Today, September 11th, is a somber day for recollection in the US, when the anniversary of the attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers is observed. But this year, for those who partake in daf yomi, the one-page (both sides) a day study of the Talmud, the day also commemorates a special and more upbeat occassion. For today, September 11th, 2023, is the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of the very first daf yomi cycle, which began on September 11th, 1923 - which also happened to be the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Rabbi Meir Shapiro
Daf Yomi (the world’s largest, and perhaps by now oldest continual book club) had its origins in a vision by Rabbi (Yehuda) Meir Shapiro (1887-1933). Rabbi Shapiro descended from a line of important rabbis and his talents were noted at an early age. He served in a number of rabbinic positions, before establishing the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, which would become a major power-house of Jewish learning. Construction began in 1924 and the Yeshiva was officially opened in May, 1924. Until its destruction by the Nazis in it was perhaps the leading Yeshiva in eastern Europe.
Rabbi Shapiro was not content merely with the establishment of the Yeshiva. He had another, perhaps greater vision: the study of one page of Talmud, every day, by Jews all over the world. He first proposed his vision at First World Congress of the World Agudath Israel in Vienna on August 16, 1923. Talmudology recently visited that site, and here is what it looks like today:
Remarkably, film footage of the conference, including unique images of the Chofetz Chaim, was recently discovered. You can see that below - and look for the old building in the new photo.
At the conference, Rabbi Shapiro revealed his plan. Here is what is widely reported as part of his speech:
A Jew travels by boat and takes a tractate of Berakhot in his arm. He travels for 15 days from Eretz Israel to America, and each day towards evening he opens the Gemara and studies the daf. When he arrives in America, he enters a Beit Midrash in New York and finds Jews studying the very same page that he studied that day, which allows him to happily join their study group. . . . Another Jew leaves the United States and travels to Brazil. He returns to the Beit Midrash and finds people immersed in the very page that he studied that day. Can there be a greater unity of hearts than this?
A couple of weeks later, the start of the very first cycle of Daf Yomi began with the first page of the first tractate studied on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. We are currently almost half way through the fourteenth cycle, with tens of thousands of men and women taking part in an ever expanding number of shiurim. With tools like the ArtScroll Schottenstein and Koren translations of the Talmud into several languages, there has never been an easier time to take part. So Happy 100th Birthday, Daf Yomi. And may the name of Rabbi Shapiro forever be remembered for his remarkable contribution to the Jewish People.
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Want more Talmudology on Rabbi Shapiro? Click here.
