evening’s special guest speaker, Rav Asher Dovid May, shlita, who was addressing a Dirshu event for the first time. Rav Ralbag introduced Rav May as a baki in all areas of Torah, nigleh and nistar and a marbitz Torah with his shiurim and his sefarim. Indeed, Rav May showed that, if anything Rav Ralbag, understated his exceptional greatness.
It is hard to describe the breathtaking nature, the range and depth of Rav Asher Dovid May’s drasha. He wove an intricate tapestry of sources that brought out the greatness of what it means to make a siyum on Masechta Yoma and also about the greatness of the next big Amud HaYomi undertaking, Masechta Sukkah. Sources from the Gemara, Rishonim, Achronim, Zohar, Mekubalim, and obscure Rishonim and Achronim were all cited with remarkable clarity as one source lead to the other depicting the gadlus, the greatness of what it means to learn and complete Masechta Yoma.
Rav Dovid Hofstedter: The Key to Activating Siyatta D’Shemaya is Doing our Utmost
As Rav Dovid Hofstedter looked at the large crowd with eyes filled with love, he expressed his hergeshim, his feelings that were welling up inside. “Three years ago, we were zoche to inaugurate the Amud HaYomi program. Today, we see the peiros of that effort! Tens and tens of thousands of lomdim in every corner of the world learning the Amud HaYomi!”
With great passion, Rav Hofstedter encouraged lomdim to invest tremendous effort and time in learning and acquiring Torah. “Yes, Hashem gives siyatta d’Shmaya, bracha and even nissim, but first we have to do our utmost! First, we must activate the nissim through our hishtadlus! This applies to avodas Hashem and certainly to limud haTorah. Each and every one of us must invest our kochos.
“We all want to embark on the journey of acquiring Torah, Shas, becoming talmidei chachomim but, at the end of the day, if we want to merit siyata d’Shmaya we must make a plan for ourselves, we must embark on hishtadlus. The great Mashgiach of Mir, Rav Yerucham Levovitz, writes that all the Gedolim started off with a plan. They developed a clear understanding of where they wanted to go. They had the ambition and implemented a plan as to how to get there. Yes, of course, at the end of the day everything is dependent on siyatta d’Shmaya, but first we still must plan.”
Rav Dovid then spoke on a more practical level. “We established the Amud HaYomi with the guidance of the senior Gedolei Yisrael. It is a derech to acquire Torah. It is a limud that never stops. Day in and day out. When we put in our full effort, we are able to succeed. When we are moser nefesh to learn even when things are difficult, that activates Hashem’s siyatta d’Shmaya.
The hour was late, very late. Bentching had ended and yet… people still didn’t want to go home. They wanted more! To dance more, to taste more of that sweet taam that comes with success in Torah after investing so much toil and effort.
