Catching Up

We’ve all experienced moments in life that are magical — those points in time where everything comes to a standstill and the static subsides. The veil lifts and we realize we’re seeing something precious unfold before our eyes. These moments tend to be very personal; what one person experiences as an enchanted moment might seem trivial to another.

I had such a moment last night. Our shul has a night seder, with a small, hardy band of Daf Hashavua’niks forming part of its steady core. The beis medrash is never even close to full on these evenings, yet there’s a hum of activity, with people coming and going, a Maariv minyan in the ezras nashim next door and another one following seder.

But at one point last evening, after the early Maariv was over but well before the one following was to begin, things quieted down. I looked up and saw there were just ten of us, five sets of chavrusas, sitting and learning a sugya in Yevamos. Exactly ten Jews, learning Torah together.

I’m sure this has happened before in our shul, and it will happen again. But that’s the thing about magical moments — your eyes have to be open to realize what you’re seeing. I reached for a siddur, opened to Pirkei Avos and read aloud to my chavrusa: “Asarah sheyoshvin v’oskin baTorah, Shechinah shruyah beineihem — Ten who sit and learn Torah, the Divine Presence rests among them.”