Undergraduate Student Completes Shas

With over one hundred people in attendance, February 7th marked the fourth time in Yeshiva history that the entire Talmud Bavli track had been completed by an undergraduate student. Eli Ozarowski, a Yeshiva College junior currently majoring in Psychology, was the center of the siyum, ending an eight year journey of spiritual enlightenment and intense commitment.

Beginning in 1992 at the age of thirteen, Eli recalls "I stayed by one of my high school rebbeim [Rabbi Appleman] for Shabbat, and he was learning Daf Yomi and encouraged me to join him. I enjoyed it very much and asked myself 'why can't I do this?'" Eli continued learning, then with his father, coinciding with his introduction to Talmud in school, and later continued alone.

One of the major difficulties Eli had to face was trying to balance the extra amount of learning with a double curriculum already consisting of limudei kodesh. Rabbi Neuberger, Eli's rebbe in the Mazer Yeshiva Program, is constantly impressed by the fact Eli's dedication never faltered even in his daily studies. "It's a great privilege for me," Rabbi Neuburger says, "to have a student like Eli, whose dedication to learning expresses itself both in the breadth of his learning as the intensity with which he learns, and the depth of understanding to which he is committed".

At the event, Eli expressed the difficulty of remembering everything that he learned, though stressed the importance of going through Shas in order to get a well rounded talmudic experience. "It's not for everyone", he mentions, "and not everyone can or should do it, because you may not remember it all, as well as the simple fact that it's good to concentrate on one masechta (tractate) at a time. On the other hand, it does teach you the basic skills you need for Gemara, and by reviewing it more often, you'll remember it and sharpen your will to continue".

The siyum was not without emotional moments. Eli mentioned how it is learning and practice which will aid him in transferring the Torah tradition to his children. Eli is aspiring to continue in his father's footsteps and enter the rabbinate. His father, Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski, rabbi of the Elmont Jewish Center in Long Island as well as Chaplain of New York University Hospital, was present along with other close family members.

After the siyum ended, dozens lined the perimeter of the Main Beit Medrash, singing and dancing, followed by a celebratory. William Adler, a friend of Eli's, said, "It was a very enlightening experience to see so many of the b'nei yeshiva uniting in celebration of someone's great accomplishments, as well as inspiring, as it stengthens us in our own Torah studies".