If you wanted an inkling of what it means to have 1,500 walking, talking Shas and Shulchan Aruch yidden in one room, all you had to do was come to the Binyanei Haumah Hall the Monday after Yom Tov where you were able to watch the members of Dirshu’s Kinyan Shas Gemara program and Kinyan Halacha program taking the grand cumulative tests on Shas and Shulchan Aruch!
In the words of HaGaon HaRav Bunim Schreiber, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Nesiv Daas, who came to test the test takers and talk with some in learning, “I came to Pumbedisa!!”
Pumbedisa was one of the major yeshivos in Bavel during the times of the Gemara and Rav Schreiber sensed that the people in the room were familiar with Shas in a way that was reminiscent of the great yeshiva of Pumbedisa.
Rav Schreiber was only one of numerous Gedolei Yisrael who came to participate, tested and talked in learning with the avreichim and they were all simply astonished. There is no other word to describe their amazement and simcha. The Gedolim who came included, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron, HaGaon HaRav Avraham Salim, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Me’or HaTorah, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Feinstein, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Shlomo, the Biala Rebbe, shlita, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Mordechai Ausband, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas at Yeshiva Ateres Shlomo, HaGaon HaRav Binyomin Finkel, shlita, Mashgiach of Mir and others. Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, Nasi of Dirshu, also addressed the crowd, tested and spoke in learning with the test takers.
1,500 Avreichim and the Sound of Silence… Broken Only by the Sound of Pens Writing!
In order to understand the sheer magnitude of what these elite test takers have accomplished, it is important to explain what the Kinyan Shas and Kinyan Halacha programs are and how the programs’ constant testing works.
The present Kinyan Shas program began in conjunction with the present machzor of the Daf HaYomi. In addition to taking tests on the thirty blatt learned every month in the Daf HaYomi, these elite yungeleit engage in constant chazara and take tests every six months after Sukkos and Pesach on all the material they learned in the machzor since Masechta Brachos. Thus, in the current test they were cumulatively tested on all of Shas from Masechta Brachos until Seder Kodoshim - that means Zeraim, Moed, Nashim and Nezikin!
In the Kinyan Halacha Shulchan Aruch B’Iyun program the avreichim are tested monthly but also take cumulative tests every six months on everything they have learned in the six-year cycle of Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah.
Dirshu holds these tests every half a year for the elite members who are able to learn, chazer and retain so much material. The tests are held in tens of locations all over the world throughout Eretz Yisrael, Europe, Brooklyn, Lakewood, etc.
The event in Binyanei Haumah was designed exclusively for test takers in the Yerushalayim area, (including Beit Shemesh and Kiryat Sefer).
That is how 1,500 test takers from the area of Yerushalayim gathered in Binyanei Haumah for a grueling, four-hour test on everything they have learned over the past six years.
The massive Teddy Hall was filled to capacity with every yungerman sitting at his own small table and chair. All you could see were men hunched over test papers with furrowed brows. There was complete silence for hours and all you could hear was the sound of pens scratching the paper as the yungeleit feverishly wrote their answers to the hundreds of test questions. It was truly a sight to see. Table after table, chair after chair, each one holding a living sefer Torah.
The only thing that broke the stillness was the entrance of the Gedolim accompanied by Rav Dovid Hofsteder. To see the look on the faces of the Gedolim as they saw so many avreichim whose heads were filled with a comprehensive knowledge of the lion’s share of Shas and Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah was to see the sight of amazement and pure simchas haTorah.
Rav Dovid Cohen: What I See Here Today is the Ultimate Continuation of Dveikus with Hashem!
The Gedolim didn’t want to make an extended interruption during the long test but three of them, Rav Dovid Cohen, Rav Chaim Feinstein and Rav Dovid Hofstedter each delivered short words of bracha.
Being that the event was held just days after Shemini Atzeres, Rav Dovid Cohen cited the well-known Gemara that says that the Yom Tov is called “Atzeres” because Hashem told the Bnei Yisrael, “Kasha Alei preidaschem - it is too difficult to part from you after having been together for the entire Sukkos. “Atzor – wait,” and let us remain together for one more day, the day of Shemini Atzeres.” Rav Cohen asked a simple question. If it is hard to depart after seven days of being together, it will be just as hard to depart after eight days. What then is the purpose of Shemini Atzeres, to prolong the agony of parting by one more day?
