Class endures for 50 years with three teachers
Fifty years ago, upon moving to Denver from Chicago, Cantor Isaac Koll discovered that while there were six synagogues in his new hometown that had a daily minyan, but there was no Talmud learning class on the East Side.
“There was no learning on that side of town,” remembers Koll, now 86. “I wanted to start a Talmud class there.”
Koll took his idea of establishing a class to Rabbi Stanley Wagner at BMH, who loved the prospect of establishing Talmudic study at his shul. Wagner and Koll recruited a then-28-year-old Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer from Yeshiva Toras Chaim to lead the class.
It has continued uninterrupted for 50 years.
From early 1975 to present, the Denver Community Talmud Class has met once a week. On Feb. 22, the class will conclude its study of tractate Shabbos, marking a 50-year siyum, or completion of study.
The night before, on Feb. 21, a commemorative dinner will be held at The Jewish Experience.
“Over the years this class has influenced many individuals to become more shomrei mitzvot, religious, knowledgeable, insightful and informed about Yiddishkeit,” Koll told the IJN.
“It has definitely changed the Talmudic learning in Denver.”
Three years after the class started, the class moved to EDOS. Its original iteration remained for three years under Rabbi Mordecai Twerski. In 1988, Rabbi Hopfer moved to Baltimore and the class eventually came to be led by Rabbi Dovid Nussbaum, who taught at Yeshiva Toras Chaim. He led the Talmudic study class through 2002.
“It was a very dedicated group of men who came,” said Rabbi Nussbaum.
“It was not a large group, maybe seven or eight. but very committed,” Nussbaum said. “They came every week and it was very nice to spend time together with them.
“It also gave me the ability to talk about things with other people that within my role in the Yeshiva would not have happened.”
When Rabbi Rafael Leban arrived in Denver in 2002 to join The Jewish Experience, he became steward of the class, something he has proudly hung onto.
“The incredible consistency with which this class has continued for, under my watch, has been unparalleled,” said Rabbi Leban, managing director at The Jewish Experience. “It’s a unique opportunity to be teaching such a class.
“I teach Torah in a variety of capacities in Denver for these 23 years, but that one program, that one weekly class, has been a constant in my life since I got here.”
The Talmud class meets every Tuesday morning, quite different from daily Talmud study in a yeshiva.
“I teach another class, a daily Talmud class, at a very rapid pace,” says Rabbi Leban, “and we complete the entire Talmud every seven-and-a half years, one page a day, 365 days a year.
“But this class is not like that. It has a great warmth and it encourages participation. We’re not in a rush. It makes for a very good opportunity for people who don’t have such a Talmudic background to begin to participate in.”
Rabbi Leban counts a steady, weekly group of 10 in the Talmud class — which includes Cantor Koll, who made aliyah to Ramat Beit Shemesh in Israel two years ago. He participates each week via Zoom.
Rabbi Leban estimates that since the inception of the class, the total group of participants could be somewhere in the 100 to 200 range.
“We leave the door open for more people to come give it a try,” said Rabbi Leban.
“What a beautiful sort of a lesson for all of us that you start something meaningful for the community and you just never know where it’s going to go. Now, it’s been around for 50 years.
“Maybe that’s a good life lesson.”
