Victor Cohen
Completing the entire Shas is a monumental achievement. The nearly 70 masechtot (tractates) of the Talmud consist of 2,710 pages of intricate, complex analyses of an exceptionally wide range of topics, among which are interspersed numerous stories and anecdotes, as well as Midrashic interpretation of verses from Tanach – all in Aramaic. Shas is a tall mountain that many people take a lifetime to climb.
Once a year, however, a group of devoted men spend a day engrossed in the study of the Gemara so they can together complete the entire body of text. The annual Shas-A-Thon was held this year on Sunday, February 8th, bringing together 600 participants who studied in havrutot (pairs), each of which covered 8-10 pages of Gemara. In order to participate, every pair was required to raise $12,000 for ATIME, a special organization that helps couples struggling with infertility. What a beautiful combination of intensive Torah and hesed at the highest level!
Once the Shas was completed, the participants gathered for a festive dinner befitting the significance of their accomplishment, with uplifting speeches and a soul-stirring kumzitz.
We sat down with Shas-A-Thon participants Israel Sasson, Ezra Netanel, Yossi Abadi, and Rabbi Isaac Shamula from YDE to hear their stories about this special day, and with Simcha Gold, a longtime community advocate and dedicated supporter of ATIME who has participated in this event for the past seven years, to learn more about the amazing work done by ATIME to help couples bring children into the world.
a longtime community advocate and dedicated supporter of ATIME who has participated in this event for the past seven years,
“They Go All Out”
Rabbi Shamula shared that after he prayed shaharit that morning in Shaare Zion, there was a car outside waiting for him, ready to transport him to the Shas-A-Thon. The learning began promptly at 10:30 – and nobody could be late! The organizers therefore arranged transportation for all participants, helping to ensure that everyone started learning on time.
“You walk in, and you see they’re committed to making it a beautiful experience,” Rabbi Shamula continued. “They go all out. They want you to be as comfortable as possible so that when it comes to the learning, it’s smooth.”
Israel Sasson and his havruta – his son, David – arrived a full hour early, at 9:30, and they found a “huge breakfast” waiting for them. Ezra Netanel and Avrahmai Chams also enthused about the breakfast prepared for them.
“There was every type of coffee you could ever want there,” Ezra Netanel said.
From 10:30am, the enormous bet midrash was filled with the beautiful sound of 600 people from many different segments of the Jewish world learning Gemara.
As people approached the area, they were greeted by a loud noise. Rabbi Shamula recalls hearing somebody asked, “What is that? Is it the AC?”
“No,” Rabbi Shamula replied. “It’s the sound of 600 people learning!”
A Race Against the Clock
At 1:30pm, after three hours of hard work, the participants were given a one-hour lunch break, which was followed by minhah. After minhah, the Gemaras were reopened – and this is where the pressure began to mount.
“Past minhah it gets very intense,” Israel Sasson said. “You’re up against the clock.” The material needed to be finished by 5:30pm, so those final two-and-half hours were especially charged.
“By the time you finish, you feel like you finished the whole Shas even though you only did 10 dapim [pages],” Israel added.
As mentioned, each pair needed to raise $12,000. Those who raised $18,000 or more were rewarded with the opportunity to choose in advance which pages of Gemara they would learn. And then there were those for whom even $18,000 wasn’t enough.
“My havruta and I have what the organizers call a meshugas [quirk],” Yossi Abadi said. “Although ATIME asks us to raise $12,000, Rabbi Moshe Mustacchi and I raised this year over $36,000, and lifetime about $250,000.”
After the study of each daf (page), the participant scanned a barcode that signifies its completion, and then the dapim counter goes up on the big screen in the front of the room. Watching the daf count go up throughout the day is an exhilarating experience, as you witness the result of 600 Jews inching toward the completion of the entire Shas, one grueling line of Gemara at a time.
Unity & Togetherness
Naturally, being part of such a large group of students of Torah exposes the participant to many different kinds of people – including fascinating and inspiring figures. Israel Sasson met a young man at their table named Yossi Hecht, who sat in a wheelchair and would be unanimously described as the highlight of the day.
Regular Shas-A-Thon participants reunited and spoke with their old friends whom they met in previous years, and whom they see only at this annual event.
In addition to the 600 learners, there is a team of Shas advisors on standby in case someone has a question or is struggling to complete their section.
“It’s incredible,” Israel said. “You feel the unity [ahdut] and the togetherness to get over the finish line.”
The counter on the screen starts flying… 500… 1,000… 1,500… 2,000… 2,500… and then – 2710, dramatically signaling the completion of the entire Shas. The participants could not put into words the sense of accomplishment and gratification that they sensed.
But as exciting and uplifting as the learning was, the evening program – the dinner and kumzitz – was no less inspiring, and every bit as unforgettable.
“I always say – I don’t know how they can top last year,” Ezra Netanel said. “But then I walked in and somehow, they did it.”
To celebrate the completion of Shas, ATIME provides the devoted participants an unbelievably wide array of dishes, desserts and beverages – truly a sight to behold.
