By Chaim Gold

It was Mincha on Shabbos, a Shabbos that nearly 1,000 lomdei Torah in Dirshu�s myriad�programs will never forget. During the Shabbos morning tefillah, aliyos are given to the�attending Gedolei Yisrael. Only one aliyah is sold, shlishi on Mincha of Shabbos. That aliyah is�not sold for money, because the only real �legal tender� for lomdei Dirshu is Torah!

The bidding started: 1,000 blatt, 2,000… At the last Dirshu Shabbos shlishi sold for 3,200. This�year it first went to 3,000, then 4,000� There was furious bidding until finally, after some�twenty minutes the aliyah was sold for a whopping 10,000 blatt Gemara to be learned by this�time next year. 10,000 blatt by one person! The person then gave the aliyah to Dirshu�s Nasi,�Rav Dovid Hofstedter as hakoras hatov for the transformation that his life underwent as a result�of being part of the Kinyan Shas learning program.

Hundreds of Thousands of Aggregate Torah!

Yes, the mind boggling undertaking of one person to learn 10,000 blatt in one year was a�highlight of the convention but there were tens of other highlights. Perhaps the greatest highlight�was the very fact that there was so much Torah in one room. Hundreds of thousands of aggregate�blatt Gemara and blatt Shulchan Aruch and Mishnah Berurah, hundreds of thousands of hours�spent learning and chazering for the bechinos, hundreds of thousands of hours of mesiras nefesh�by the wives of lomdei Dirshu to enable their husbands to devote the requisite hours upon hours�of learning and chazering necessary to successfully learn with accountability. In his powerful�remarks at shalosh seudos, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Schustal, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Beth�Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, gave voice to this as he called the lomdei Torah in the room��Kodesh Hakadoshim� who possess such �phenomenal hasagos in limud haTorah�. Rav Dovid�pointed out how the special large room that was designated as a beis medrash in the Crown Plaza�Hotel in Stamford where the convention was held was �K�nacking� throughout the Shabbos.�Despite the fact that the shiurim and oneg Shabbos went so late, the beis medrash was packed -�late at night, early in the morning, throughout the afternoon. �The olam here is not mehader in�sheinah b�Shabbos taanug because their greatest delight is to sit and learn,� Rav Schustal said.

Two extraordinarily riveting drashos were also given at shalosh seudos by HaRav Yitzchok�Zalman Gips, shlita, Rav of Beis Medrash Birchas Avrohom of Boro Park and Rosh Yeshiva of�Yeshiva Nahardaah, and HaRav Zev Smith, shlita, a popular Maggid Shiur with Irgun Shiurei�Torah and Dirshu. There were so many lessons imparted by the various luminaries who�addressed both the men and the women throughout Shabbos. A more detailed treatment of the�historic nature of some of those speeches will be forthcoming in the weeks to come.

Rav Povarsky: Master Conductor of a Torah Symphony

One of the exceptional highlights was the shiur klali given by HaGaon HaRav Berel Povarsky,�shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Ponovezh. To watch the simchas haTorah in that room was to see true�simcha. The sight of the great Roshei Yeshiva who participated in the convention including�HaGaon HaRav Reuven Feinstein, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Staten Island, the Telzer Rosh�Yeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta of Lakewood,�Hagaon Harav Dovid Schustal, shlita, Harav Shmuel Choueka, shlita, along with so many�Rabbonim sitting and listening with bated breath; asking questions and participating in the�ensuing rischa d�Oraisah, fiery Torah debate with Rav Berel presiding over the shiur like a�master conductor of the most harmonious Torah symphony, was a sight that left the entire�assemblage energized with simchas haTorah.

The shiur was also a microcosm of Dirshu achdus. Litivishe Roshei Yeshivos, Chassidishe�Rabbonim, bnei yeshiva, Chassidim from many different communities, Sephardim,�Ashkenazim� all listening, asking, debating with Rav Berel, the octogenarian Rosh Yeshiva,�who despite his advanced age, seemed to shed years and even decades as the shiur proceeded.�The lesson of ahavas haTorah and achdus through Torah was something that many of the�Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva stressed as one of the remarkable chiddushim that Dirshu�contributed to Klal Yisrael.

Kinyan Chochma: The Primacy of Enhancing Yiras Shomayim

The highlight of the Shabbos was the melava malka siyum on Masechta Bava Basra. Busses�from major Jewish populations brought lomdei Torah and ohavei Torah from major centers. The�crowd swelled to nearly 2000!

Harav Shmuel Choueka, shlita, Rav of Congregation Ohel Simcha of Deal and a popular Daf�HaYomi B�Halacha Maggid Shiur, explained how the halacha program not only enhances the�observance of halacha but the myriad details in the Mishnah Berurah with the biurim and�musafim additions in the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah also enhance one�s yiras shomayim!

The hadran on Masechta Bava Metziah was given by Rav Berel Povarsky. Once again, Rav�Berel, with his deep love of Torah, managed to draw the massive crowd into his intimate world�of ahavas haTorah. The kaddish was recited by HaRav Moshe Mordechai Lowy, shlita, Rav,�Agudas Yisrael of Toronto.

The topic of yiras shomayim was also a prominent theme in the address given by Rav Dovid�Hofstedter, Nasi of Dirshu. Rav Dovid related that on the one hand the tremendous increase in�Torah in our generation built on the ashes of the Holocaust is unprecedented. On the other hand,�however, the way the host culture has invaded even our own heimishe circles is also�unprecedented! In a pain-filled voice, Rav Dovid lamented how even in our own publications we�have allowed ideas, advertisements and a culture of pure superficiality, jealousy and greed to�infiltrate. The antidote to this is to cultivate our own pnimiyus and our own yiras shomayim.

�Therefore morai v�rabosai, achai vera�ei, it is our zechus to present a new program, entitled�Kinyan Chochma, a daily limud of mussar and hadracha culled from various mussar seforim,�Tomer Devorah, Orchos Chaim l�Harosh, Orchos Tzaddikim and others��

Sample editions of the Kinyan Chochma kuntress were distributed so that lomdim can begin�learning it daily and take tests on it monthly.

�Transformational Chiddush of Dirshu: Ol Torah�

A powerful major address was also delivered by Dayan Yonasan Abraham, shlita, a member of�the London Beis Din and Rav of the Toras Chaim Shul in Hendon, North West London.

The final drasha was a deep, comprehensive speech by HaGaon HaRav Binyomin Eisenberger,�shlita, Rav of Kehal Heichal Hatefillah in Boro Park.

Throughout Shabbos luminaries such as HaGaon HaRav Reuven Feinstein, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva�of the Yeshiva of Staten Island, HaGaon Harav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, shlita, HaGaon HaRav�Dovid Olewski, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Ger, and HaGaon HaRav Yechiel Mechel Steinmetz,�shlita, Skverer Dayan of Boro Park, delivered prominent drashos and shiurim. These and other�convention highlights will be covered extensively in the upcoming weeks.

Perhaps Rav Yitzchok Sorotzkin encapsulated it best when he said, �Dirshu has been mechadesh�many things, but perhaps the overwhelming, transformational ideal of Dirshu is the concept of�kabbolas ol – accepting the yoke of limud haTorah on oneself, regardless of what is going on in�one�s life! A person has an ol to learn, to chazer, to know. That ol is the integral component to�success in learning and Dirshu has cultivated it in a heretofore unprecedented fashion!