The worldwide Mif'al HaShas project is celebrating its success in promoting in-depth Torah study across the world with a massive gathering in Jerusalem, near the new huge Belz Synagogue, this afternoon.
Mif'al HaShas, run by Grand Sanzer Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Halberstam, involves the monthly study of 30 pages of Talmud by some 5,000 people across the world - half of them in Israel. They are tested on the material each month, and receive modest monthly stipends in accordance with their knowledge. Those who score 100 receive $120, while those who merely "pass" receive some $70. Every few months they review what they have studied, and are tested accordingly. The monthly tests are conducted in Jerusalem, Rehovot, Hatzor, Arad, Tzfat, Haifa, and elsewhere in Israel, as well as in New York, London, Antwerp and more. The program is open to anyone who wishes to participate.
Shimon Sher, a member of both the Netanya city council and the Mif'al HaShas governing board, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today that the entire Shas - the six "orders" of Talmudic tractates - is completed every ten years. The program was started 20 years ago, and the Shas has been completed twice. "Some 20,000 people showed up for a similar conclusion ceremony in Bnei Brak two nights ago," said Sher, "and who knows how many people will show up in Jerusalem tonight."
Rabbi Halberstam is the eldest son of the late Rabbi Yehuda Yekutiel Halberstam, who lost his wife and eleven children in the Holocaust. When the late Rabbi Halberstam was an inmate in a Nazi concentration camp, he vowed that he would found a hospital in response to the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people - and out of this vow was born Laniado Hospital in Netanya. The current Rabbi Halberstam, one of seven children from his father's second wife, underwent successful heart surgery last week.
Mif'al HaShas, run by Grand Sanzer Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Halberstam, involves the monthly study of 30 pages of Talmud by some 5,000 people across the world - half of them in Israel. They are tested on the material each month, and receive modest monthly stipends in accordance with their knowledge. Those who score 100 receive $120, while those who merely "pass" receive some $70. Every few months they review what they have studied, and are tested accordingly. The monthly tests are conducted in Jerusalem, Rehovot, Hatzor, Arad, Tzfat, Haifa, and elsewhere in Israel, as well as in New York, London, Antwerp and more. The program is open to anyone who wishes to participate.
Shimon Sher, a member of both the Netanya city council and the Mif'al HaShas governing board, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today that the entire Shas - the six "orders" of Talmudic tractates - is completed every ten years. The program was started 20 years ago, and the Shas has been completed twice. "Some 20,000 people showed up for a similar conclusion ceremony in Bnei Brak two nights ago," said Sher, "and who knows how many people will show up in Jerusalem tonight."
Rabbi Halberstam is the eldest son of the late Rabbi Yehuda Yekutiel Halberstam, who lost his wife and eleven children in the Holocaust. When the late Rabbi Halberstam was an inmate in a Nazi concentration camp, he vowed that he would found a hospital in response to the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people - and out of this vow was born Laniado Hospital in Netanya. The current Rabbi Halberstam, one of seven children from his father's second wife, underwent successful heart surgery last week.