“Every blatt Gemara is a missile. Every Tosafos is a rocket. Every kapitel Tehillim is a bomb” 

Overheard

“Every blatt Gemara is a missile. Every Tosafos is a rocket. Every kapitel Tehillim is a bomb.” 

— Rav Noach Isaac Oelbaum, mara d’asra of Khal Nachlas Yitzchok in Queens speaking at the Agudah’s siyum on Seder Nashim in Bell Works.

The siyum was a joint celebration of Daf Yomi participants finishing Seder Nashim as well as a commemoration of the centennial of Daf Yomi.

Living Higher

IT

was Sunday night at 11 p.m. when the phone rang in the Reisman home in Lawrence. Rabbi Yaakov Reisman shlita, rabbi emeritus of the Agudath Israel of Long Island, had retired for the evening, but he and his Rebbetzin were awakened by the phone. When the Rebbetzin answered the call, the caller said he had a sh’eilah for the Rav. The Rebbetzin awoke her husband, who hurried to the phone.

“Is this Rabbi Reisman?” asked the caller. “The one from America? From New York?” When Rabbi Reisman confirmed that yes, he was the American Rabbi Reisman, and he resided in New York, the man sounded relieved.

“I have a sh’eilah for you,” the nocturnal caller continued in a soft Aussie accent, “on the sugya of ben paku’ah.” (Ben paku’ah is a sugya in Maseches Chullin that discusses the status of an animal fetus that is removed alive shortly after its mother is slaughtered in conformance with the laws of shechitah.)

Rabbi Reisman was taken aback for a moment. Why would someone call him — all the way from Australia — to ask a sh’eilah on the sugya of ben paku’ah? In a flash, he realized what had surely transpired. Rav Yisroel Reisman, also an Agudah rav with the same last name, must have given a shiur on the sugya. His shiurim are uploaded on various platforms and watched by hundreds, and the caller must have seen one of them.

This fellow, who was from Sydney, Australia, wanted to clarify a point of the shiur and looked up “Rabbi Reisman from New York.” Unfortunately, he got the other Rabbi Reisman. And while Rabbi Yaakov Reisman couldn’t help the caller with his question, he was deeply moved and told him as much.

“The Gemara in Shabbos [3b] says that even Rabbeinu Hakadosh, who compiled the Mishnah, couldn’t be asked about a mesechta that he wasn’t currently learning, and so I can’t answer your sh’eilah,” Rabbi Reisman told the man. “But you have given me so much chizuk. The world is falling apart — it’s turning upside down. And still there is one individual from under the equator combing the planet to clarify ben paku’ah! Imagine the nachas the Eibeshter is having right now!”

With that, he wished his caller a hearty good morning, content in the knowledge that even as entire populations are consumed with headlines and news reports, one Yid living Down Under was oblivious to it all, completely engrossed in the Ultimate reality.

Soaring Kindness

Klal Yisrael has been responding to the horror around us with an outpouring of chesed, and this overwhelming gush of generosity began as soon as the war did. In the ensuing panic right after Yom Tov, many Americans in Eretz Yisrael were scrambling to find a way home, and Rabbi Zvi Gluck, the indefatigable CEO at Amudim Community Resources, Inc., arranged the first chartered flight out of Israel.

One hundred thirty people booked seats on the plane (a fee was charged to cover the chartering expenses but Amudim itself took nothing as profit), but ultimately many of the travelers found commercial flights either to Europe or the UAE and canceled their reservation with the Amudim flight. While the travelers were entitled to refunds, none of them took it. Every traveler had the same idea: “Give my seat to someone who can’t afford it,” each one said.

In some instances, there was no one to take the empty seat, and a refund was granted. Those travelers then donated the refund money to Amudim, with some donating even more.

Salesmen with a Cause

Talmidim of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway raised enough funds selling cupcakes and other goodies to sponsor two days of Parnes Hayom Dedications as a shemirah for our soldiers in Eretz Yisrael and all of Am Yisrael, wherever they may be.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 984)