The Daf closest to the Beis Hamikdash

The Daf closest to the Beis Hamikdash

Late at night, a respectable old Jew pours forth his whispered prayer before the silent stones. To his right, a young man wearing a cardboard kippa clutches a Tehillim and murmurs heartfelt psalms. At the entrance to the plaza, a Jew seeks a tenth man for a Maariv minyan, as two other minyanim are finishing. And at the edge of the plaza is a rare sight, never before seen at the Kosel until two years ago: Around tables and makeshift shtenders, a large group of students from all walks of life listen as Rabbi Dovid Zicherman, shlita, of Meoros Hadaf Hayomi, enthusiastically elucidates the Gemara. They’re sitting in the holiest place in the universe, detached from this world, diving into the endless waters of Torah, with their “captain,” the maggid shiur, deftly navigating wave after wave of fascinating topics.

This special shiur began two and a half years ago, as daf yomi completed its eleventh cycle and started its twelfth on 21 Adar 5765. Meoros’ coordinators worked day and night to launch new classes and expand existing ones, all for the glory of the Torah and for a public thirsting for daf yomi and newly aware of its tremendous importance.

Every day, around the clock, thousands of Jews pour out their hearts in prayer to their Father in heaven at the Kosel. Minyanim upon minyanim, day and night, Shabbos and Yom Tov, there were always Jews in this sacred space, but there was no Torah class.    

In conjunction with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, shlita, rabbi of the Kosel and holy sites, Rabbi Zicherman was recruited. Thanks to his way with words, vast Torah knowledge, and ever-present smile, together with the complex logistical legwork of Meoros’ coordinators, today, boruch Hashem, more than fifty regulars attend the shiur, joined by visitors to the Kosel from all over Israel and the world, such that attendance sometimes exceeds 100 people! Impressive siyumim have been held at the Kosel itself and in its tunnels. Rabbi Chaim Dovid Kowalsky, shlita, head of Meoros’ beis medrash for maggidei shiurim, regularly attends these events and expresses admiration and moral support to the students, moving them anew at every siyum.

“It’s hard to express the feeling in words,” says Rabbi Zicherman. “It’s a special feeling…. Daf yomi exposes you to communities from all across the spectrum: those scattered who come to visit the Kosel, a whole range of Jews visiting from near and far, kibbutzniks who haven’t been to the Kosel in fifty years and together experience their first encounter with it, along with a unique shiur. The result is phenomenal! People return home to Los Angeles, New York, or London – or to Tiveriya, Katzrin, Nahariya, and Acco – and say to themselves: ‘If I heard and enjoyed a daf yomi class at the Kosel, why is there no such shiur here?’ I’ve even heard of people who, after sitting in on a class at the Kosel, started a shiur where they live.

“The actual learning is hard to describe, but I’ll try to capture a little of what I feel: It’s a powerful, lofty experience…. When the Gemara says Hashem says, ‘I won’t come to the heavenly Jerusalem until I come to the earthly Jerusalem,’ you feel it!! The learning itself is almost palpable! When you learn in the Gemara where the ramp leading to the mizbeiach was, between south and north, it wasn’t just ‘there,’ but you can point to it, it’s ‘here’! Here’s the Holy of Holies, here the Kohen gadol davens for all Jews! The Tosfos Yom Tov says the heichal (היכל) is so-called because from there sustenance (כלכלה) goes forth to the world, as the Kohen gadol davens for the entire Jewish people. Here’s the abundance!”

As for his beloved students, adds R. Zicherman excitedly, face shining, “They remember everything they learn! It’s astounding! I must tell you a story. About a year and a half ago, a soldier serving in the IDF by masquerading undercover as an Arab happened by the shiur. He accepted the students’ invitation to sit and learn – until we opened our gemaros. “This isn’t for me,” he said, explaining that he’d never studied Gemara. I told him how the Gemara says every baby learns the entire Torah in his mother’s womb throughout the nine months of pregnancy, and then forgets it, so we need only recall what we learned! Boruch Hashem, this young man attends the shiur every night (unless he has an urgent assignment, and even that he sometimes tries to postpone until after the class) and is very diligent. All because we showed him he had learned Torah, he had learned Gemara! It’s not distant from anyone! One just needs to recall!

“Another story: When a group of moshavniks saw us learning Gemara with Meoros’ 3-D illustrations, one moshavnik said to another, ‘Look how they’re learning, how they spend their lives immersed in spirituality. How have we spent our lives? In the barn? In the chicken coop?’ It shook them up and caused them to rethink life altogether.”

Rabbi Zicherman maintains that the unique, threefold combination of daf yomi study, at midnight (an auspicious time for many things), and at the Kosel works wonders! He invites anyone coming to the Kosel, whether regularly or occasionally, to join this special class, thereby necessitating more benches in the Kosel beis medrash.

Some two months ago, amid popular demand for a shiur at the Kosel in the morning as well, the Meoros coordinators rolled up their sleeves and started one after tefilas hanetz, delivered by a Meoros maggid shiur Rabbi Avraham Birenbaoum shlita. This class as well is very popular. Early-morning regulars at the Kosel have begun frequenting the shiur, as well as visitors and thus, boruch Hashem, dozens of men start their day with Gemara study adjacent to the remnant of our Beis Hamikdash. And at day’s end, R. Zicherman gives the main shiur, concluding by reciting Nishmas Kol Chai.”

“Undoubtedly,” says Rabbi Rabinowitz, “study in the Jewish people’ s holiest site gives students and visitors alike a special feeling of a new spiritual experience, of transforming this place of prayer into one of study and communion with the Creator, through the Gemara.”