Last night some 90,000 people gathered at the MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey for a ceremony celebrating the twelfth completion of the daily reading of the Talmud (Siyum ha-Shas). The event followed similar ceremonies, in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, London, Melbourne, and other cities and communities around the world, in which thousands more participated in person or via closed-circuit TV.
These events honor the conclusion and re-commencement of a seven-and-a-half-year cycle in which people—individually, with partners, or in groups—learn a folio page (two facing pages) of the Babylonian Talmud each day in a tradition known as daf yomi, “a page a day.”
The tradition was established by Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the Hasidic rebbe of Lublin. Rabbi Shapiro proposed the idea to the Agudath Israel convention in Vienna in August, 1923, and the enterprise was launched with much fanfare the following Rosh Hashanah. Over the course of the twelve cycles completed thus far, the number of learners has burgeoned to many tens of thousands around the world.
To mark the occasion, Jewish Ideas Daily invited several prominent thinkers to reflect on the phenomenon of daf yomi and their own engagement with the practice. Stay tuned throughout the day as we will periodically publish excerpts from their responses; a free downloadable e-book containing the full essays will be available soon. —The Editors
Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Eleven Days in a Row
By Jacob J. Schacter
What is the most fundamental verse in the Torah, the anchor upon which everything rests? Ben Zoma suggested the well known Shema Yisrael: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4). In his view, the basic philosophical principles of Judaism found in this verse—the existence and unity of God—are most important. Ben Nanas pointed to the famous “Thou shalt love thy fellow as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). For him, sound, sensitive interpersonal relations take priority. But there is a third proposal—one that on the surface seems much less significant than either of the other two. Shimon ben Pazi offered, “The one lamb you shall make in the morning . . . and the second lamb you shall make in the afternoon” (Numbers 28:4, 8; see R’ Jacob b. Solomon ibn Habib, Eyn Yaakov, introduction, end). How could this verse possibly be considered the most important in the Torah?
Shimon ben Pazi highlights a fundamental principle. Yes, philosophical knowledge and sensitivity in interpersonal relationships are vitally significant. But perhaps even more significant is the constant discipline and focus necessary for meaningful Jewish life, “in the morning” and “in the afternoon,” every morning and every afternoon, every day, always.
Like the twice-daily Temple sacrifice that serves as the context for these verses, the study of daf yomi requires an ongoing, consistent commitment, day in and day out, every single day—weekday, Shabbat, holiday, fast day—for two thousand, seven hundred and eleven days in a row.
On August 2 one cycle ends. On August 3 another cycle begins. And so may it be, forever.
Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University.
CONTINUE
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Why is Judaism here to stay? Because it is Truth, and HaShem is Truth:
Judaism: One indivisible G-d Who Exists out of time and space. He Chose to create the Universe out of nothing (the Big Bang?). He systematically built up the universe from its initial formless components into its present state (Guided evolution). When the time was ripe, He freed the Jewish people from human slavery, led them to Mount Sinai, gave them the Torah, His eternal Laws of Life, and made them His Special People and His representatives on earth.
Christianity: three gods, man-god, ritual human sacrifice, ritual human cannibalism. Claims to be the real Judaism.
Islam: god as a sex-crazed savage determined to conquer the world. Claims to be both the real Judaism and the real christianity.
Liberal “scientific” atheism: there is no intelligent god overseeing things. The overall universe is eternal, and there is a mindless “life-force” that randomly generates an ongoing series of meaningless parallel mini-universes. Presumably, some of them may produce life, and others not. Liberal atheists doubt there can be such a thing as free will, and say that I am writing this now (and you are reading it), not because I want to, but because the initial conditions of the universe at the time of the big bang (13 billion years ago) determined that I must write this now. Claims that all religions are equally man-made superstitions with no value.
Addendum: listen to Rabbi Sholom Gold, beginning at the 16:15 mark. Of course, don’t let that stop you from listening to the entire clip.