Thursday, March 28, 2024 -
Print Edition

World’s largest class ?

Kerry Berman

By Joe Parris

SOMEONE once said, “It will change your life, no doubt about that.”

Imagine doing something everyday for at least an hour. Forget everyday things like sleeping and breathing — think meaningful dedication.

Daf Yomi, or “page of the day,” is a world-wide program for Jewish people to engage in studying the Talmud every single day. The study schedule is coordinated worldwide, so that every class in every country studies the same topic at the same time.

Sounds simple, right?

Daf Yomi was begun in August, 1923, by Rabbi Meir Shapiro. Originally meant as a lesson plan for religious youth in Poland, the program drew lots of attention across the world.

The concept of the plan — every Jew studying the same thing from the Talmud on any given day no matter the location — made uniting the Jewish people at such a high level possible. In an age without text messaging and email, Daf Yomi truly helped Jewish people across the world feel connected.

The Talmud consists of 2,711 folio pages of in-depth teachings and commentary on the Hebrew Bible, covering everything from the laws of what to do with a dead bird to how many crops one is obligated to leave for the poor.

To complete this massive book at a pace of one page a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year (no Torah study on Tisha b’Av), takes about seven-and-a-half years.

So why do only one page a day?

It is easy to say that the process could go a lot faster if a group would go over more than one page a day. The problem is that would totally defeat the purpose of the lessons.

Each page is not just read and then forgotten. It is discussed and debated in order to understand it to the best of one’s ability. This process can take hours, and most people just don’t have hours a day to spend on this while juggling all the other commitments of life. To water down the content by speed reading through the daily Talmud page would defeat the purpose of Daf Yomi altogether.

ZVI Gelt has made Daf Yomi an integral part of his everyday life. Dating back to 1995, Gelt has made his best efforts to study every day. Gelt is known in the Denver area as a teacher of Daf Yomi, and is looking at about 14 years of experience in doing so.

“It is an amazing commitment and process to be a part of,” says Gelt. “The relationships you build with people, learning every day with them is incredible. Doing anything on a daily basis for a long time is impressive, but committing such a large amount of time to something at such a high level of spirituality is something to truly be commended.

“Each lesson takes lots of preparing. I spend anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour-and-a-half on any given lesson. Going through it extra times does have its benefits. The Torah is like the ocean. There is so much depth to it that each time is different from the one before it and the one after it.

“You grow to appreciate the readings so much more after every time, the same reading never compares to itself the way you might think it does.”

Kerry Berman of Aish Denver has been part of Daf Yomi for about three-and-a-half years. After being introduced by a friend and going to just see what it was about, Berman has yet to look back.

When the cycle completes, he will be exactly half way through his personal cycle of seven-and-a-half years.

Even though he began in the middle, Berman still believes he is getting an amazing experience out of the program.

“I have learned a lot. The connections throughout the Daf that I have been able to make to real life have provided me with revelations. Nothing seems to be left unturned; it is just incredible to read through the source of just everything of how we operate.”

“Even though I came in late in the cycle, I still feel the connection. This isn’t like coming in half way through a movie and missing out.”

ON August 1, the Siyum HaShas, or the celebration of the completion of the Daf Yomi cycle, will take place for the 12th time since its beginning. The event will be celebrated all around the world.

In 2005 at the 11th Siyum HaShas, over 300,000 people celebrated the culmination of the process.

This year, on Aug. 1, at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, 90,000 people are expected to turn up in what will be the biggest single Siyum HaShas event to date.

The event will be broadcast worldwide as hundreds of thousands are expected to celebrate.

Locally, Aish Denver is hosting an event at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday Aug. 1.

As the cycle is completed, a new cycle will begin the very same day. This is an excellent opportunity to become more involved in Jewish learning, and to create relationships with Jewish people in a unique environment.

Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News




Leave a Reply