digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Teachers and role models should follow through on commitments and set an example of perseverance, even when a small, unplanned pledge is made under pressure. The story centers on Rabbi Akiva Sarabrowski, who, after a third grader asked whether he had learned Shas, made a kabbalah (vow) to learn the entire Shas and kept it for years until he finished it at a Siyum HaShas.
Key Points
- A young rebbe in Edmonton, Alberta, taught third and fourth grade, and his students were so enthusiastic about learning generally that near the end of the year he decided to raise their level by teaching them Mishnayos.
- During recess, student Josh Siegel suggested asking whether their rebbe had learned Shas, which put the rebbe's standing with both students and parents at risk.
- Rather than admit he had not learned Shas, he made a commitment to learn it and answered "Yes" when asked.
- He was inspired by a story about his own Rebbe, Rav Yaakov, who permanently refrained from Gebrokts after eating at a host's home whose kashrus level he wasn't fully sure of, illustrating the principle (from the Mishnah Berurah/Biur Halacha on the Shulchan Aruch) that a person who commits to a mitzvah receives reward from the moment of the kabbalah.
- Starting with the 13th Daf Yomi cycle, he kept the commitment, learning daily despite demanding work schedules, including early mornings and late nights.
- Years later he located Josh Siegel, arranged for him to attend the Siyum HaShas, and the two learned together in Lakewood before Josh returned to Israel.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The speaker describes a method of making a kabbalah (a formal personal commitment) to a specific mitzvah, such as learning a body of Torah, and noting that per the Shulchan Aruch, the reward begins from the moment of the commitment, even if completion comes later. The narrator's own example was to commit to learning all of Shas and to keep a daily learning schedule for the full seven-year Siyum cycle, even while working as a menahel and in real estate, sometimes rising at 4:30 a.m. or going to sleep at 12:30 a.m.
- The narrator says the principle is stated in the Shulchan Aruch, is printed in the Mishnah Berurah, and was also shown to him in the Biur Halacha.
- The story's rebbe had a Siyum HaShas connection to a satellite-style viewing: he saw the Madison Square Garden feed and resolved to attend the next cycle.
- Josh Siegel was 19 at the time of the telling and did not remember the third-grade incident; he was flown in from Israel after the rebbe called Josh's mother in Edmonton, who arranged and paid for the flight.
- The story closes with the moral that a rebbe should remain on the pedestal others place him on, as role models must not lower their standards.
Bottom Line
Commitments made under pressure can be honored and can shape a person's life, and a leader's example carries lasting weight for the young people who look up to them.
