“You ruined my life!!” he said, as he grabbed me by both arms. Those were the startling words that a Yid who met Rav Dovid Hofstedter told him to his face when he happened to meet him in the streets of Boro Park. “I don’t have a day, I don’t have a night, I don’t even have a minute to go to a simcha….” With a pure smile bathing his entire face, the Yid exclaimed, “On behalf of myself and my whole mishpacha, I don’t know how to thank you!”
As Rav Hofstedter related this anecdote to a spellbound audience at the grand melava malka siyum there was virtually no member of the wider mishpachas Dirshu who did not understand and identify with the message conveyed by this Yid from Boro Park. Rav Hofstedter eloquently explained, “Whatever previous lives we had have been ruined because this constant dedication to accountable limud HaTorah and relentless hasmadah has become our lives!”
The grand melava malka, where throngs of Yidden joined the lomdei Dirshu who had spent Shabbos at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut, was the culmination of an unforgettable Shabbos led by gedolei Yisrael. The overwhelming feeling throughout the Shabbos by lomdei Dirshu and their wives was one of simcha, joy and ecstasy, thanking Hashem for a life permeated by ol Torah!
HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Feivel Schustal, shlita, who spent Shabbos at the convention, gave a deep, intricate shiur klali after Shacharis on Shabbos morning. Before embarking on the sugya upon which the shiur was based, he expressed his profound feelings of awe, amazement and emotion. He explained that he felt unable to begin the shiur without first sharing his emotions with the assemblage. “I am here for Shabbos,” he said, “and what is so remarkable is that I see all types of Yidden, older, younger, baalei batim and kollel yungeleit, all learning with such a bren, such she’ifos, such tremendous motivation to learn, to know and to retain…”
The Rosh Yeshiva continued: “We live in an era where the yetzer hara, r”l, is constantly coming up with new innovations to try to make us stumble. Baruch Hashem, Hashem has also sent chiddushim as antidotes to the yetzer hara, and Dirshu is such a chiddush! It gives a person his primary cheshek, desire, and goal in limud haTorah. It requires a tremendous zechus to be able to gift klal Yisrael with so much limud haTorah!”
One of the highlights of the convention every year is the shailah and teshuva session on all four chalakim of Shulchan Aruch with HaGaon HaRav Yechiel Mechel Steinmetz, shlita, Skverer Dayan of Boro Park.
During Mincha, one of the most breathtaking traditions of the Dirshu convention took place. Whereas during Shabbos morning davening all of the aliyos are given to the gedolim, at Mincha the aliya of shlishi is sold in Dirshu currency, pages of Gemara. The bidding was the greatest testament to the Dirshu mission. One thousand blatt, 2,000, 3,000—it kept on going until one Dirshu learner prevailed by pledging to learn 8,200 blatt Gemara over the next 12 months!!! That Yid gave the aliya to Rav Dovid Hofstedter as a token of his gratitude for “changing his life.”
HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, shlita, rosh yeshiva of Telshe and Lakewood Mesivta, eloquently brought proof from Chazal the fact that the difficulties we have in our generation and in any generation—whether it is government intervention in our observance of Yiddishkeit or difficulty with parnassah—is a result of a lack of complete immersion in Torah. “Torah is life!” the Rosh Yeshiva exclaimed. “This is not a poetic turn of phrase, it is the metzius!”
The convention’s high point was the melave malka, and the climax of the melave malka was the unveiling of plans for the Dirshu World Siyum to be held next winter. The lomdei Dirshu were given given an advance preview of the worldwide siyumim that will culminate at the Prudential Center in Newark, where the entire arena will be transformed into a giant beis medrash celebrating the accomplishments of lomdei Torah with accountability.
“The purpose of the Dirshu World Siyum,” explained Rav Dovid Hofstedter, is to galvanize, empower and energize lomdei Torah throughout the world, young and old, whatever standing and station in life, irrespective of what shevet they belong to, k’ish echad b’lev echad to accept upon themselves the ol, the yoke of Torah, to become a mamleches kohanim v’goy kadosh and to rise above the nisyonos. That is our objective and goal! Hashem has given us the tools to survive. Today there are all kinds of aids to help us in learning. There are umpteen ways to do the daf, with this shortcut and that aid. Dirshu’s goal, however, is not to do the daf, it is to live the daf!”
The chairman of the event, Rav Yoir Adler, asked the rosh yeshiva of Telshe, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Goldberg, shlita, to address the crowd. “At this convention,” exclaimed the Rosh Yeshiva, “I saw not only tremendous limud haTorah, but perhaps even I saw how the people value Torah. Ashreinu!”
The final address of the evening was given by HaGaon HaRav Lipa Geldwerth. “Looking around on Shabbos, I saw so many colors and shades. People representing 20 different chasidusin, 20 different yeshivos, Sefardim, Yekkes… the one thing that binds them together is the fire of Torah! If someone would ask me what is the one most unique thing that Dirshu has accomplished, I would say that they made Torah keva, the most important thing in a person’s life.”
Perhaps Rav Dovid Hofstedter encapsulated the primary message of the night at the end of his remarks, when with such love he looked at the audience and said, “Tayere lomdei Dirshu, mishpachas Dirshu, our close family. You have ruined my life. I don’t have a day, I don’t have a night, I am constantly preparing for another shiur, running here, running there, not able to have time to attend a simcha. On behalf of my entire mishpacha I want to say, I don’t know how to thank you! We have ruined our lives for Torah, because Torah is our life!”
A more comprehensive report on the Dirshu International Convention, with detailed messages of the gedolei Yisrael, will be forthcoming bez”H, next week.
By Chaim Gold
