As is well known, at the first Knessiah Gedolah of Agudas Yisrael, which took place in Vienna, Austria almost a century ago, HaRav Meir Schapiro zt"l, proposed the Daf Yomi. It caught on almost from the start, in 1923, when the Rebbe of one of the largest Chassidus in the world, in Poland, the country with the largest frum population in the world, let it be known that he was learning Daf Yomi. HaRav Avraham Mordechai Alter zt"l, the Gerrer Rebbe in Poland, ensured the success of the Daf Yomi program. By the late 1930's, approximately 250,000 Jews learned Daf Yomi, most of them in Eastern Europe. Then came Darkness.
Never would anyone have imagined that on Tu B'shevat 2015, a Syrian Jewish community in Panama would make a siyum on Gemora Yevamos learned through the daf yomi program. Nor that the Moroccan Jewish community in Cote St. Luc, Quebec, would make a siyum on all of Shas, also learned through the Daf Yomi program. Both events were co-sponsored by the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudas Yisrael of America.
On Tu BeShevat, 156 Jews in Panama City completed Gemara Yevamos. There are only 13-14,000 Jews living in Panama out of a total population of 4 million. 85% of the Jews are Sephardic, almost all from Aleppo, Syria. They support 11 daily Daf Yomi shiurim and 19 kosher restaurants. The Panamanian Jewish intermarriage rate is less than 1%. One out of four are Shomer Shabbat.
Ezra Cohen, Director of Daf Yomi in Panama, is the dynamo behind this Daf Yomi success. A decade ago there was no Daf Yomi program in Panama. Mr. Cohen frequently listened to Rabbi Eli Mansour's shiurim on CD. He heard his fellow Chalabim (Jews of Aleppo-Syrian descent) talk about Daf Yomi. So Mr. Cohen decided to try it out. He and his friends figured it would peter out after a couple of months. To their amazement, they were able to stick with it.
Three years ago, a dozen Panamanian Jews finished all of Shas through the Daf Yomi cycle! It has since really taken off. They now have, in Panama City, six Daf Yomi shiurim in the morning and five in the evening. 10 are taught in Spanish and one in Hebrew. Almost none of the Daf Yomi learners has a yeshiva background.
If the maggid shiur cannot come, the Daf Yomi learners have a Spanish language Daf Yomi app on all of Shas to fill in. This app was created by Ta Shma, an Israeli organization dedicated to spreading Torah among Spanish speaking Jews. Ta Shma is in the midst of translating, in book form, all of Shas in Spanish, including Rashi and most Tosafos. They are also preparing instruction manuals in Spanish for Daf Yomi maggidei shiur.
The siyum last week was held in Congregation Shevet Achim (Rav Avraham Silvera) in Panama City. 175 attended. Ezra Cohen was the Master of Ceremonies. Mr. Marco Kassab, popular Daf Yomi maggid shiur, made the siyum in Spanish. Rabbi Eliyohu Simcha Bamberger, Agudath Israel of America's indefatigable Spanish-speaking Daf Yomi coordinator spoke. The main drasha was delivered by Rabbi David Ozeri, Rav, Yad Yosef Torah Center of Brooklyn, who travelled to Panama to address the mesaymim. He truly inspired all those present.
Rabbi Yitzchak Turgeman started teaching Daf Yomi seven and a half years ago at the Cote St. Luc (Montreal) Kollel Avreichim based in Congregation Shuvah Yisrael (Rabbi Yehuda Benoliel). The community consists of first or second generation immigrants from Morocco. Last week, seven made a siyum on Gemora Yevamos and three finished all of Shas. Rabbi Turgeman is the only one who was yeshiva educated. He delivers the Daf Yomi shiur at 6 am in English. The frigid Montreal winters doesn't scare off the committed Daf Yomi learners. They have even come out in -22 degrees Fahrenheit weather (not counting the wind chill).
The siyum program on Tu BeShevat consisted of divrei berachah from the Marah De'asra Rabbi Benoliel, Gad Pitom who sponsored the siyum in memory of his father and Rabbi Turgeman who then made the siyum. The guest speaker was Rabbi Yaakov Reisman, Rav of Agudath Israel of Long Island. His heartfelt message of Chizuk was well received by the participants.
Equally impressive, the Daf Yomi group at Congregation Etz Chaim in West Hempstead, NY, led by Rabbi Avraham Sebrow, completed all of Shas last week when they completed Gemara Yevamos. Also last week, the lunch time Daf Yomi shiur at Agudath Israel headquarters at 42 Broadway in Manhattan, taught by Rabbi Mechel Schiffenbauer, made a siyum on Gemara Yevamos.
The writer recommends watching the videos of the siyumim. Your eyes will probably tear up. Mine did.
