The chavrusas:Aharon Razel and Moshe Chessed, Shaarei Chesed
Keeping to a daily learning commitment is challenging for anyone, but singer Aharon Razel has made it part of his artistic DNA. His 2012 hit song “Kavati” spoke, tongue firmly in cheek, of rejecting offers to set up a kiruv center in Alaska, or to give out seforim and dance at highway junctions, because “I’ve fixed my place here in the beit hamedrash.”
But the serious inspiration behind the catchy song lies in an appreciation for the power of chavrusa study that he’s gained over the 14 years spent learning with Moshe Chessed, his Texan-born neighbor in Jerusalem’s Nachlaot neighborhood.
“Moshe has a special role in my life,” says Aharon Razel. “Sometimes we look at each other and say, ‘If it weren’t for this chavrusa, we wouldn’t manage to learn.’ Chavrusas stimulate each other through arguing, the back-and-forth helps the Torah become vivid. The fact that someone is counting on you — if you don’t come, then he also won’t learn — that’s the secret of your motivation.”
The Razel-Chessed partnership began almost spontaneously after Aharon took up daf yomi two cycles ago. “My brother Yehudah gave a shiur in Nachlaot,” says Razel, “and at the end of the shiur I stood up and announced ‘Who wants to do chazarah on the daf?’ I’d learned about the importance of going over your learning from my rosh yeshivah, Rav Rafael Weingot in Tzfat. Moshe immediately stepped forward, and since then we’ve hardly missed a day.”
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