DAF YOMI FEVER: Ahead of Community-Wide Lakewood Siyum on Brachos, Maggidei Shiur Speak

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This Motzoei Shabbos, thousands will mark the conclusion of the first masechta in the Daf Yomi cycle, Maseches Brachos, with a memorable siyum in the new Lakewood Cheder Hall on Vassar Avenue in Lakewood, NJ. All lomdei Daf Yomi are invited and urged to take part in the seudas siyum. Attendance is by free-of-charge reservation only. Lomdei haDaf can reserve their seats by calling 732.366.3639 or emailing [email protected].

Ahead of the siyum, we spoke to a number of Daf Yomi maggidei shiur for their reflections:

Rabbi Nochum Malinowitz

Daf Yomi Maggid Shiur, Chesterfield Commons

How many people attend your shiur?

Up to 40 men a day. We also have a call-in number for those who cannot attend in person, and a number of people receive the shiur via email.

How long is the shiur?

The shiur takes 50 minutes. It is given 6 days a week, meaning that we cover 7 blatt over the course of 6 days. On Shabbos, we have a chazarah shiur to review all 7 blatt of the week.

What time does the shiur take place?

6 a.m. weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on Sundays.

Do you feel the participants will continue attending through Maseches Shabbos and beyond?

Yes. When a person has a strong commitment to the Daf and feels connected to the Gemara, it gives him stability and improves his entire day. Many people have told me that their entire day is different since they started learning the Daf. In the shiur itself, we constantly refer back to dapim that we learned already when it is relevant to the current Daf in order to remind chevrah of how much we have covered and how much we have already learned.

Do the shiur members feel connected to each other even outside the shiur?

We try very much to keep a feeling of belonging to a close-nit chaburah. When someone makes a simcha, we treat it as a chaburah simcha. We also have the benefit that almost everyone lives in the same development. There are 72 houses in Chesterfield and about 25% of the residents attend the shiur. The shiur is really a neighborhood shiur and has the flavor of a cohesive chevrah working towards one goal of learning all of Shas.

What aspect of the shiur do you think is the biggest attraction?

I think it’s about making the Daf relevant and alive. On one hand, you want to bring out the “reid” and the halacha from the Daf. On the other hand, you want to learn the hashkafah and bring out the life lessons from the blatt. If you can bring out the living lessons of the blatt, when people come back to it they will remember how geshmak it was and all they gained from it.

 

 

Rabbi Meir Boruch Turin

Rov in Toms River and Daf Yomi Maggid Shiur in Chateau Park

Has the size of your shiur grown with the new cycle?

Yes. It has almost doubled. We went from around 22 to approximately 44.

What time is your shiur each day?

5:45 a.m.

There is a cynical saying, “Bah Shabbos bah menuchah,” meaning that the number of people learning the Daf tends to decrease after Brachos is completed and Shabbos begins. Do you see that happening this cycle?

No. I did not find that to be true last machzor either.

But people definitely have to realize that it is not easy to keep hold of the hisorerus they had in the beginning. It’s a long journey of 7-½ years. You’re going to have ups and downs and you have to be ready for it. The ikkar is that you should not think it’s all or nothing. If you finish half of Shas, that’s also a fine accomplishment.

There are rough patches over the course of the years, but that is not a reason to get discouraged. Keep in mind that Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt”l said, “The sweetest words in the world are “Hadran alach Shas Bavli.” Rav Chaim Volozhiner would stand up for somebody who finished Shas. When you learn Daf Yomi, you are involved in trying to reach a monumental accomplishment and the yeitzer hara will be fighting every second of the way.

Do you feel that the hisorerus to join Daf Yomi is growing stronger?

After every Siyum Hashas, interest grows stronger and stronger. At the siyum we made, Rav Oelbaum, rov of Chesterfield Commons, related the words of the Netziv that at Maamad Har Sinai the shofar rang out very strongly and kept growing stronger and stronger.This a symbol to the fact that the further we get into golus, the further away we are from Har Sinai, the sound of Torah will get stronger and stronger. We see this in effect today. More and more people are involved with Torah. It is very rare today to find anyone who is not koveia ittim laTorah.

Do you have shaychus to your shiur members outside the actual shiur?

Absolutely. People reach out to me for shailos and advice. They definitely retain a close connection both to me and to each other. Nothing binds people together like limud haTorah. A lot of people say that the feeling of closeness to each other is an encouragement to attend the shiur every day.

 

 

Rav Shmuel Yeshaya Yoffe

Daf Yomi Maggid Shiur in Lakeview

What time is your shiur each day?

6:30 a.m.

How long have you been giving the shiur?

9 years.

How many people attend the shiur?

Approximately 20.

Has it grown since the Siyum Hashas?

Yes, significantly. Many people started coming on a much more consistent basis than before.

Do you see this continuing even as the inspiration from the Siyum Hashas fades?

From the fact that the shiur is still going strong now, it seems that everyone is still into it and it will continue.

Do you have a connection with the shiur members outside of the shiur?

We definitely keep in touch if something significant is happening in our lives. If someone doesn’t show up for a few days, I will contact them to make sure everything is okay. We try to incorporate new members into the give-and-take of the shiur to make them feel at home.

Are questions encouraged during the shiur?

There are many questions asked and we try to cater to all of them without affecting the rhythm of the shiur.

What chizuk would you offer to keep people learning the Daf every day through Maseches Shabbos and beyond?

It’s monumentally important for everybody to realize how kevius ittim laTorah is very important for every person. The chashivus of putting in the time every day cannot be overstated. The impact Daf Yomi has on every aspect of the lives of those who learn it is huge.

Regarding Maseches Shabbos in particular, the Steipler writes that one should make sure that he knows Masechtos Brachos and Shabbos before learning anything else. Shabbos is something that we encounter once a week and is filled with all sorts of different avenues of halacha and inyanim. It is a chazarah of everything we know about Shabbos and a real way to connect with the fundamental aspects one needs in his life as an observant Jew. This perspective will help a person realize the importance of learning Maseches Shabbos.

I also try to drive home the fact that we aren’t a bunch of random people sitting in a room learning the Daf. Everyone’s participation is a chizuk for everyone else. The more involved one is, the more he will realize how important he is to the shiur and the easier it will be to get out of bed in the morning to attend.

 


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