Students to Complete Shas in Memory of Israeli Victims of Arab Terrorism

by Tzvi Kahn

 Compelled by feelings of mounting helplessness in the face of unceasing Palestinian Arab terrorism against innocent Israeli civilians, several Yeshiva students are organizing a learning campaign on the Wilf Campus aimed at completing the entire Talmud by Chanukah.

The young organizers, who include Naphtali Weisz, a student at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and Yeshiva College senior Avi Robinson, among others, plan on distributing learning assignments of approximately three, nine, eighteen, or thirty-six blatt, or pages, of Talmud, as well as portions of Mishnah and Bible, to as many students as possible, with exact allocations to be determined by the desires of the individual participants.

“There is no better way for Bnei Torah to honor the memory of the victims in Israel than to learn on their behalf,” said Rabbi Michael Shmidman, Dean of Undergraduate Jewish studies.  “This is a wonderful way to increase the Achdus on campus.”

The program will be called Nefesh B’Nefesh, or “Souls United,” to convey the idea that all Jewish souls are inextricably linked.  According to Robinson, learning Torah on behalf of Israel constitutes one of the only – and best – ways for Yeshiva students to help the beleaguered country.

“We wanted to do something to help the victims in Israel and to strengthen our commitment to Talmud Torah,” Robinson explained.  “The aim is to complete Shas at least once.”

Robinson and Weisz are currently in the process of asking Yeshiva’s various rabbis and Roshei HaYeshiva to urge their students to participate in the program.  To date, all the rabbis and Roshei HaYeshiva spoken with have voiced their enthusiastic endorsement of the students’ efforts.

“We are told that the Torah is Eitz Chaim Lamachazikim Bah – a tree of life that vivifies and gives meaning to those who were so cruelly taken from us, and gives courage and strength to those who cling to it,” said Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Max and Marion Grill Dean of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.  “That’s what the Chalukas HaShas [division of the Talmud for the purposes of communal study] means in this time of ordeal in Eretz Yisrael – and, indeed, always.”

To enable the participants to identify with their brethren in Israel in conjunction with their learning, each member of Nefesh B’Nefesh will receive a card stating the name of one Israeli who perished in Arab terrorist attacks.  The cardholders will be asked to keep that name in mind throughout their studies.

Robinson acknowledged that completing the whole Talmud by Chanukah is a rather ambitious goal, but he emphasized that it is far from impossible.  “We want to finish it so soon because we want this to be an opportunity to increase the intensity of our learning,” he said.