Rav Cohen answered in the name of his Rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner that the purpose of that one day of Shemini Atzeres alone with Hashem was to ensure that there was no departing from Hashem whatsoever! Shemini Atzeres was designed to lock in Hashem’s presence with the Yidden in a way that would remain with them for the entire year. It was to ensure that they never left each other! The Gemara teaches us that the way to hold on to the simcha of Simchas Torah is Nagilah v’nismecha boch, to be happy and rejoice with Hashem. And the Gemara explains that “with Hashem” means with His Torah.
“That is what I see here today,” Rav Cohen exclaimed, “the ultimate continuation of the dveikus with Hashem through Torah! There is no greater way to remain attached to Hashem than by leaning Torah, completing masechtos, and not just completing masechtos but doing it with a goal of knowing Shas, really knowing Shas to the extent that you can take a test on the entire Shas or the entire Shulchan Aruch at once!”
Rav Dovid then added that experience has shown that there is no better way to accomplish this exalted goal than through taking tests. Anyone who has taken these tests can attest to the fact that taking tests acts as a way of spurring us to lock in our knowledge. “This kinyan in Torah is the ultimate simcha that accompanies all of you throughout the year!”
Rav Cohen then went on to praise Dirshu and its Nasi, Rav Dovid for undertaking - with strength and courage - the visionary goal of helping Klal Yisrael produce Gedolei Yisrael with the drive and the goals to achieve this profound greatness, and providing the avreichim the wherewithal to achieve that greatness.
Rav Chaim Feinstein: You Are the Crown of Creation! The Purpose of Creation!
It was with great passion that Rav Chaim Feinstein delivered a timely message. He expounded on the Chazal in parshas Bereishis that says that the world was created “Bereishis. Why? For Yisrael who are called Reishis and so that they can engage in learning Torah which is called Reishis.”
Rashi is telling us that the ultimate purpose of creation was for the Yidden, so that they can be engaged in and immersed in learning Torah. Rav Chaim related, “My grandfather, the Brisker Rav, his father, Rav Chaim Brisker and Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz all explained, that anything that happens in the world, a person in China bangs a nail into the wall, etc. is really somehow for the ultimate purpose of enabling Yidden to engage in learning Torah.”
Rav Chaim, with clear pain etched on his face, began to talk about the present challenges facing Torah in Eretz Yisrael. “I want all of you and all avreichim to realize and know that davka now, when there is an effort to pursue the lomdei Torah, you must internalize the fact that you are the crown of creation, the purpose of creation!! Anything that happens in the world is for the ultimate purpose of enabling lomdei Torah to learn Torah! I am not saying this to chas v’shalom make you into arrogant people. I am saying this so that you understand your unique place in the world and the importance of what you are doing!”
Rav Chaim concluded with his heartfelt bracha that the kabbolas ol Torah, the fact that the Torah learners have accepted upon themselves the yoke of Torah will absolve them of the yoke of malchus and Hashem will only decree gezeiros tovos on us.
Rav Dovid Hofstedter: Destruction, Rebirth and Rebuilding!
A deeply poignant address that resonated with the crowd was the one delivered by the Nasi of Dirshu, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, who placed the present moment into a historical context. Rav Hofstedter said, “We just heard from Rav Dovid Cohen, shlita, that our generation has merited something that previous generations didn’t: A large contingent of thousands of talmidei chachomim who know Shas and Shulchan Aruch to the extent that they can be tested on all of it at once. Amazing!
“I would like us to stop for a second and think about the moment in history in which we find ourselves. We are just eighty years after the churban of Europe, the Holocaust. The holocaust decimated Yiddishkeit. There was churban, Klal Yisrael after the holocaust was a spiritual wasteland. We don’t think about this enough! It is almost like a dream. Just think - in such a short historical period of time after the yeshivos and Chassidic centers were destroyed, we were able to see this amazing rebirth where we have thousands being tested on the entire Shas and Shulchan Aruch with hundreds of thousands of bnei yeshiva learning Torah, we have full battei medrash with avreichim and baalei battim throughout the world! After the war there were a handful of bnei Torah and talmidei chachomim, literally in the hundreds, spread out across the world… and now?!
“How can we explain this seemingly supernatural rebirth and rejuvenation?”
