A Dirshu convention is not just a Shabbos in a hotel. It is a massive hafganah, a massive demonstration of kavod haTorah, limud haTorah and virtually non-stop Torah inspiration. It is an opportunity for couples, who make limud haTorah the daily centerpiece of their lives, to be inspired by gedolei Yisrael and have their colossal accomplishments recognized by the leading luminaries of our generation.
This year’s Dirshu International Convention, to be held on Shabbos Parshas Bo, January 11-13, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut, will be addressed by leading gedolei Yisrael and will feature numerous new innovations intended to provide much guidance and chizuk to the lomdei Dirshu and their wives.
The climax of the Shabbos will be the grand melava malka on Motzei Shabbos where a siyum on Chelek Gimmel of Mishnah Berurah that has just been concluded in Dirshu’s popular Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program, will be made. At the grand melava malka, plans for Dirshu’s World Siyum will be unveiled. The siyumim will begin with massive siyumim in Eretz Yisrael, followed by England, France and South Africa, and culminating in a enormous siyum at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, in mid-February 2020.
One of the important highlights in the course of the Shabbos will be a riveting shailos and teshuvos session right before Kabbalas Shabbos with Rav Reuven Feinstein. Rav Feinstein will answer a wide array of hashkafa questions, quoting liberally from the mesorah that he received directly from his illustrious father, the posek hador of the previous generation, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l.
Another highlight of the convention will be the shiur klali that will be given by Rav Shlomo Feivel Schustal after tefillas Shacharis on Shabbos. Dirshu will be circulating maarei mekomos in advance of the shiur and many hundreds of lomdim are looking forward to hearing a deep, intricate, lomdishe shiur by one of America’s most prominent roshei yeshiva. Throughout the Shabbos, other gedolim will give addresses as well.
The convention will include a comprehensive women’s program catered especially to the wives of the lomdei Dirshu. Every individual at the convention is a person who has shown deep dedication to limud haTorah. The men show that dedication by learning, chazering every day, day in and day out, and taking monthly tests over a protracted amount of time. Similarly, every Dirshu wife has displayed mesiras nefesh for her husband’s learning and spiritual ascent by enabling him to devote tremendous amounts of time to learning the daily material and then repeatedly reviewing so that he will know the material sufficiently to earn an exemplary mark on the test. Often, this does not come easily and can mean sacrificing the help of a husband in the most hectic of times, such as the morning rush to school or the evening bedtime crunch. That is why Dirshu siyumim and Shabbos conventions always have an important place for Dirshu wives, true partners in the Torah success of their husbands. Among the featured women speakers will be Chany Feldbrand, Brenda Katina and Leah Richeimer.
One of the highlights of previous conventions has been the unique shailos and teshuvos session held on Friday night after the seudah with the Skverer Dayan, Rav Yechiel Michel Steinmetz, shlita. Questions spanning literally the entire gamut of halacha are posed to the dayan, who, with his encyclopedic knowledge and good cheer, answers them all comprehensively and often with a good dose of added humor as well.
At the previous Dirshu Shabbos Chizuk L’lomdei Torah, it was Rav Steinmetz who encapsulated what he saw as the uniqueness of the Dirshu convention by saying, “A unique koach of Dirshu is that it not only gives a person Olam Habaah, it also gives a person phenomenal Olam Hazeh! Where else can you have a convention where after a moving oneg Shabbos, followed by going to sleep at 1 a.m., the next morning at 5 a.m. one hears a resounding kol Torah in the beis medrash? Where do you have a convention where after the seudah on Shabbos afternoon, the “taanug” of sleeping on Shabbos is replaced by the even greater pleasure of learning and chazering another blatt Gemara and another seif in Shulchan Aruch?!”
Inasmuch as the convention is sold out, and in order to ensure the proper kavod for davening and learning, Dirshu plans to erect a massive tent on the premises. The tent will also serve to accommodate the burgeoning crowds so that they can hear the shiurim of Rav Schustal, Rav Steinmetz, Rav Feinstein and numerous other gedolim in a dignified manner as befitting a maamad of kavod haTorah.
The phenomenal achdus is another striking component of the Dirshu convention. One participant in the previous convention said, “Where else can one have Ashkenazim and Sefardim, Yeshivaleit and Chassidim, Yidden from Cleveland, Baltimore and Toronto talking in learning with Yidden from New Square, Lakewood and Williamsburg?!” Torah is truly the ultimate me’ached, the ultimate unifier and the Torah in which all lomdei Dirshu immerse themselves, day in, day out, week in, week out, year after year brings together all segments of klal Yisrael in the most harmonious symphony of achdus.
The Gemara teaches us that the tana Rav Yosef said that even when one person makes a siyum it is a reason to celebrate, and Rav Yosef would make a siyum for all of Rabanan when one person would complete a masechta. How much more so when such a large, significant swath of klal Yisrael makes a siyum on a masechta! That calls for a true siyum where everyone is invited!
It is for that reason that the general public has been invited to join the siyum on Motzei Shabbos to sit together with the mesaymim and celebrate with their brothers, to dance with live music and to hear the moving, powerful words of gedolei Yisrael who will passionately address the assemblage. That is why busing is being provided to the melave malka siyum from the major Jewish centers of Boro Park, Lakewood, Monsey, New Square and Williamsburg, to enable everyone to come celebrate with their brothers.
RSVP is required for busing and the melave malka seudah by calling 1-888-5 Dirshu, ext. 106 or emailing, [email protected].
By Chaim Gold
