נקראת על שם גומרה?

I just came across this. 

On July 17, Dr. Henry Abramson wrote an article for the Orthodox Union website titled “Meet the Non-Jew Who Put the ‘Daf’ in ‘Daf Yomi.’” In his article, Dr. Abramson argued that there is a need to give credit to Daniel Bomberg, the non-Jew who paid Jewish scholars to clean up the Talmud text from the handwritten manuscripts of the time and create the printed page that we find today. Abramson notes that Bomberg, who did copy the Soncino editions, added page numbers and states: “Yet by standardizing the Daf, Bomberg made possible the notion of an international, coordinated study of the Talmud.”

However, throughout his article, Dr. Abramson mentions that the Daf Yomi concept was a “brainchild” of Rabbi Meir Shapiro in 1923. According to Abramson and others, Shapiro sought to use the Daf Yomi as a way of bringing together a fractured Jewish people under the umbrella of Jewish study, a myth that we will hear often as we approach the Siyum Hashas in January 2020. While Dr. Abramson is undoubtedly correct in crediting Daniel Bomberg with the critically important work of standardizing the Talmudic text so that Jews all over the world can all use it in an instantly recognizable fashion, and Rabbi Shapiro played a critical role in pushing the idea forward, the inspiration for the concept of Daf Yomi belongs to a different rabbi who has not received his proper due: Rabbi Moshe Menachem Mendel Spivak (no known relation to the author of this article).

Rabbi Eliezer Katzman, in a 1997 article in the Jewish Observer (1997) titled “An Unsung Hero: Rabbi Moshe Menachem Mendel Spivak, The Martyred Originator of the Daf Yomi Concept, Who Steered the Folio-a-Day Plan From a Dream to Reality,” illuminates Rabbi Spivak’s key role. This research was later expanded upon in the program given out to the 92,000 participants of the 12th Siyum Hashas at MetLife Stadium on August 1, 2012.

In 1919, Alexander Zusia Friedman (August 1897–November 1943), a prominent Polish rabbi who would be murdered at Trawniki concentration camp, created and served as editor for the first Agudath Israel publication titled “Digleinu” (our banner). The 1920 (AV 5681) issue of Digleinu (Vol. I, No. 7, which is found on Hebrewbooks.org page 42,43) contained a proposal by Rabbi Spivak to organize a worldwide “Chevra Shas,” involving businessmen, laborers and workers to study a blatt Gemara each day to complete shas. When the idea did not get the traction that Rabbi Spivak, then the rabbi of Krasnobrod near Lublin and the author of the work Mateh Moshe, felt it deserved, he approached the Lubliner Rebbe, Rabbi Meir Shapiro (March 3, 1887–October 27, 1933). Rabbi Spivak’s idea was for Rabbi Shapiro to speak about the nascent Day Yomi plan at the May 22–28, 1924, cornerstone-laying ceremony for the construction of the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin building, a yeshiva founded by Rabbi Shapiro. Rabbi Shapiro felt this was not the right forum to introduce the concept. Instead he chose to speak about it at the first Knessia Gedolah, held in Vienna August 15, 1923 (Elul 3, 5683), which would be attended by the greatest rabbis of the generation and which lasted for 10 days.

Almost a century later, this meeting has gained renewed fame, thanks to brief footage showing the 90-year-old Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Hakohen) of Radin. The Knessia introduced two programs that would forever change education in the Jewish world. The first was the introduction of formal schooling for girls under the banner of Sarah Schenirer’s Beis Yaakov. The second was the Daf Yomi program.

According to reports, Rabbi Shapiro had second thoughts about introducing the concept. He was concerned that the idea was controversial. Before speaking, Rabbi Shapiro approached the Chofetz Chaim about the idea. The Chofetz Chaim advised Rabbi Shapiro to come late to the stage, and when he entered the Chofetz Chaim rose and greeted him and ushered him to the podium.

This gave Rabbi Shapiro the support he needed and in his excitement forgot to credit Rabbi Spivak with the idea. Rabbi Shapiro later wrote Rabbi Spivak a letter apologizing for the oversight. The idea quickly took hold. The first Siyum Hashas took place on 15 Shevat, 5690 (1931), at the newly built Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin building. Tens of thousands of Jews are believed to have attended this first one. Unfortunately, Rabbi Spivak would never truly know the world-changing success of his idea as he murdered in Auschwitz. But at the upcoming siyum there will probably be more than 10 times that many participants. Rabbi Moshe Menachem Mendel Spivak may not have gotten the full credit for his inspiration, but surely his achievement continues to grow every day that people engage in the Daf Yomi program.

