Slow and Steady

Just a few days ago, a small group of us in my shul celebrated a real simchah shel Torah — notwithstanding the one Klal Yisrael experienced on the last day of Yom Tov — when we learned together the last Rashi on the last pasuk in Chumash. For our group, it was the culmination of seven years of study, during which we’ve gathered each Thursday night after the ten o’clock Maariv in the Agudath Israel of Bayswater to learn Rashi’s commentary on one aliyah in the weekly parshah.

This past year was devoted to learning the Rashis on each week’s aliyah of shevi’i — and finishing V’zos Habrachah meant we had completed our study of all of peirush Rashi on the Torah over the past seven years. It was my privilege to give the shiur over these past years, and although I almost never prepared enough, I don’t know that more preparation would have been adequate for this lively group of lomdim who constantly bubbled over with questions and answers and penetrating insights into the words of Rashi. My only regret is not having compiled some of their comments for publication in a lasting form.

Although what we accomplished took the form of a seven-year cycle, a siyum haShas it is not. Nevertheless, it’s a significant achievement, for several reasons. For one thing, anything worthwhile — and certainly Talmud Torah, a Jew’s greatest endeavor — that one pursues with unerring consistency over many years is something to be proud of, especially if you’re one of the many who struggle with maintaining consistency.

I recall giving the shiur telephonically, when travel unavoidably took me on the road and my son-in-law Reb Yisroel Kahn wasn’t available to take my place, in various cars and hotel rooms (and, on several occasions, on a bench on a Sanhedria sidewalk at 5:20 a.m. Jerusalem time, just after Maariv ended in Bayswater).