Since its inception on December 22, 2020, the Orthodox Union’s All Daf, a division of All Torah, has been offering participants of all backgrounds the opportunity to learn the daily Daf Yomi with world-renowned maggidei shiur, each in his own distinctive style and method. The shiurim are offered in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, are available online at all times of the day and night, and remain available online for catch-up and reference. Enhancing the daily Daf shiurim are presentations of a host of topics related to the day’s Daf including history, lomdus, Tanach, and many other sources and resources. Over the past four years, All Parsha, All Nach and All Mishna Apps have been added to All Daf, as well as a Talmud Yerushalmi Daf. Every App provides a daily calendar which facilitates the regularity and uniformity of the learning.

According to OU Daf Yomi Initiatives Director Rabbi Moshe Schwed, “All Daf was designed from the ground up to be the go-to digital destination for participants at any level. We leveraged the OU’s experience in serving learners of the Daf for the past 18 years, including thousands of daily listeners from nearly 40 countries. To date, All Torah Apps has hosted 135,000 downloads and 18,000 daily users.”

Over the course of four years, All Daf has hosted celebratory siyumim in various local communities including the Upper West Side, the Five Towns and Teaneck, as well as distant communities including Las Vegas; Manchester, England; Beit Shemesh and Yerushalayim.

On March 3, more than 200 members of the Englewood community and beyond gathered at Congregation Ahavath Torah for a joyous and most memorable siyum on Maseches Bava Kama. Sponsored by All Torah, the gathering also served as a seudas hodaah for Josh Goldberg and his family, marking Goldberg’s fifth year of health after a serious battle with cancer.

Attendees included Englewood’s Rabbi Chaim Poupko, Rabbi Daniel Goldberg, Rabbi Zev Reichman, Rabbi Menachem Genack, Rabbi Mordy Kuessous and Rabbi Shmuel Konikov. (Rabbi Akiva Block was out of town.) Their participation was a testimony to the key role Josh Goldberg has played since his recent move to Englewood in galvanizing the learning of Torah throughout the community. Rabbi Poupko, morah d’asra of Ahavath Torah, shared: “Josh Goldberg has inspired our community into learning. He brings his entire personality into his teaching. He engages his ‘chevra’ through his thorough preparation, peppered with his humor and connectivity.”

A graduate of Ramaz, Goldberg had been engaged in learning even before moving to Englewood. He arrived to the community when it was mourning the loss of Irving Grunberg, z’l, father of Yossi Grunberg, during the COVID pandemic. Grunberg had moved the daily minyan to his backyard in order to facilitate his recitation of Kaddish. After COVID, the “chevra” of friends moved back into Ahavath Torah but remained together. It was at that point that Goldberg, together with Zvi Rudman, initiated the learning program after davening four days a week as well as Shabbat afternoon and Sunday morning.

The “chevra” attending the shiur consist of young men with similar backgrounds, having attended yeshiva day and high schools, spent gap years in Israel, and some attending Yeshiva University. Many had neglected their learning while building families and pursuing professions. Other members of the learning “chevra” are older gentlemen whose previous learning had been quite different from the All Daf method being followed.

As the weekday presenter, Zvi Rudner prepares with the All Daf shiurim of Rabbi Moshe Elefant and Rabbi Shalom Rosner, whom he refers to as “incredible.” For his Shabbat shiur, which he alternates with Rabbi Willie Balk, Philip Katz prepares with Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz and Rabbi Shlomie Schwartzberg. In preparation for his Sunday morning shiur, Josh Goldberg prepares intensely with four of All Daf’s maggidei shiur—Rabbi Shalom Rosner, Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz and the final touches with R’ Eli Stefansky. He often adds historical background related to the Daf provided by Dr. Henry Abramson, dean of Lander College.

Goldberg attested: “The All Daf App is a powerful tool, first because of its ease of use, and secondly because of its myriad offerings and insights. Not since the publication of the Artscroll Schottenstein Talmud has such a gift been bestowed on the Jewish learner.”

For the “chevra,” the All Daf program has been no less than life-changing.

For brothers Yaakov and Gilad Ottensoser it is a precious opportunity to unite many generations in learning as they share their learning on family group chats with multiple generations. For Davey Forman, the morning minyan and learning that follows have been transformative for him and his family. He credits Goldberg with revitalizing the Englewood community in its attention to learning through his involvement with the Daf Yomi as well as the nightly learning at the Englewood Torah Center headed by Rabbi Kuessous. Mike Dube foresees that at the next Siyum Hashas at the Meadowlands, Englewood will be a large and strong presence.

At the March 3 Daf Yomi siyum in Englewood, participants were treated to a special address by noted Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, Rabbi Yissocher Frand.

Rabbi Frand and Josh Goldberg have shared a special relationship for many years. Goldberg came to Ner Yisrael to study briefly between his graduation from the Wharton School of Business and the beginning of his professional career at Morgan Stanley. Despite the brief period of learning, they became close, so much so that upon hearing his dreaded diagnosis, Goldberg called Rabbi Frand immediately. Upon receiving the news, Rabbi Frand, then in Europe, prayed for Goldberg at the kever of the Slobodker Rav. Throughout Goldberg’s illness, Rabbi Frand was a source of comfort and succor. Celebrating both Goldberg’s clean bill of health and being honored as a promoter of Torah learning for an entire community, Rabbi Frand shared his joy at participating in this festive seudas hodaah.

Rabbi Frand shared the following thought about what a seudas hodaah truly represents: “We are all familiar with the milestone seudos mitzvah that we are blessed to celebrate throughout our lives such as the bris milah, pidyon haben, siyum andcChasuna. Contrasting with these events, the seudas mitzvah gives thanks to Hashem for having spared us from the dangers of an ocean or desert voyage, our recovery from a serious illness or our freedom from imprisonment.

“In the times of the Beis Hamikdash, a korban todah was brought in recognition of these recoveries. In contradistinction to a korban shlemim, a korban todah had to be eaten completely in one day in addition to being accompanied by 40 loaves of bread, which also were required to be consumed in one day. How was this to be achieved? By inviting one’s friends to participate in the korban. In addition to family, today’s seudas mitzvah in honor of Josh Goldberg include his many friends who have gathered to laud him for his exceptional accomplishments in spreading Torah throughout the Englewood community.”

On a personal level, Rabbi Frand praised Goldberg for the strides he has made while valiantly overcoming his illness. “Josh has become a greater maamin, believer, a better davener, a bigger baal tzedakah and most admirably, a bigger masmid, constant learner, as he lived through this difficult journey. May he and his devoted family be blessed with continued good health and ongoing contributions to harbatzas Torah, the spread of Torah.”