England is abuzz! It is on fire!
“Wherever I go in the streets, people are stopping me asking, ‘Where can I get tickets for the Kinnus Olam HaTorah of England?’ I need more tickets,” said Rabbi Yossi Dunner, one of Dirshu’s coordinators in Europe.
English Jewry is preparing for what might be the largest, most monumental Torah event in England, this coming 14 Kislev/December 15. The Kinnus Olam HaTorah, as its name implies, will be a gathering of the entire Torah community in England - London, Manchester, and Gateshead. Every person who attends during this difficult time for Klal Yisrael, will be coming to derive chizuk and guidance from Gedolei Yisrael.
Multiple Siyumim
The event, to be held in the large Cooper Box Arena in downtown London, will also serve as a maamad of chizuk in Torah that will feature a siyum on Masechta Shabbos and the haschalah of Masechta Eruvin in the new Dirshu Amud HaYomi program. The Amud HaYomi siyum will be celebrated in conjunction with the Daf HaYomi siyum on Bava Basra being learned in the Dirshu Kinyan Torah program and a siyum on Seder Zeraim in Dirshu’s Kinyan Yerushalmi program. In addition, it will mark the beginning of the learning of the 39 melachos in the Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha daily Mishnah Berurah program.
In what promises to be an outpouring of simchas haTorah and kavod haTorah, senior Gedolei Yisrael from Eretz Yisrael, England and all of Europe are slated to attend. Just a small window into the importance that venerated Gedolei Yisrael attach to this event can be gleaned from the fact that the nonagenarian Rosh Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Meir Tzvi Bergman, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Rashbi, plans to participate. Despite his advanced age, the Rosh Yeshiva has declared his desire to come to London to attend and address the event. Not only that, but HaGaon HaRav Shimon Galei, shlita, the great gaon, mashpia and mekubal from Bnei Brak, will be coming especially for the event, as well as the posek, HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Eliezer Stern, shlita, Av Beis Din Shaarei Horaah, HaGaon HaRav Nissan Kaplan, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Daas Aharon and HaGaon HaRav Shimon Spitzer, shlita, one of the most sought-after speakers.
Gedolim from Europe will include HaGaon HaRav Aharon Shiff, shlita, Rav of the Machzikei Hadas Kehillah in Antwerp, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe of London, and HaGaon HaRav Tzvi Elimelech Padwa, shlita, Rav of Khal Agudas Achim of Zurich, Switzerland. The Nasi of Dirshu Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, will also be coming from Toronto to attend and address the event.
The Background
What is the background for such a large, unprecedented Torah event that is sure to inspire young and old to declare their desire to bring more and more Torah into their lives?
Just over a year ago, around the time when the horrific massacre of Simchas Torah took place in Eretz Yisrael, Dirshu launched its Amud HaYomi learning program. It seemed almost like a Divine antidote, a recipe for Klal Yisrael on how to strengthen themselves and utilize the koach haTorah to shield us. At that time, many shiurim in Amud HaYomi and new shiurim in other Dirshu programs were established throughout England and Europe.
Since then, the Amud HaYomi limud has taken off in a previously unimaginable way! Shiurim have been opened in communities and shuls all over Europe and it has become an integral part of countless learners’ days. At the same time, Dirshu’s other programs such as Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, have also multiplied with new shiurim and many hundreds of new test takers joining the ranks of Dirshu.
Now it is time to celebrate the accomplishments of lomdei Dirshu while simultaneously striving for more, more shiurim, more lomdim and more accountable yedias haTorah through tests.
“The Dividends are Eternal!”
In advance of Dirshu’s Kinnus Olam HaTorah, pre-event gatherings were held in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London, the Golders Green/Hendon neighborhood of London, Manchester and Gateshead where Rabbanim gathered with askanim to prepare for the momentous event.
