ChinuchAtHome

Rav Meir Pogrow, Sh'lita, has an ambitious goal: he wants to turn the average Baal haBayit (householder) into a Talmid Chacham (Torah scholar). In March 2005, at congregation Beis Tefillah in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, he began a new type of Amud Yomi shiur. An Amud Yomi covers one side of a page of Talmud per day, functioning at half the pace of the Daf Yomi, which covers both sides of a page of Talmud per day. For many, a Daf Yomi is a chance to become familiar with the Talmud but not to achieve real mastery (though there is a select group skilled enough to use the Daf Yomi for mastery). Rav Pogrow has a powerful goal in mind for his group and the Jewish world: he wants the average Baal haBayit, and not just the elite, to master  the ENTIRE Gemara.

The new group is called SVT Shas, an acronym for Shakla Vetarya Shas, literally “the taking and giving” of discussions in the Gemara. The aim of the group is to learn Shas Gemara and memorize the Shakla Vetarya, including all major opinions and the authors of those opinions, as well as to master  the concepts of the tractate. Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz, Sh'lita, is the Rov of the Beis Tefillah shul and was one of the scholars testing students at the Siyum. He remarks: “This, bezrat Hashem, will be the start of a revolutionary program that many, many people will eventually join.”

Indeed the learning program is revolutionary. Its goal is nothing less than a solid mastery of Gemara, from memory, across entire tractates, and eventually – Shas. The students in the class span a range of professions, including dentistry, medicine, education, actuarial insurance, public relations, intellectual property, programming, accounting, catering, research science, renovation contracting, as well as a sprinkling of Torah teachers and Rabbis. My chavruta has 2 jobs and 8 children. He couldn’t resist joining the program and committed to the challenging schedule of 6 days per week (Sunday to Friday) 5:30am-6am lecture and 6am-7am Chavruta, plus an additional 45 minutes later each day for review, or a 2 hour 15 minute per day commitment plus some review on Shabbos. As another student aptly said, "Knowing the Gemara so well means that you think of the Gemara as your friend instead of your enemy." It’s a temptation that’s hard to resist.

The shiur is digitally recorded and available online a few hours later. Some of those in the class who cannot make the early time, listen to the class online, scheduling their chavruta times later in the day. Others use the online lectures for helpful review. Each ½ hour shiur begins with a critical summary of what we are about to learn before the Rav does the Amud. This way, when Rav Pogrow presents the Amud, he has already prefaced the information and we are ready to absorb it effectively. Rav Pogrow focuses his lecture on a very disciplined presentation of the Shakla Vetarya of the Gemara, and our job during chazarah is to ensure we know the flow of argument of the Gemara extremely well. A typical question on a test would ask for all positions in a particular debate and the names of their protagonists. A Perek would typically be tested with 2 1.5 hour tests, one focusing on detailed information across the tractate and the other focusing on broader themes and positions across the tractate.

The tests are important because Rav Pogrow maintains there are different types of learning: passive and active. In the process of active learning your memory banks are tapped and exercised. Tests help facilitate active learning. Students in the class relate how before the shiur began Rav Pogrow took an example from tefillah that we say every day, asking them to name the amounts of particular ingredients that went into the incense for the temple service. Despite the fact that it is said most days for years on end, none of them could remember the list. Why not? Because the mindset when we read is a mindset of passive, not active learning. The combination of an early day structured shiur, chavruta, aggressive review and tests produces an ideal atmosphere for active learning, and hence mastery. Rav Pogrow wants to export the approach across the Jewish world.

To gain some insight into why the program is so effective, two members for the shiur were interviewed:
 

Rabbi Joel Landau, who made aliyah from his congregation in Irvine, California, and a dentist in the shiur, Dr. Mitch Rudy, who made aliyah from Baltimore, Maryland. Mitch’s wife Tamar also agreed to be interviewed to give us a wife’s perspective. Rabbi Landau’s first comment was “the fact that a group of working people has made this tremendous commitment to waking up early in the morning and their willingness to do whatever it takes to do review so that they can take the tests is an amazing thing and gives me a tremendous amount of inspiration.” He relates how this dedication really hit home Purim morning when Rav Pogrow announced that shiur would take place at 5am because dovening was earlier due to the megillah reading, and “there was a full house - even Rav Pogrow was a little bit surprised.”

Rabbi Landau thinks that the notion of mastering something is very appealing. As he says: “Many of us have learned enormous amounts in the course of our lifetimes and are significantly bothered by the fact that was have not retained a significant enough amount of what we learned.” He feels the real test will be 6 months out when we will see how much of the original tractates we retain.

Dr. Rudy is ‘just a regular professional guy.” He recalls that before the class was formed a group of about 12 would meet with Rav Pogrow for a Thursday night shiur at 10:30-11:30pm, usually on the parsha of the week but also on various topics like free will, and “one night Rav Pogrow said he has a plan and it can revolutionize learning everywhere.” Rav Pogrow then described the basic structure of the Gemara class and indicated he wanted to make sure there were 10 guys willing to participate before committing. However, he left the time of the class up to the guys, who began discussions on when they could get the 1.5 hours of learning done together during the day. They decided nighttime was not the best time because there would be weddings or PTA meetings, etc. and everyone would end up missing significant class time. As Dr. Rudy relates, “the question became when in the morning, and that’s when 5:30 came up. We were going back and forth about whether it should be at 6am or even 5am, and all the professionals needed to be at work and doven before work so we decided we had to finish learning and dovening at 8am, so 5:30am-7am it was.” Dr. Rudy’s typical day is 9am – 7:30pm in offices in Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem.

