Lakewood’s Adirei HaTorah celebration, just completing its fourth consecutive year, is likely an enigma to anyone who isn’t present

Photos: Yanky Elbogen Photography

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ttempting to explain in words a message meant to be experienced, is not easy.

Lakewood’s Adirei HaTorah celebration, just completing its fourth consecutive year, is likely an enigma to anyone who isn’t present.

It's not just Lakewood's; spectators travel from all over to be a part of it. It’s not a fundraiser — there is no outright ask. It’s not a Yom Tov. It’s not a shiur.  It’s in America, but mostly in Yiddish.

So what is it?

Words and still images fall far short of defining it… but we’ll try.

Adirei HaTorah is a redefinition.

It’s a movement to change the meaning of words and concepts in our lexicon. Our value system rests on the people in this room, but if you're not living it, it's impossible to understand the true beauty.

It’s an attempt to celebrate what we honor, above all else. It’s an opportunity to recalibrate, in accordance with Torah values.

How do we redefine words and concepts? Chazarah. We repeat, we redo, we explain again.We stress with song and speech, music and movement, emotion and energy.

Redefining our unending esteem for  Torah as the centerpiece of our lives is  Adirei HaTorah. We show our love with words of inspiration from Torah leaders across the globe and recent history, powerful and energetic song and dance, a siyum, and heartfelt memorials.

Even in the retelling of it, there's inspiration everywhere.

“A tzibbur of bnei Torah has the koach of a gadol hador. Our yeshivah, our pride and joy... every chaburah is a gadol hador. Is it any wonder that the Zevuluns are willing to give so much to have a shaychis to our Adirei HaTorah?”
—Rav Uren Reich

“Reb Baruch Ber and Reb Chaim, tonight is your siyum haShas! Tonight, your chaveirim came together for your siyum haShas that you so aspired to make b’hai alma, and is now taking a place as a zechus for your neshamos b’alma d’asai.”
—Rav Nochum Binder

Defining generations
One of the most poignant moments of the ma’amad was when Rav Yisroel Neuman was mesayem Shas — both Bavli and Yerushalmi — on behalf of Lakewood talmidim who completed Shas over the past year in memory of two of the most cherished yungeleit who passed away in their prime. Rav Baruch Ber Ziemba, a talmid of Novominsk, was a rosh chaburah in yeshivah, a night seder rosh kollel, and an assistant rav who kept a detailed log of his learning with a clear plan to be mesayem the entire Shas b’iyun by his 40th birthday. He was niftar last summer at the age of 39. Rav Chaim Lipschutz, a son of Rav Avrohom Lipschutz, the mashgiach of Yeshivas Telshe in Chicago, a yungerman steeped in limud haTorah, had completed Shas — but was never mesayem out of fear that he hadn’t learned every blatt properly.

Now, in the awed presence of thousands gathered to salute lomdei Torah, their siyum was collectively held.  After the Rosh Yeshivah’s hadran, Rav Ziemba’s pre-bar mitzvah son flawlessly led Kaddish, along with Rav Lipschutz’s father, and an entire tzibbur rose to their feet in song and dance to honor their chaveirim whose legacies they had so elegantly commemorated.

—Yosef Herz

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1065)