Rav Dovid then cited a profound idea that he heard from his Rebbi, Rav Simcha Wasserman, zt”l, an idea that is connected with the parsha of the week, Parshas Noach.
“The Torah tells us that the first thing Noach did when he emerged from the Mabul was planted grapes to make wine. Chazal view this negatively. That should not have been the first thing he did after the Mabul.
“Rav Simcha asked, ‘but the passuk teaches us that wine was made for marei nefesh, people whose hearts are embittered, who are sad. Now, no one could be sadder than Noach, right?! Look, he opened the teiva after the Mabul and saw that his entire world had been destroyed. His extended family, his whole milieu was gone. Wasn’t wine created just for such a person? To enable him to carry on and not be weighed down by his sadness? Why then do Chazal look askance over the fact that he planted a vineyard and drank wine?’
“Rav Simcha explained that wine is indeed made for aveilim, for those who have been saddened by a personal loss. Wine brings them comfort. That, however, is ONLY for personal loss. When the entire world is lost, when the entire world has been destroyed, there is no time for mourning personal loss, one has to completely be focused on rebuilding!
“We can add that if Hashem wants us to rebuild then He also gives the siyatta d’Shmaya to rebuild in a way that would seem impossible during regular times. He endows us with the wherewithal to go above and beyond nature. Noach’s planting of the vineyard was an incredible lost opportunity to rebuild in a most magnificent way with unparalleled siyatta d’Shmaya. That is why during this relatively short historic period of time, the Torah world has been endowed with special ability to accomplish. In our time we are able to build Torah and amass Torah knowledge in ways that are beyond the natural. It is supernatural. It is a miracle.
We are in the period after the war and in a period where there are still great dangers and challenges to the Torah world. Now is the time to increase our effort to produce talmidei chachomim with mesiras nefesh! Be’ezras Hashem, this will invoke Hashem’s mercy so that we will be protected from those who seek to harm us!”
Gedolei Yisrael Astonished as they Test Avreichim
Another remarkable highlight of the event was the public test and speaking in learning with the Gedolim, Rav Bunim Schreiber, Rav Chaim Feinstein, Rav Chaim Mordechai Ausband, and Rav Dovid Hofstedter. A group of more than one-hundred-and-fifty test takers went into a separate room where the Gedolim engaged with them in something that can only be described as a lightning speed journey through Shas and Shulchan Aruch that was almost done in code word fashion.
Before Rav Chaim Feinstein began asking questions, he said, “Who am I to stand in front of you and ask you questions?! You are all Gedolei Torah! What I saw inside was awesome! I saw the Shas alive! The Shulchan Aruch alive!”
Rav Chaim then began to ask a complex question about the Gemara in Shabbos that discusses a scenario when a person is in a desert, loses track of the days of the week and doesn’t know when Shabbos is. With that question, it was as if the entire Shas opened up. Dirshu avreichim were bringing proofs from Gemaras throughout Shas, from an obscure Magen Avrohom in Shulchan Aruch, from a Tosafos in Masechta Yevamos…
It was another awesome sight! Rav Chaim, the great gaon was sparring in learning and being flabbergasted not only by the bekius but by the depth of understanding that these avreichim possessed.
Watching the subsequent back and forth with Rav Chaim Mordechai Ausband was also a sight to see. What began as a test, as a question of why exactly is a shotah disqualified from performing the avodah, was transformed into a rapid-fire, spirited give and take where one was privy to true rischa d’Oraisah, the fire of Torah learning. Things went so fast that as soon as Rav Ausband began to cite a Gemara someone in the crowd realized what he was asking and answered in one word. Then, Rav Ausband recognized what he was answering and the conversation continued, almost in code with small snippets of Gemara or Rishonim being mentioned with an immediate response snipped from somewhere else.
The subsequent questions and answers with Rav Dovid Hofstedter were just as remarkable. “How can one eat in the regular manner of eating chametz gamur on pesach and still be patur?”
Dirshu’s Rabbi Avigdor Bernstein explained that unless you were a baki in Shas and Shulchan Aruch it was nearly impossible to follow the “conversation”. It was a demonstration of the grand power of yedias Torah at its best!
“Ashreinu that in our generation we have witnessed such a thing! Ashrei Dirshu that they have been the emissaries of Heaven to help create such a Torah revolution.”