In Golders Green/Hendon, the pre-event gathering was attended by more than thirty local Rabbanim and many askanim. Rabbi Yossi Dunner, a tireless askan who has been involved in spreading Dirshu all over Europe for nearly two decades, related, “One night late last week, I received a text message from Rav Dovid Tugendhaft, Rav of Khal Nishmas Yisrael, a vibrant shul in Golders Green. What was the text? ‘Mazel Tov! Nishmas Yisrael just completed the second cycle of Mishnah Berurah in the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program. We began 13 ½ years ago, and now we have completed the Mishnah Berurah for the second time!’
“I was pleased to get the text, but I didn’t think about it much until the next day… Suddenly,” Rabbi Dunner continued, “it hit me! I remembered how I had helped set up that shiur with just a few phone calls and now?! Just think about how much limud haTorah, how much yedias haTorah, how many thousands upon thousands of collective hours have been learned in just that one shiur! It is mindboggling to think how many halachos were kept properly, how many issurim were avoided and how all of those zechusim were engendered by just a few phone calls! What an investment!! Priceless!
“Now too,” Rabbi Dunner exclaimed, “we can use the milestone chizuk event and siyumim to create more shiurim and encourage more lomdim. The dividends are eternal!!”
Inspiring and Uplifting Zemiros by World Renowned Singers
Like all major Dirshu events, the Kinnus Olam HaTorah in England will feature a wide range of Gedolim who will address the crowds and, as befitting a milestone siyum celebrating a milestone accomplishment, there will be magnificent music to uplift heart and soul with the Malchus Choir, a symphony orchestra led by Reb Mona Rosenblum and world-renowned, inspiring singers such as Zanvil Weinberger, Baruch Levin, Motti Steinmetz, and Hershey Weinberger.
A Unique Letter Highlighting a Unique Organization
The pivotal nature of the event was underscored by an extraordinary, unique letter released by the Beis Din of the Hisachdus Kehillas Hachareidim of London (Kedasiah) and signed by its senior dayanim, the Gaonim HaRav Sholom Friedman, shlita, HaRav Yosef Padwa, shlita, and HaRav Aharon Dovid Dunner, shlita. In the letter, these leading Rabbanim and Poskim of London praise Dirshu as the international organization for chizuk haTorah along with its Nasi and founder, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita. They hail Dirshu for having created numerous varied learning programs in all areas of Torah and halacha that cater to the entire cross-section of Klal Yisrael, including talmidei chachomim and future rabbanim, morei horaah and maggidei shiur, roshei yeshiva and baalei battim who toil daily to earn parnassah.
In their letter, they urge the kehillah to attend the special Yom Tov for talmidei chachomim that will mark the special milestone siyumim and call on the kehillah members to join Dirshu’s programs, strengthen themselves and gain chizuk in Torah and yiras shomayim as a result of the monumental gathering.
In truth, it is amazing to see how strongly leading Gedolei Yisrael feel about Dirshu’s role in strengthening Torah among all segments of Klal Yisrael. For example, Rav Shimon Galei, whose powerful drashos and tefillos are so deeply inspirational, was unsure if he would be able to attend. Why not? Because the Kinnus Olam HaTorah in London was scheduled for the night before the sheloshim and the hakomas hamatzeivah of his illustrious son-in-law, Rav Dovid Yehuda Werthheimer, a great talmid chacham and R”M at Yeshiva Zichron Hillel. who passed away last month after battling a serious illness and leaving behind his wife, Rav Shimon’s daughter and several unmarried children.
Ultimately, Rav Shimon decided to come to London because he felt that the greatest zechus for the neshama of his son-in-law would be to increase Torah learning among European Jewry. Inasmuch as every major Dirshu event leads to hundreds and perhaps even thousands of new lomdim and the establishment of many new shiurim, Rav Shimon felt that he could not miss it. In the end, he was able to get a ticket to fly back to Eretz Yisrael in the middle of the night and is therefore slated to land in Eretz Yisrael in the morning. Rav Shimon is scheduled to daven Shacharis and travel straight to the beis hakevaros in Bnei Brak for the hakomas hamatzeivah.
