Remarks at the 13th Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi - Torah is Food for our Souls

Hodel Asha I'm Akito of kiloohm hostel what a magnificent venue what a beautiful day and what a momentous occasion today is special not only because we joined Jews around the world celebrating the completion of the thirteenth cycle of Davi ami but today is incredibly special because we the South Florida Jewish community joined together diverse shools and yeshiva Zin school's diverse backgrounds and ages and perspectives but all gathered here together for one reason one purpose for that which has always United us and for that which will continue to bind us together forever and that is the centrality of Torah in our lives firstly I want to echo the thanks to all those volunteers who work tirelessly to make this extraordinary event a success it is committee the volunteers those who've been working for months and those who showed up today of course an enormous debt of gratitude to the vision behind the sium a man who's been working tirelessly from the beginning until today Thank You Donny for all of your leadership and hard work I want to acknowledge and thank my dear friends our by Seth Enosh the Grossman who not only so generously sponsored the sium dedication this morning but who themselves model a powerful commitment to Torah learning and total living on a regular basis thank you it's truly a great honor to have her off drugs Lita with us bringing the kaduche of the Avira a connection with Eric Cicero it makes this morning all the more special and we're so grateful the Rob is here it's also a great privilege a special opportunity to hear and to be able to share the podium with my dear friend revoir I'm Shapiro very much looking forward to his words this morning there Schuster Obama mahashiv him my dear and beloved colleagues who are gathered here today with Mary Schapiro that could sound like the colors Lavrov or the founder of the DA Theo me was only seven years old in his home one day he found his mother as she was sobbing mother was crying and as a seven-year-old sees his mother crying he asked her why she turned to her young son and she said I'm terribly sad because your Malamud your teacher he was scheduled to come today but he didn't show up so the young boy didn't understand what's the big deal he came yesterday he'll come tomorrow so he wasn't here today so Shapiro's mother said to him Marilyn you're too young to understand but I want you to know and I want you to forever remember that if you miss a day of learning it can never be replaced it can never be made up and that's why I'm crying because your malama didn't show the mayor Shapiro's mother understood something so fundamental so basic and so core to our people from when we stood at the base of our CNI until today and in perpetuity that key aim high a Nevada home a new that toll is not just information it's not a set of facts or laws it's not a collection of our history the Torah learning is not just a way of life it is life it's what provides life and sustains life and nourishes life and that without it we simply cannot live mayor Shapiro's mother's tears left an indelible impression on a young son and when the opportunity presented itself he introduced a system and initiative which would ensure that we would never miss a day of learning in our lives do you know it's estimated today that there are more than 300,000 people around the world who learned the daffy owe me daily remain Shapiro and his wife didn't have biological children they didn't have children of their own but make no mistake every blood Gomorrah learned is their continuity and legacy every member of the Daath his progeny now much of the credit for the da vo me for the countless who learn it daily for the tens of million of pages of gomorrah learned in the last seven and a half years much of that credit goes to his mother she and Jewish women since then have inspired supported promoted and sacrificed to ensure that a day of Torah learning is never missed and they too are heroes of the Daath who deserve our recognition and appreciation this morning I am Calle no for origami no in the Golden Age of the Jewish people totally informed and inspired our every move and in some of the darkest periods in the bleakest moments of our history Torah learning is not only what gave us courage faith and hope but total learning literally gave us life my dear friend and colleague Rabbi Moshe Howard shared a story that his own father's a kernel of rough I only told him at the end of his life during the war but Howard's father was exiled with Jews from Romania to a place called Transnistria which is in the Ukraine they were forced into slave labor they lived in miserable and meek conditions and during that time though he was young but how his father had the privilege to study Torah daily with Ravi Oh safe Naphtali Stearns that's how a true God will be sir all would end up surviving moving to Israel being a meths member of the Muisca Dalia Torah of Israel his father shared that often when they finished studying the greater of the great time of Muhammad turned to the young boy and he'd say close your Gemara it's time to go home for supper and then he saw the look on the boy's face and he'd say tell me do you have anything at home to eat for supper and regularly invariably the young boy would say no not really there's nothing to eat so in those dark and bleak days in the horror of transmitter in the Ukraine Rev Stern would open up the Gemara and say to the young boy let's have another blat Gemara for supper and they would continue learning and all those years later of how his father told them it was those extra blot it was that continued total learning that sustained him and nourished him and that enabled him to survive through those dark days in the fifth Pyrrhic of the tanya the alter rebbe writes patola he a Muslim the neshamah Shiraz Cibola Mize edit or lachemann Torres the nourishment for the souls of those who learn it sincerely and mitzvah same Levu shimla vaad mitzvahs of the garments they enable us to make contact externally