By Rabbi Marc Spivak

Here's the article in the JO.

Yes,   אין המצוה נקראת אלא על שם גומרה, . But that is irrelevant here for two reasons. 
First, this is is not a case where someone began but didn't finish because he lacked zerizus. This man did all he was able to do, and then entrusted the work to someone who had the better platform. (Mesillas Yesharim 7 בבאור חלקי הזריזות) If he hadn't "given it away", it never would have happened.
Even if the idea is not exclusively a criticism of atzlus, but instead a fact, that the ikker zechus of a mitzva is that of the one that merits to complete it, that would not apply here. That only applies where the second person did the maaseh mitzvah. Here, Rav Meir Shapiro did nothing - he only encouraged other people to do a maaseh mitzvah, to be kovei'a a certain order of learning. It is the people who sit and learn that are "doing" the mitzvah. What Rav Meir Shapiro did was to communicate the idea, to spread the idea that doing this in this fashion is good for the yachid and for the rabbim. You spread an idea by telling it to one person, who tells it to another, and so forth. Rabbi Spivak spread the idea no less than Rav Meir Shapiro did.  Reb Meir Shapiro had the fantastic zechus to be Rav Spivak's megaphone.
So let's not pat ourselves on the backs and toss a crumb to Rabbi Spivak. It was he that was inspired to create the program, and Klal Yisrael owes him an incalculable debt.

Ki Sisa. The Daf Yomi and Bittul Torah

My father זכר צדיק לברכה discouraged me from learning Daf Yomi. He was among the great talmidim of Slabodka in Litteh, and all the Gedolei Yisrael looked forward to talking to him in learning, including his chavrusa (and upstairs neighbor) Reb Chaim Zimmerman, his dear friend and telephone chavrusa Reb Chaim Stein, his mechutan Reb Moshe, and the Ponovezher Rov. He was one of those legendary Bnei Torah that actually kept their feet in a pail of cold water so they could stay awake longer. He spent ten years in Slabodka, and all those years he learned with one chavrusa, Reb Leizer Platzinski. He said that they learned the Gemara three times. The first time, he knew it better. The second time, they were equal. The third time, he said, Reb Leizer knew it better. When they shared a room, Reb Leizer got the bed and my father slept on the floor, because Reb Leizer was from the Alter's family.

The point is that my father embodied the Gadlus of the Torah of Litteh and the hashkafos of the Slabodker Yeshiva. He discouraged my interest in the daf because he believed that real limmud meant iyun, and the daf did not allow serious iyun. He felt that the time would be better spent learning more slowly and carefully.

For what my opinion is worth, I think that the Daf can have tremendous value. It broadens the perspective, and it mandates a discipline that ensures that a day does not go by without learning. Also, for many people the camaraderie and interaction of the Daf is a tremendous mechayeiv, and without it, many people would not go to any shiur at all. If you stick to it, you will end up learning a velt. I've seen many people grow from total ignorance to serious Yediyas HaTorah and Halacha l'maiseh from taking the Daf seriously. Certainly, everyone should go through the cycle once, and chazer. But I also understand what my father meant, and I believe that a person that a yeshivamahn that does not spend serious time b'iyun because he is busy learning the Daf is oiver on bittul Torah. His wily Yetzer Hara knows that he can't take him away from the precious Torah, so he gives him a keviyas ittim that prevents him from real ameilus, which is, for him, Bittul Torah, with a capital B.

In our parsha, passuk 32:15

  והלחת מעשה אלהים המה והמכתב מכתב אלהים הוא חרות על הלחת

In Avos 6:2 the Mishna says

אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, בכל יום ויום בת קול יוצאת מהר חורב ומכרזת ואומרת, אוי להם לבריות מעלבונה של תורה. שכל מי שאינו עוסק בתורה נקרא נזוף, שנאמר (משלי יא) נזם זהב באף חזיר אשה יפה וסרת טעם. ואומר (שמות לב) והלחת מעשה אלהים המה והמכתב מכתב אלהים הוא חרות על הלחת, אל תקרא חרות אלא חרות, שאין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה. וכל מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה הרי זה מתעלה, שנאמר (במדבר כא) וממתנה נחליאל ומנחליאל במות:

Rav Bergman in his new Shaarei Orah here says

פשטות כוונת רבי יהושע בן לוי היא שכל מי שאינו עוסק בתורה, מלבד עצם עוון ביטול תורה, יש במעשיו משום עלבון לתורה. שהרי הקב״ה ברחמיו נתן לנו חמדה גנוזה, יקרה מפנינים, וראוי לכל איש ישראל להדבק בה ללא הפסק, ואם אין עושים זאת אלא משאירים את התורה מונחת בקרן זוית, דבר זה נחשב ל׳עלבונה של תורה׳.

