1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every time I get close to finishing a tractate in Daf Yomi, I receive emails with moving stories from those completing it. The truth is, every person who finishes a tractate is a moving story to me. What is more moving than a Jew who, amidst the demanding routine of life, puts aside his life for an hour, every day, and connects forever? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, there are some particularly moving stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""My name is Moti Vider. This week I am finishing Tractate Sanhedrin as part of my study of 'Daf Yomi', which I started about five years ago, at the beginning of the current study cycle (and thank you, friends, for the 'campaign' you run on your various platforms and for encouraging me to start).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I'll admit it - I don't always manage to concentrate properly and study the entire page with understanding. I study from the illustrated booklets of 'Shishnitham', sometimes I listen to lessons from the 'Daf Yomi Portal', or read the summary of the page they send. In short, I try. Sometimes I succeed more and sometimes less, but I know that the Daf Yomi has become part of my daily routine, and I believe that the more I persist, the more I will gradually understand, devote more time to it, and find the way of studying that suits me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near the beginning of the current cycle of the Daf Yomi, during the week of Parashat Vaicha 5700, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu gave a lesson on the subject of the Daf Yomi, including a reference to the importance of understanding in learning, and especially in oral Torah study. The summary of the lesson has been kept with me ever since in the binding of the tractate being studied, and is passed from tractate to tractate as a reminder of the importance of understanding, and also of the importance of perseverance, even if I do not understand enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beautiful, I thought to myself. A serious Jew. Both setting times for Torah and constantly striving for more. But wait, the story hasn't even begun yet: "About six months ago, on the 13th of Tishrei, the Yahrzeit of my father, Chaim Vider, who was killed in the strongholds on the banks of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War, began. The next day, on the night of the holiday of Sukkot, the terrible knock came to our door, informing us that our beloved son Elyashiv Eitan, 22, a fighter in the Golani Patrol, a graduate of the high school yeshiva in Neve and the high yeshiva in my husband's house, had been killed in battle in Lebanon.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wow. We live in a time so full of events and heroes that it's sometimes hard to digest all the stories. Vider's name didn't automatically jump to my mind. I remembered the difficult incident in Lebanon, in which five Golani patrol fighters were killed in hand-to-hand combat, on the first day of Sukkot, our time of joy. But I missed the story of the bereaved father who grew up as an IDF orphan from the Yom Kippur War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, the entire first paragraph of the letter, about the perseverance and effort to be able to concentrate on studying the Daf Yomi in recent months, took on a new meaning for me. And this is exactly what Vider writes about later: "Since Elyashiv was killed, the daily routine has not been the same. We feel like we are in a kind of new routine, with certain 'disability percentages', and alongside them new tasks and challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel how the daily Daf Yomi routine helps me maintain stability and stability: it connects all of life's challenges to the Holy One - both the 'percentage of disabilities' and the new tasks and challenges. Both the memorials and commemoration tasks, and also the joys (and God has blessed us with joys: we were blessed to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of our son and to marry another son. And also with a new grandson from our other daughter - and his name will be called in Israel: Elyashiv Shalom). The daily Daf Yomi routine also connects the chapters 'Yesh Nochlin' and 'Mei Shemat' (the chapters that were studied during the thirty-year period on Elyashiv the Fourth), and also the words of comfort that conclude the chapter 'All Israel Has a Share in the World to Come,' in which, with God's help, we will finish Tractate Sanhedrin this week.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will return to the story of the heroism and Torah of the Wider family throughout its generations. But I want to take a moment to address what Moti wrote at the beginning in parentheses. He referred to the campaign I have been doing for Daf Yomi in recent years. Well, on the eve of the launch of Tractate Makot in Daf Yomi, I am happy to inform you, the regular readers of this column, that this campaign is taking a step forward. Don't say I didn't warn you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have the great privilege, and perhaps even the historic one (time will tell), to join a new venture that may add many learners to Daf Yomi. To expand the circle. After Steinsaltz and Schottenstein and Oz and Hadar, and all the truly great enterprises of making the Gemara accessible, welcome the next thing: "Yomi." A new application that brings the Daf Yomi to your cell phone or computer, for those who still have difficulty opening the Gemara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not another (blessed!) project that sends you reminders to study, or uploads recorded lessons, but a very well-invested application, developed after in-depth research by professionals who examined the difficulties faced by those who, to this day, consider Torah study a failure. A failure that began in childhood at school, continued in yeshiva, and from there into adult life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People like me, who always started and never finished. What got them stuck? Why didn't it get better? How do you turn daily study, for the first time in your life, into an experience of success and joy? And yes, how do you keep yourself going after you've fallen again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I won't go into detail now about all the tools and features that have been developed (and that are still being developed, I'm privileged to be part of the team), but the bottom line is this: besides studying for you, the "Yomi" app does everything. But for that, you first need to do one small thing: download the app. Open an account for me on Google Play and I'll open an account for you like the one in Ulam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And back to Moti Vider's letter: "Nitzan, a fighter in Elyashiv's company, told us how Elyashiv made sure to study daily - even in difficult situations. Before the land entry into Lebanon, Elyashiv and Nitzan were assigned a joint mission near the border, in preparation for the land entry. Nitzan described how Elyashiv carried out the mission thoroughly and professionally, and how he made sure to study every day from the textbooks he took with him ('Mesilat Yesharim', 'Orot Teshuva', and more).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the land entry, on Rosh Hashanah night, they stayed together in Maron a-Ras, in a building that was on the contact line with Hezbollah. That's why they were very careful not to make noise or turn on a light. They left only a small light in an inner room in case of need. And Elyashiv had a need... Nitzan told how while the guys were arranging a corner for themselves to sleep or drinking black coffee, Elyashiv approached the menorah, took out a mazhor and prayed the Rosh Hashanah prayer. After he finished praying, Elyashiv took out his textbooks and studied from them. Friends from the fleet described this and said that they felt that a holy man was with them... Two weeks later, on the eve of Sukkot, Elyashiv was killed during an attack on a Hezbollah stronghold in the village of Aita a-Sha'ab.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""Last Hanukkah," says Moti, "special lessons were held in the morning kollel at the 'Shar'ei Homa' synagogue near our home in the Homat Shmuel (Har Homa) neighborhood in Jerusalem. The person in charge of the kollel asked me to choose one lesson to be dedicated to the repose of Elyashiv's soul, and I chose the Daf Yomi lesson. He drew my attention to the fact that there are special lessons in honor of the holiday. 'That's right,' I replied, 'but Elyashiv was one who didn't choose the special and unusual. Elyashiv was special in the regular, routine things, which he did diligently and professionally.' The next day, the person in charge told me that the Daf Yomi lesson that day was very special, and that he felt that it was due to the power of Elyashiv the Great.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he ends his email by reading: "The beginning of a new tractate is an opportunity to ride the wave. Add learning to the daily routine. Add 'and exercise us in your Torah' that connects all of life's tasks and challenges to the Holy One. You are welcome. True, it is Passover Eve, not the most convenient time to start, but Tractate Makot is particularly short - only 23 pages! - and it is waiting for us.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you very much, Moti, son of Chaim the Great and father of Elyashiv the Great, for sharing your story with us. A story of great heroism and dedication of generations, and a story of small heroism and daily perseverance in the face of the difficulties and challenges of time. I am sure that thanks to your inspiring words, many will open the first page of Tractate Makot this coming Thursday and learn. The small light that Elyashiv the Great lit on the night of last Rosh Hashanah in Maron a-Ras will continue to illuminate the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva''<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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