with the divine vat Torah he a Muslim the Gama lavash but told us the food we ingest spiritually we ingested we digest it it becomes absorbed by us part of us it informs us inspires us it enables us not only to make contact with the divine but to be of one mind with the divine to be connected and integrated with the rebo no Sholem as one when we learned Torah were feeding our soul we're hydrating our spirit key aim high a navona amino today we're going to recite the Hajj rain from a very special Gemara the nazi's the maximum is Akram had stolen and looted and burned all this forum belonging to German Jews and when the war ended there was not one complete set of shots that could be found in Western Europe rabbi samuel Slee again rabbi samuel rose both survivors of Dachau had an idea to print an entire full set of shafts while yet in Germany they printed 50 sets of what became known as the survivors talmud they use the nazi printing presses the printing machines the nazis had used to promote and spread their own propaganda those same printing machines became the vehicle and instrument to produce full-size sets of shots the survivors in the DP camps they were starving for food but do you know that many were also starving to feed their souls desperate to return to learning the daffy owe me a cycle of learning that was interrupted and now today almost 75 years later as we once again rise as we once again face the rise of those who want to harm us as once again we confront anus attacks by those who want to eliminate us we together here in south Florida will celebrate the completion of Shas with a statement of defiance a triumph over our enemies with the see'em and the Hodgman that will be recited from one of the volumes of a survivor's Talmud printed on those printing presses in Germany we will declare that net sofia aisha care we will read the Hodgman from a volume that was studied by those who weighed next to nothing who had lost next to everything a testament of our immortality into the central role that torah plays in sustaining us because Kihei maja a new vow may know when we read that hydron when we read that volume we will proudly declare hydron Allah we will return to you no matter what no matter when hydron Allah we will be back some will try logic you come to Resaca to cause us to forget you or sacred Torah but have no fear hydron Allah we will be back others will burn you and destroy you but Hajin Allah we will be back and yet others as recently as to this week will try to destroy shoes in our nose and Pittsburgh and Poway and Muncie but Hodgman Allah we will keep coming back because nothing can keep us away from you our sacred Torah this is our mission as Jews its core to who we are it's essential to our mandate and why we're here Hajin Allah no matter when no matter where we will be back in governing we recite shaking Hovis call its rim that we have an obligation ilaha dare to approach our Yiddish guide our relationship with our chemin or commitment to Torah with a passion a dedication a love and affection we are people of Hadar and of hitter of people of hadron allaha la dare we glorify a sham by our commitment to come back again and again and again no matter what happens in our history no matter what happens our personal lives of Hajin Allah our love of Torah never grows tired our level of Torah never ends had Rinna luckless lovely' ha dare to live a life of such passion that we can't part a life of obsession with Torah it's not just for tell me dick a common and yeshiva baccarat more those were the strong background are those with brilliant minds but the Torah ha kadosh a is for every single one of us chuckle mark records that when the tour is lifted for Hodja a person should make every effort to see the text of the Torah and to recite vayzosa Baraka the chef Canora says the proper thing is to bound the Arisa takes it a step further and encourages moving up close to be able to see the words of the Torah during hog but but I saw a beautiful minute that some have not just to come up close and read any random words in the Torah during Akbar but a min hug to scan the column during hog ba and find the letter that begins your name when that Torah is raised when the Torah is lifted for all to see we find our letter we see ourselves in the Torah we bow we point and we proclaim visit a Torah this tour is for me I can learn it I have a portion in it it speaks to me that I too can tap into its timeless messages and inspiration then it has something to say from my personal life and it's waiting for me to have something to say about it game-high a Nevada I may know none of us can afford to be too busy too distracted have too much insecurity or too little interest in learning Torah there's a letter in the Torah for every one of us and the Jewish people are counting on it it needs us and we need it and nobody nobody understood that better than the extraordinary person whom we dedicate the sium to today when our dear friend Maya did nephesh rabbi dr. Brian Gabbard Berkeley been ruling us on the chronal of Rafah when he was diagnosed with a devastating brain tumor he knew immediately that as important as any medicine treatment or therapy were for his health and well-being it was his Torah learning and the learning of others in his merit that would give him life brian cherished the DA filled me not when he got sick long before brian learned the daf at a high level there's nothing wrong with using an art school or miss IFTA but Brian never took the easy way out he insisted on using a regular Gemara even if it meant breaking his teeth over a difficult circuit he was found before the Sun was even in the sky learning the Daath with Rob I shook him in every morning but that was only part of his rigorous learning schedule that included exploring topics that interested him regularly preparing and delivering high-level kerberos in our community the wear and tear on his forum the notes in their margins and the underlines on their pages all testify tees housemother he's incredible Torah diligence and commitment to learning all while simultaneously earning