אך באמת מהפסוק שהביא - ׳נזם זהב באף חזיר׳ - משמע לא כך. שהרי ביאור הפסוק הוא כדברי רש״י: ״׳נזם זהב באף חזיר׳ - שמלכלך אותה באשפות, כן תלמיד חכם הסר מן הדרך הטובה. ׳אשה יפה וסרת טעם׳ - פורש מן התורה״, ואם אינו עוסק בתורה אם כן אין כאן לא ׳נזם זהב׳ ולא ׳אשה יפה'.  על כרחנו צריכים אנו לבאר שאין כוונת רבי יהושע בן לוי למי שאינו .לומד כלל, אלא מדובר באדם שלומד תורה רק שאינו עושה ממנה ׳עסק', ו'עסק׳ היינו כמו שכתב הב״ח (אר"ח מ'ז ג) בביאור לשון הברכה ׳לעסוק בתורה׳: ״שעיקר ההבטחה שהבטיחנו הוא יתברך לא היתה אלא על עסק התורה. היא העמל והטורח וכו', לכך תקנו לברך "לעסוק בדברי תורה״, וכן כתב הט״ז(שם סק״א) ״עיקר מעלת עוסקים בתורה דוקא דרך טורח ויגיעה, ואל זה כיונו בברכה ׳לעסוק, בדברי תורה,. דרך לימוד התורה היא דוקא על ידי עסק ויגיעה בעומק העיון, רק אז מובטחים אנו למצוא את המטמונים החבויים בה, ורק על לימוד כזה אמרו חז״ל (מגילה ו:) אם יאמר לך אדם יגעתי ולא מצאתי אל תאמן, לא יגעתי ומצאתי אל תאמן, יגעתי ומצאתי תאמן, ויש לדקדק בפירוש רש״י לאבות (וי״א שהוא  פירוש הרמב״ם) שכתב לבאר: נזם זהב באף חזיר שאינו משמרו אלא הולך ונובר באשפה וממאיס, כן  תלמיד חכם שחסר מטעמים של תורה הוא מאוס כמנודה הזה״, כלומר שמי שאינו יגע בתורה בעומקה אינו זוכה למצוא את ה׳מטעמים של  תורה' 

וכבר אמר בזה הסבא מסלבודקא שכל מי שיכול ללמוד בעומק וביגיעה ואינו עושה זאת, נחשב לו הדבר כבטול תורה, ולמד זאת מדברי הגמרא בריש מגילה (ג:) שמבטלין תלמוד תורה למקרא מגילה, והרי גם מקרא מגילה נחשב לתלמוד תורה? אלא מוכח שכיון שבמקרא מגילה חסר לו לאדם את הלימוד בעומק, ממילא נחשב הדבר כבטול תורה. וכן דרשו חז״ל במגילה (ג.) ״וילן יהושע בלילה ההוא בתוך העמק, אמר רבי יוחנן מלמד שלן בעומקה של הלכה״, כלומר שגם קודם לכן למד תורה, אלא שהיה חסר לו ב׳עומקה של הלכה׳, ומבאר שגם חסרון זה נחשב לבטול תורה.

על זה אומר רבי יהושע בן לוי שכל מי שאינו עוסק בתורה כראוי, אף אם הוא לומד אך לא מתעסק ומתייגע כפי שיכול   לעשות, הרי זה עלבונה של תורה, והוא בבחינת ׳נזם זהב באף חזיר, אשה יפה וסרת טעם׳. כי כיון שאינו עמל ומתייגע, חסר לו הן מצד עצם לימוד התורה, והן משום שאינו זוכה למצוא בתורה את ה׳מטעמים׳ הטמונים בה. מובן מאד איפוא שלימוד כזה הוא ׳עלבונה של תורה׳.

מדברים אלו יש ללמוד עומק נוסף בחובת כבוד תלמידי חכמים העוסקים בתורה בכל כוחם. כי חוץ מעצם זכות למוד התורה שלהם, הם גם מעלבונה על ידי כך שהם מתייגעים ומוצאים את המטעמים הטמונים בה.

I took the liberty of quoting Rav Bergman because I also heard this from the Alter from both my father and my Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Rudderman.  Also, I was amazed at his strong language - נזם זהב באף חזיר. But he's making a point, and he wants it to make a roshem.  

