A celebration was held Thursday evening at Yeshivat "Shvut Yisrael" in Efrat, part of the "Merkaz HaRav" network, marking the completion of the Shas by 12th-grade student Tuvia Cohen, a resident of the community of Revava. Cohen began studying the Shas [Talmud] in ninth grade, alongside his regular yeshiva studies.
The yeshiva described the event as a special celebration of Torah, attended by yeshiva students, members of the Cohen family, friends from Revava, and rabbis. Among those present were Rabbi Rafael Eifres, one of the leading rabbis of the Netherlands and among Europe's prominent rabbinical judges, as well as the Kaliver Rebbe.
Yeshiva head Rabbi Yaakov Elimelech shared with students' parents remarks he wrote following the event. According to him, during the dancing, one of the students approached him and said, "Rabbi, the floor is shaking." He replied, "Dear student, you are mistaken. The floor is dancing, and not only is the floor dancing, but the heavens are also dancing." He added that this was how a new interpretation of the verse, "Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult," was revealed to him.
Rabbi Elimelech further wrote that the joy at the yeshiva was "as great as the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai," adding: "Fortunate is the eye that witnessed all this... Fortunate are the students, fortunate are their parents, and fortunate is the entire nation that it has such."
The yeshiva noted that in the month of Elul, Tuvia Cohen is expected to join, along with some of his friends, the hundreds of young Torah scholars at Yeshivat "Merkaz HaRav," where he will continue his studies.
