"What better way to make the point than to say your beautiful shiur in what you wear for work?”

Professor Mechel Schiffenbauer, who passed away last week, was respected member of the staff at Pace University, where he taught microbiology, and at Touro College, where he was a department head, but aside from his many students, he also had a staunch following of talmidim: Reb Mechel was a prolific daf yomi maggid shiur, often repeating the daf three times in one day with his trademark enthusiasm.

One popular daily shiur took place at noon at Agudath Israel’s Manhattan headquarters — a shiur that began just after 9/11 and ended when COVID-19 closed lower Manhattan.

There were many memorable chiddushim and siyumim, and also some special moments — like the time Philadelphia Rosh Yeshivah Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky arrived early for a Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah meeting. He noticed the shiur in progress and slipped in, taking his place among the participants and listening intently.

Afterward, Reb Mechel apologized that he was still wearing his lab coat — he had been running late and forgotten to remove it before leaving the university. “No,” Rav Shmuel reassured, “it is perfect. The daf yomi is there to show that even for those in the workplace, Torah is life, and what better way to make the point than to say your beautiful shiur in what you wear for work?”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 846)