When he brought home the idea to his wife Tamar, her first reaction was “he has to do it.” As she put it, it was a fabulous opportunity to learn a tremendous amount of Torah from a great talmid chacham. Previously, she felt it was hard for him to find the time and strength to learn a lot, remarking that by the end of the day “he’d be too tired and that was that.” She feels for this reason that “a program like this is perfect for people who are working, as it is very conducive for people to find the time at the beginning of their day for learning.” During the first few weeks, her husband was very tired, but he loves the class and “he feels like he is learning a tremendous amount and getting a very deep understanding.” She notices her husband is always thinking about the material and finding some connection from what he has learned to their lives: “His mind is always working on his learning.” It strengthens the kedusha of their home. At the siyum, she was very proud to see a group of guys “who work very hard even when they don’t feel like it.” Their palpable excitement to continue made her even prouder, “It’s not easy, but whatever sacrifice it is from me is worth it 10-fold.” Indeed, the impact on their 5 children of seeing their father sacrifice shows them how important learning really is.

Dr. Rudy is motivated by the “tremendous results.” He indicated that when Rav Pogrow started the shiur, he mentioned how the ba’alei tosfos knew everything from one tractate to another and could thereby readily connect them, and that we could ourselves begin to acquire that capacity by really mastering the Gemara. Dr. Rudy relates how “just this past week, we were doing something in Beitzah and I recognized a similar question was asked in Chagigah, and looked it up to confirm.” He could connect the two, remember specific memras and their authors, specific psukim and their sources, etc. He has completed mesechtas before, but the constant review keeps him knowing the specifics. During the initial hour chavruta from 6am-7am, the goal is ideally 2 reviews of the Amud per student, or 4 times total. During the extra 45 minutes per day after class, students do a review of the Amud learned that day, the previous day’s Amud and two more Amudim starting from the beginning of the tractate. On top of that, Rav Pogrow has provided a schedule for spending 5 minutes per day on each Amud of Chagigah, the previous tractate. Students are going to be retested later on Chagigah as well as taking the test on Beitzah.

Dr. Rudy thinks the approach is readily transferable to other cities. He himself is from Baltimore and feels the approach “could be done in Baltimore and would be very successful because there are serious people who want to have the ability to retain what they are learning and this is a great way of accomplishing that.” Indeed, the numbers indicate a snowball effect. Rav Pogrow started with 15-20 students and now is closing in on 40 or so. As Rabbi Landau puts it “It is not as if Ramat Beit Shemesh was a ‘den of heathens’ – it was a place of Bnai Torah. Yet Rav Pogrow is facilitating a tremendous upgrade.” Getting up early to learn Torah is a very motivating phenomenon and enriches the rest of one’s day.

SIYUM of MESECHES BEITZA :
 

There was much excitement this past weekend and the days leading up to it, about the Grand Siyum or Completion in Ramat Beit Shemesh. A group of approximately 30 to 35 men were completing the masechet (tractate) of Beitzah. This however, was no ordinary siyum. The participants had been learning Beitzah since the summer with the intention of mastering the tractate. They took weekly tests, and agreed to be tested orally by a panel of rabbanim. In addition, anyone from the greater Bet Shemesh who could stump the group with a question, would win a TalMan Shas. The entire community was invited to the gala siyum and the questioning. The main point focal point of the siyum, however, was not the fanfare. It was the noble intent of sharing this opportunity with others. The group, consisting of professionals in many different fields, proved that regular balabatim, could in fact master a masechta.

In order to do so, one only needs to follow the guidelines of the group, or the chabura. A daily half hour class, followed by 4 iterations of the new material along with back reviews of the material from previous days, is only one aspect of the tight discipline. Tests are administered weekly and they are cumulative. This chabura proved that it is indeed possible to master the material gaining both knowledge and self fulfillment.

Rav Meir Pogrow, the initiator of the program, instructs students from a variety of backgrounds while employing this method. He has seen tremendous success over the past few years and he has already seen success in his endeavor to expand this program not only for full time yeshiva students, but also balabatim, laymen.

The siyum was attended by over 250 people from greater Bet Shemesh. They were addressed by several well known rabbanim including Rav Nachum Stern of Yeshivat Be'er Yisrael of Bnei Brak and Rav Simcha Weinberg, who brought words of encouragement from Rav Shteinman shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva from Bnei Brak. A group of the participants had gone earlier in the week to Rav Shteinman for a bracha and a preliminary test on Beitzah. A 7-minute video clip of their meeting was shown at the siyum.

Much of the efforts seem to have paid off - Sunday morning, the number of participants more than doubled and over 70 men sat diligently at 5:30 listing to Rav Pogrow’s clear explanations of both the new masechet, Ketubot, and the details of the program. In addition, there are approximately 15 other individuals, unable to attend the morning class, but participating in the program nonetheless by downloading the audio files and performing the required reviews.