a reputation as an outstanding physician all while being one of the most hands-on fathers I've ever known and when Brian got sick the daf in particular took on a special significance for him not only for what it meant for himself but it represented for him an opportunity if he had to go through that horrific horrific condition then at least he could leverage it he could exploit it to get others to learn in his merit if he had to suffer at least it could benefit others who might take on learning as his illness progressed understanding the Daath became harder and harder harder but if you learned it with Brian you'd never know because he just kept smiling and laughing even while he struggled he was never fatigued and he was never defeated he kept plugging away at the Duff until he literally physically could no longer learn it anymore and even then because his family understood what the DAF meant him it continued to play in his ears and it is a patient of the CM in his memory several people shared with me the experience of what it was I have been recruited by him to learn the Duff and I want to just share one of them with you this morning person said quote I'll never forget the call it was a Friday afternoon in July I was driving home from work and when I first saw the name on the caller ID my jaw practically dropped Brian gal 'but this was two weeks after he'd been diagnosed and undergone brain surgery it's shocked to see that he was calling me now I picked up the phone and I said hello and after answering my how are you doing with his trademark but Hashem feeling great everything's great he told me that he wanted a favor you're smart they're capable you can learn I was wondering if you could start learning Duff yummy in my merit I didn't hesitate the person shares those few minutes literally changed my life I started to feel me the next day and that learning but most of all the source behind it Brian putting himself out there to personally ask me to do it it sparked something in me until then I could check off every box is someone who was from but I wasn't connected in a serious way to learning or Davin or with Hashem seeing how Brian immediately reacted to his illness calling people like me trying to get us to commit to learning inspired me to reevaluate my life and to consider what I could do to be more like Brian someone I'd always admired as a model of a true eviden and the person concludes there is literally no area of my life that is not improved because Brian picked up the phone and called me one july day and solicited that initial commitment my torah learning and doffing are better qualitatively and quantitatively than they ever have been we weren't close friends and yet not a day goes by that I do not think about Brian for what he did for me with that one short phone call I cherished his memory and I will continue to learn Torah in his memory every single day game high a Nova Orihime no Ramesh Sippy Rose mother understood that Torah is vital to truly live each day our Howard father literally consumed torah for dinner sustaining him during the darkest times the Holocaust survivors in the deep camps were starving for the Daath understanding he would restore their very lives and our dear friend Brian Cabot knew that if he could get others to learn Torah in his merit it would not only extend his life but it would give others real-life two-pocket hits khakhra footing the shares I close with this a story from the kedusha a rim of two Tommy DeCarlo men who were dancing on Simchat Torah one of them got tired before the other and needed to rest and the Judiciary room was asked how do you understand how do you interpret why one stopped before the other and the Garrideb is said you see one was dancing in celebration of the Torah he had already learned and the other was dancing in anticipation of the Torah he was about to begin the Torah of the past said the GABAA what we've already learned and finished it has boundaries and limits so you become exhausted and tired but the Torah that's in front of us it's limitless and so when we honor it and when we celebrate it we never run out of energy many here are marking the completion of shafts and enormous accomplishment and to you I say Mazel Tov you should be benched you should be blessed the Shem could continue to grant you good health and energy and the wherewithal to continue to learn for many many years to come but those who finish shafts are only half the reason that we're here we're also here to celebrate and honor those who were about to embark on the next journey whether of dha'fi owe me a cycle of seven and a half years or any other area of Torah learning if you're moved by this event and by this time to imbibe the sweetness of Torah this celebration is for you if you're determined to go forth from today and a more meaningful way incorporate torah study in your life then the joy that you will feel that we will dance soon has no bounds or limits will never tire you don't have to wait for hog but to find your place in the Torah make a plan today join the movement the community who realize King high aim of origami no it could be the DA for homage phooey could be Mishnah Ratana it could be listening to a Shirokov Russa but everyone every one of us must nourish our souls by feeding them Torah anti-semites once again are trying to destroy us and we will fight them in the halls of Congress and the court of public opinion and with greater measures of safety and security but ultimately we fight their plan to eliminate us by doubling down on our effort to have pride in our Jewish identity and to fulfill our Jewish mission Kim Hyon Evora Camano if they want to destroy us for being Jews that we so proudly and more strongly express what it means to be a Jew to be informed and inspired by Torah we cannot and must not walk away from today without a resolution a plan of how we will learn more live more and short share more total with those around us I implore you do it for Klaus I'll do it let you learn ich muss spark to be better than nothing but most of all do it for yourself thank you very much [Applause]