Learning From Yossi
But for these outstanding, spiritually-driven individuals, it is the speeches – not the food – that bring so many of them back year after year. The speeches are always inspiring and meaningful. This year, one speech stood out from all the rest – the address given by the awe-inspiring Yossi Hecht.
Yossi suffered from cancer, and is bound to a wheelchair. Never despairing, and never stopping from extending the limits of possibility, Yossi – with Hashem’s help – recently welcomed his first child into the world. The Shas-A-Thon participants were spellbound upon listening to Yossi speak about his story.
There was not a dry eye in the room.
The speech is available on Shas-A-Thon’s website, where it will, hopefully, reach a wide audience to spread Yossi’s remarkable message of hope and determination.
“If people who go through those challenges could make it,” Israel Sasson said, “then we could overcome the things that we call challenges in our lives.”
The evening concluded with a large kumzitz, with soulful singing and bonding
“They always have a song that is the unofficial anthem of Shas-A-Thon,” Yossi Abadi said. “It’s the song Vezakeini. When you have hundreds of men singing this in unison, this is by far the most emotional moment of the entire day, the culmination of everything we worked on, coming to fruition.”
This year’s kumzitz was graced by the presence of the Razel brothers – a remarkably talented team of arrangers, composers, and conductors.
“He’s playing piano with one hand and with the other hand getting everyone into it,” Ezra said.
Mordechai Ben David also made a surprise appearance.
“The dancing is unbelievable,” Ezra continued. “And you grab the guy next to you and you don’t even know who he is. You see guys you only see once a year and tell them, ‘I danced with you last year, I have to dance with you again!’”
Appreciating the Little Things
The night left a lasting impact on everyone who participated. And they keep coming back, year after year, finishing Shas together annually as a group.
“They do me a favor by allowing me to be part of it,” Rabbi Shamula said, expressing a sentiment echoed by many others. “Every year you finish and you think you have to be back next year.”
“One year,” Ezra said, “one of the speakers talked about his struggles having children. Then, that year he was happy to announce that he had triplets, and wanted to give everyone in the room a hug. The entire room then lined up, and he gave each person a hug.”
Israel Sasson, who learns with his son, David, spoke about how this experience affected his general outlook.
“It makes you appreciate the smaller things in life,” he said. “Life throws things at you and doesn’t always ask for your permission. People out there overcome hurdles that they perhaps didn’t anticipate. But on a different note, it makes you feel like there’s hope that no matter what happens in life, you can still move forward and overcome any hurdle.
“Shas-A-Thon breathes a fresh life into our daily routine and reignites our hope for a better future. Like a light at the end of the tunnel.”
ATIME’s Helping Hand
An estimated 20 percent of all couples struggle with infertility, and most of them do not know where to turn or how to begin to overcome this hurdle that stands in the way of their dream to build a family. ATIME is committed to holding the couple’s hand through every stage of the process, and ensuring they are given all the help they need along this journey. Ordinarily, it can take couples three or four years (!!!) to schedule an appointment for fertility treatment. ATIME, with its large network of specialists, can usually arrange an appointment within just a few months.
The organization also offers logistical support, connecting the couple to various important resources, as well as knowledgeable rabbis to help them navigate the difficult halachic questions that arise in the context of fertility treatment.
No less importantly, ATIME offers much-needed emotional support, seeing to it that the couple never feels alone, that they always have a professional team accompanying them at every step along this difficult road. The organization runs Shabbat programs, getaways, and special events for families going through this process. Its staff also regularly checks in, and sends packages for Yom Tov.
“When they do an event,” Simcha Gold explains, “they want people to feel comfortable. For many of these couples, they want to give them an escape.”
The Shas-A-Thon is how ATIME fundraises for this important endeavor. Simcha says that most of the event’s participants do not struggle with infertility, but they recognize the vitally important service that ATIME provides, and they want to support its work. They solicit donations from generous sponsors who want to facilitate Torah learning as a source of merit for couples waiting for the blessing of children.
One of the most rewarding experiences for regular Shas-A-Thon participants is meeting and hearing from couples whose dream was finally fulfilled.
Ezra, who participated this year for the tenth time, said, “It’s amazing to see couples who started out walking alone, but who are now walking around in strollers. It’s a tremendous feeling of satisfaction knowing the learning you do helps someone.”
Yossi Abadi has participated in the Shas-A-Thon for 12 years, since 2014. In 2017, he and his wife endured the traumatic experience of a stillbirth. He credits Shas-A-Thon and ATIME with helping him overcome this tragedy.
“ATIME was there to help us through the grieving process. They provided whatever help we needed through therapy, logistics that we weren’t prepared to handle with regard to the baby, and, eventually, accompanying us during the next steps in our journey to continue on with our everyday lives. We feel tremendous hakarat hatov [gratitude] to the organization. As long as there are still Jewish couples out still praying and hoping for children, I’ll be there at Shas-A-Thon doing my best to help. “I pray and hope every year that the organizers of Shas-A-Thon will tell us, ‘We’re pleased to announce that there will be no need for a Shas-A-Thon this year because everyone throughout the Jewish Nation has a child in their homes.’ Until that time comes, though, you can bet we’ll be sitting and shteiging [diligently learning] for them.”