“There is great excitement throughout England!” Reb Yossi Dunner said enthusiastically, “Originally, we did not dream that a large crowd would come all the way from Manchester as it entails travelling throughout the day to get to London on time and then travelling through the night after the event to arrive back in Manchester in the morning. For that reason, we only ordered a few coach buses, assuming those few would suffice. To our great surprise, however, our offices have been inundated with phone calls from Manchester and even further off Gateshead, asking for tickets and transportation options. Thus, we have had to exponentially increase the number of coach buses to transport those who live in communities outside of London.”
“The Amud HaYomi is Strengthening the Purpose of Daf HaYomi!”
The Amud HaYomi program is truly taking Klal Yisrael by a storm. Since its inception on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan a year ago, over 100,000 people have joined the program. Dirshu has established hundreds of shiurim in communities across the globe and many learners find that the slower pace of Amud HaYomi affords them the ability to learn the Gemara more comprehensively while providing time for chazara in a way that empowers them to truly absorb and remember the given material.
At Dirshu’s historic Amud HaYomi siyum on Masechta Brachos in Vienna this past winter, the distinguished Rosh Yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, explained one of the primary advantages of learning Amud HaYomi.
He said, “If a person does the Daf HaYomi in a half hour, that is not the Daf HaYomi of Rav Meir Shapiro. Rav Meir Shapiro envisioned Yidden throughout the world being able to talk together in learning on that day’s daf. He dreamt that they would be so well versed in the daf that they could discuss it and argue over it with fellow Yidden wherever they were. If someone can learn the daf and know it in accordance with his vision, that is wonderful! Tavo alav bracha! The question is, what happens if a person learns the daf without really understanding it? If he ‘does the daf’ like that, he is missing the main point! Rav Elyashiv told me that learning without understanding is worth very little. It is better to learn less but to really understand. Thus, if the Amud HaYomi will ensure that a person can learn less but understand, then it is not minimizing the daf!” Rav Cohen thundered, “It is strengthening the entire purpose of the Daf HaYomi!”
Rav Dovid Hofstedter: “The Call of the Hour: To Connect Am Yisrael Through Torah!”
Perhaps the Nasi of Dirshu, Rav Dovid Hofstedter put it best when he said, “The purpose of the Amud HaYomi is to connect all of Am Yisrael through undertaking more learning, more iyun and more clarity.
“All the Gedolim are telling us that the call of the hour - especially in these difficult times when we are surrounded by enemies who hate us and want to do us harm - is to connect Am Yisrael with the Torah hakedoshah. We must invest all our kochos to connect Yidden with the Amud HaYomi. From Brooklyn to Bnei Brak, from London to Lakewood, from Buenos Aires to Beitar, and from Monsey to Melbourne! It is our task to go from kehillah to kehillah, opening new shiurim and new chaburos.
“We need to come together in achdus and extend the borders of kedushah. We must all daven from the depths of our hearts to Hashem, that He should look favorably at our desire to extend the borders of kedushah and taharah in Klal Yisrael k’ish echad b’lev echad!
This coming week on December 15, thousands upon thousands will converge on the Cooper Box Arena in London to derive chizuk, be inspired and come away with an even stronger commitment to limud haTorah. It doesn’t matter whether you are a young mesivta/yeshiva ketana age bachur who will be joining a Dirshu program for the first time, or an elderly man who has finished Shas and is now embarking on learning Talmud Yerushalmi in Dirshu’s Kinyan Yerushalmi program. The Kinnus Olam HaTorah of Europe is for YOU! Indeed, it promises to be an unprecedented opportunity to hear and absorb divrei Elokim chaim from the senior manhigim of Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael and Europe.
It is an event about which you will one day be able to tell your grandchildren, “I was there! I attended that event! I absorbed the message of the Gedolim and upgraded my limud haTorah as a result!”
