Rabbi Avraham Goldhar has built a system that brings mastery of the entire Shas to the everyman

Photos: Simcha connections

ASdaf yomi participants crossed the thousand-blatt mark in the 14th cycle of the global learning program several weeks ago, a spacious banquet hall in Passaic, New Jersey played host to a complimentary event.

At 300 people, the room was full to capacity with standing room only, and the decor was signature Passaic: understated elegance that enhanced but did not distract from the focus of the evening.

On stage, a group of 21 balabatim sat on a two-tiered dais facing the crowd. These guests of honor were to be tested orally — publicly — on the first 1,000 blatt of Shas Bavli, 15 masechtos in all.

In the front row of the audience sat Rabbi Menachem Zupnik, mara d’asra of Passaic’s Beis Torah Utefillah (BTU); Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Appel, rosh kollel of Cheshek Shlomo in Lakewood; and Rabbi Odom Silverstein, a well-known Lakewood sofer and maggid shiur.

The three rabbanim took turns firing questions at the balabatim onstage.

“On what daf in what masechta is the sugya that discusses why Chazal established eiruv tavshilin? Where is the gemara that mentions the halachah of ein sorfin kodshim b’Yom Tov? Which gemara asks about beis din preventing a woman from collecting her kesubah a second time?”

Each question was met with a chorus of responses: “Rosh Hashanah, daf chaf-beis and chaf-vav,” “Shabbos, daf daled,” “Kesubos, daf pei-tes.”

The audience — comprised of friends, family, and chaburah members of those onstage — watched the rapid-fire back and forth in awe.

The test then transitioned to a more formal style, calling on individuals to name three main points of each daf in the first 1,000 blatt of Shas. The rabbanim named random dapim — “Taanis, daf vav; Yoma, daf chaf-alef” — and the balabatim raised their hands, rattling off the answers as they were called on: “Taanis, daf vav — the meaning of the words yoreh and malkosh, the halachos related to the second rainfall, and the brachah on rain,” “Yoma, daf chaf-alef — the ten nissim of the Beis Hamikdash, the smoke from the Mizbeiach, and the six different types of fire.”

One participant sipped Gatorade throughout, and others squinted as they called up the shakla v’tarya from a daf they’d learned two years ago. At the end of the intense 35-minute test, they had displayed mastery over a mind-blowing 15 masechtos.

These 21 test-takers, balabatim all, vary in age and occupation. The unlikely group included a nursing home administrator, a professional film producer, a real estate developer, the executive director of a well-known Lakewood high school, an attorney, a cardiologist, and a retired hematology oncologist. Their backgrounds and hometowns vary, as well — many hail from classic yeshivish circles, while others are from decidedly more modern ones.

Yet the common bond uniting the motley group is their commitment to the Zichru curriculum, a revolutionary and ingenious program that empowers learners to actually retain what they’ve learned.

For onlookers that extraordinary evening, the dazzling display of Torah knowledge by “regular balabatim” was awe-inspiring. For the participants, successfully completing a test on such a voluminous amount of Torah elicited sheer joy; for their families, the occasion was one of immense pride.

And for the founder of the innovative Zichru memorization system, Rabbi Avraham Goldhar, who sat next to Rabbi Zupnik during the test and watched his “talmidim” cruise through the answers, the night brought more than inspiration, joy, and pride. It was, more than anything else, an evening of vindication.