10 Questions for Yossi Gleiberman

Y
ossi Gleiberman is the composer of the Songs of Shas series. The “Song of Chullin” was released Erev Pesach in conjunction with the siyum daf yomi on Chullin.
He’s based in Brooklyn, New York.

1 What are the Songs of Shas?
A series of videoed melodies that reviews the major themes and yesodos of each masechta as we learn it in the daf yomi cycle — in rhyme. The songs are a perfect way to chazzer a masechta you just spent months learning, because the stanzas trigger memories of entire concepts. They help you recall the combination of the challenge, frustration, and pleasure of learning the masechta, and of course, perhaps most important, the simchah and passion you feel when you’re privileged to learn Torah.

2 How did you get started?
Two summers ago, I began thinking about how to convey the simchah I was feeling about an upcoming personal siyum haShas. But I was also feeling a little disheartened, because even though I’ve been learning daf yomi for almost 30 years, I wondered how much I’d been able to retain. I decided to write down the klalim, the main points and topics I remembered from Berachos, and I came up with a list of 60 to 70 points. Next was a list for Shabbos, then Eiruvin, and so on. Over two weeks, I accumulated pages of yesodos — more than 2,500 — at my kitchen table. Seeing this massive list, tangible proof of what I’d absorbed over years of daily learning, was so encouraging! I was thinking about how to turn these lists into a memorable and entertaining presentation for the siyum, and I recognized that after a fast-paced shiur, it’s virtually impossible to recall each line of a daf, but it is possible to remember the main sugyos. I’ve written grammen for family simchas, so I started playing with the klalim to put together a review of main Shas themes, including a brief synopsis of every masechta. By the end of the summer, I had a 33-minute Shas song with about 800 klalim and phrases.

3 When was the big reveal?
Several months later, at the end of the siyum. I presented the “Song of Shas” video to the crowd. Many Jewish websites in the US linked to it, and it was picked up by Israeli and European websites. More than 30,000 people watched it over the next week or two. E-mails came in from lomdei hadaf, maggidei shiur, and rabbanim from all over the US and from people as far away as Denmark and Australia with encouraging comments, along with requests for hard copies of the lyrics. The feedback was incredible, and I decided to compose a more in-depth review of a single masechta. When we began learning Zevachim, I’d jot down the klalim we’d covered once a week, and when we reached the halfway mark, I began formulating the lyrics. “The Song of Zevachim” was presented to my morning shiurim at the siyum of the masechta, followed by Menachos and now Chullin. Next up: Bechoros.