I have nothing to add, other than to explain the segue to the the second half of the Mishna which discusses the passuk in our Parsha. 

ואומר (שמות לב) והלחת מעשה אלהים המה והמכתב מכתב אלהים הוא חרות על הלחת, אל תקרא חרות אלא חרות, שאין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה. וכל מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה הרי זה מתעלה, שנאמר (במדבר כא) וממתנה נחליאל ומנחליאל במות:

The Mishna is telling us that in order to be mis'alleh, in order to not be an eved to the Yetzer Hara, in order to be a Ben Chorin, it's not enough to learn. You need davka Yegiah to the extent you are able.

In a Mashal Hedyot, but a useful and true Mashal Hedyot, let me add something from my own observation of חילוץ עצמות. There's a method of exercise popularized by a Dr Doug McGuff called Body by Science, described as "a weekly high-intensity program for increasing strength, revving metabolism, and building muscle for a total fitness experience." To me, the word "fitness" is misused. Fitness means the ability to do your task well. Fitness for a stevedore is very different from fitness for a CPA. But one thing I do know, and that is that my seventy year old brother, he should be maarich yammim v'shanim, went from being overweight and practically handicapped to having the energy and appearance of an athletic twenty five year old. He looks, as he did in days of yore, intimidating and formidable. Setting aside his meshugassen with Atkins and supplements, this is all because he took on this program. 

The program discourages treadmills and daily workouts and instructs you to work against resistance to the absolute limits of your ability. A curl, for example, should take ten seconds up and ten seconds down, and it should be the maximum weight you can handle. When I visited my brother, he took me to his gym and put me through the paces, and he enjoyed watching me stagger out of the gym, and then wake up the next morning feeling like I was experiencing rigor mortis while still alive.

I am making a point. We develop when we work to the limits of our ability, not when we just do easier things again and again and again. If you want to be a real Ben Torah, then you need to invest yourself intellectually to the absolute limit of your ability. Do not let the Yetzer Hara trick you into using the Daf Yomi as an way to cripple you.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

Reb Avi Lencz showed us the Beis Ephraim, as follows:

בגמ' מגילה ג' ע"א אמרו דמבטלים תלמוד תורה לשמוע קריאת המגילה, והקשו המפרשים והרי קריאת המגילה ג"כ לימוד התורה, ותירץ הבית אפרים דחסרון בעמקות הלימוד וערכה הוא ג"כ בחינה של ביטול תורה. וא"כ י"ל הכא, דאכן יושב בדין כעוסק בתורה, אבל הצטערו הני אמוראי על שלא היו יכולים להעמיק בלימוד ולהוסיף פלפול ולקח, שזה הוא כביטול תורה וכנ"ל.

Reb Micha, of course, refers us to the Aruch Hashulchan, whose words encapsulates the issue. We really need to carefully analyze what limmud is optimal, and to follow through on a plan. A realist, though, recognizes that for some people, the only likelihood of success is through the Chevreh Ein Yaakov, or the Daf Yomi.

Micha's words:

I consider the Arukh haShulchan's comment to typify Litvishe attitudes toward daf yomi. Or, in his day, the chevrah shas -- which also typically covered a daf a day, it just wasn't coordinated with other shuls' chevrei shas.
AhS YD 246:17:

... וט"ז סעיף קטן א שכתב בשם הדרישה: הבעלי בתים שלומדים רק איזה שעות ביום טוב, יותר שילמדו ספרי פוסקים ולא גמרא, עיין שם. ובוודאי שעל כל איש לידע דיני "אורח חיים", ומקצת דינים מ"יורה דעה" ו"חושן משפט" ו"אבן העזר" המוכרחים לכל איש, עיין שם בהלכות תלמוד תורה להגרש"ז ז"ל. אמנם ראינו כי אם כה נאמר להם – לא ילמדו כלל, כי רצונם רק ללמוד דף גמרא בכל יום. על כן אין להניאם, והלואי יעמדו בזה. וכל דבר תורה משיבת נפש, ומביאה ליראת ה' טהורה.

The Perfect Mug for a Daf Yomi Shiur in Yevamos

The mug was the gift of a dear departed member of the shiur, Larry Wilk, some ten years ago, and I picked up the foam can holder at the dollar store.  Together, perfect.  The only changes I would make would be to remove the exclamation point, because it's מעשים בכל יום; and improve the parallel structure by making it more Yeshivish-  "I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you."

