Agudas Yisroel’s Siyum On Seder Nashim Joins Thousands In T’filah For Eretz Yisroel And Celebration Of Torah Learning
On Sunday evening, October 29, some 3,000 Jews gathered in Bell Works (Holmdel, New Jersey) to participate in Agudah’s Ki Heim Chayeinu’s Siyum on Daf Yomi Seder Nashim in the year that marks the 100th anniversary of Rav Meir Shapiro zt”l introducing the concept of the Daf Yomi cycle.
What was originally intended to be only a celebration of the prodigious efforts of the lomdei Daf Yomi on the completion of Seder Nashim, grew to include t’filah for all in danger in Eretz Yisrael, hostages, soldiers, and the many hundreds of thousands of Jews in harm’s way.
As Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, said in his address opening the Siyum, “The barbarians sought to destroy our Simchas Torah. Tonight, we say hayo lo sih’yeh! Tonight, we proclaim V’nismach b’divrei salmud Torasecha u’v’mitzvosecha l’olam va’ed!”
Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum, mara d’asra of Khal Nachlas Yitzchok in KGH, in his siyum on Seder Nashim, noted that the words of Torah are our weapon: “Every blatt Gemara is a missile; every Tosafos is a rocket; and every kapitel T’hilim is a bomb.”
In a similar vein, Chaver Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, Rosh HaYeshivah of Beth Medrash Govoha, told the participants: “The z’chus haTorah is what, b’eizer Hashem, gives us the g’ulah.”
Rabbi Elimelech Biderman joined the siyum from afar, due to the situation in Eretz Yisrael. He spoke of the importance of maintaining a high level of Torah during these troubling times: Our Torah and unity can help our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael.
The Siyum also included an inspiring siyum on Mishnah Yomi Seder Moed, delivered by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, General Editor of ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, who spoke of the desire for Torah learning precipitated by the war in Eretz Yisrael. Over 20,000 pamphlets of the next two weeks of Daf Yomi were printed and distributed in Israel for soldiers’ use, following on 20,000 pamphlets from last week. “The desire for Torah is unimaginable,” he said.
Other notable speakers included Rabbi Gedalia Moshe Eisenbach who reciting a Mi SheBeirach for the soldiers in Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Avrum Yishai Koenig, the Vorka Rebbe, and Rabbi Shlomo Mandel who led T’hilim, Rabbi Aaron Brustowsky, longtime m’chaneich at the Lakewood Cheder and a renowned baal t’filah at Beth Medrash Govoha, who led Maariv, and the Novominsker Rebbe who led Kabalas Ol Malchus Shamayim.