All kidding aside, it's important to remember that if you really want to grasp the concepts, to make them your own, you have to be willing to put in extra time.  The shiur is simply not enough.

Hakafos and Credit

Last night I spoke at a siyum.  L W, הרוצה בעילום שמו, a good friend who has been a member of my shiur for eight years, invited us to a party to express his pleasure and gratitude for having learned with us.  He is a model of hakaras hatov, and he has a natural affinity for limud hatorah.

Some years ago, when we were learning Kiddushin or Gittin, we were a few blatt ahead, and I decided on a program for the talmidim- each one would prepare a piece of achronisheh torah and present it to the shiur.  LW was the first, and, as it turned out, the only one to do it.  We simply didn't have enough time, because I only say shiur six days a week.

His presentation was the Staipler on the Machlokes Rambam and Tur in Shlichus, where the baalim became incompetent after he sent the shliach.  He prepared thoroughly, and did an excellent presentation.  Recently, he was speaking at someone else's house, and there were Kollel yungeleit there, and you could see that their minds were wandering as he spoke, until he mentioned the machlokes Rambam and Tur.  Watching their eyes come into sudden focus and their faces all turn at once was very funny- it was as if a bell had rung and woken them all up at the same time.

In any case, I spoke last night, and I'd like to write the main part of the speech here.  It can come into handy for people that need a speech for similar occasions- a siyum or for Simchas Torah.

The first vort comes from several sources- heard it from attributed to the Ri'm and I saw it from the Lubavitcher Rashab.

Simchas Torah is different than Shavuos.  On Shavuos, we celebrate Mattan Torah, and the Torah includes kiyum hamitzvos, and learning, and middos, the whole package of what having the Torah means to us.  Simchas Torah is a siyum, simple and clear.  We finished reading the Chumash, we begin it again, and we celebrate the idea of limud and chazaras hatorah.  If so, the only people dancing ought to be the people who actually learn.  The many baalei batim who are yotzei the mitzva of talmud torah with Eilu Devarim, Reb Yishmael, and Krias Shma, really don't have much to be celebrating.  So why are they dancing?  It must be that they're dancing on credit.  They are saying that even though they didn't learn all year, next year they'll learn, and they're celebrating the learning they plan to do in the future.  Dance now, learn later.  That's called enjoying the yomtov on credit.  This is why they call them Hakafos- because "hakafa" means "on credit."

Our chasan haneshef did not dance on credit.  His Simchas Torah was honestly earned: he came to the shiur straight from work, not having eaten, and he remembers a great deal more than the maggid shiur does (besides where Rav Kahana slept and Reb Yochanan's bracha at the Shaarei Tevila.)

Another thing I heard on the topic of Hakafos is from the Kloizenberger.  The Kloizenberger said that all mitzvos must be done with joy, with a leiv samei'ach, with simcha and tuv leivav.  The reality is that many mitzvos are done without any thought, and, unfortunately, as if they were an imposition.  For all of those mitzvos- the hanachas tefillin, the tzitzis, the limud hatorah- that we should have done with simcha, we owe a lot of simcha by the end of the year.  So at the Hakafos, we dance and we jump and we sing to make up for all the simcha we owe the Ribono shel Olam.  That's another pshat in Hakafos- we are paying back now for the simcha we owe the Ribono shel Olam from the entire year that passed.

Here, too, this does not apply.  Larry, with his natural affinity for limud hatorah, looks forward to the shiur and thinks about it afterwards.  He learns with pleasure and he expresses his enjoyment and gratitude for it, sometimes to his maggid shiur's embarrassment.  His simcha of Torah is consistent for the whole year, and he doesn't have to dance on Simchas Torah to pay for all the simcha he owes.

So there are two ideas that use the play on words of Hakafa: the first, that many people dance now on credit for the learning they promise to do the next year, and the second, that even the people who did learn should have learned with more simcha, and they have to pay for the simcha they owe.  As it happens, neither applies to our friend.

Ogden Nash (on Daf Yomi)

Had Mr. Nash known about what Harav Meir' Shapiro had wrought, he would have titled his poem "The Daf Yomi Yid."

Oft in the stilly night,

When the mind is fumbling fuzzily,

I brood about how little I know,

And know that little so muzzily.

Ere slumber's chains have bound me,

I think it would suit me nicely,

If I knew one tenth of the little I Know,

But knew that tenth precisely.

~

~

~

Gently my eyelids close;

I'd rather be good than clever;

And I'd rather have my facts all wrong

Then have no facts whatever.

.