On Thursday, the Fifth Grade Boys had their Haschalas Gemara, the celebration of the boys receiving their first Gemara and beginning to learn Gemara.
This is a momentous occasion that underscores the importance of Gemara and its centrality in a person’s Torah learning.
The boys sang the song “Leibele” by Avrumi Flam, which tells the story of a mother and a father, who both sell their last possession so that they can buy their son a Gemara.
The song ends with these words:
“They arrived at the door, the Gemara in their hands
Oh the joy, as the boy, kissed it and began to dance
What a zechus, that they shared, this young couple, a special pair,
What a Nachas to the Eibishter, When Torah is so dear.”
TDSP’s Menahel, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, spoke at the event, and he was visibly moved as he recounted the following story:
“A couple of years ago I was in attendance at (another) Haschalas Gemara. There was an elderly gentleman there who jumped up in the middle and started screaming ‘What revenge! What revenge!’.
He had survived five years in Auschwitz. He was the great-grandfather of one of the boys. He started screaming that and saying ‘We are eternal! We are eternal!’”
Rabbi Cohen noted that throughout the generations Jews have displayed tremendous Mesiras Nefesh (self-sacrifice) to learn Torah.
“We have our own Mesiras Nefesh- to shteig, to learn, to be true Avdei Hashem, servants of Hashem.”
Rabbi Cohen introduced Rabbi Shafir Roizman, Rav of Ohr Hatorah, who told the boys, “Today is the greatest day of a person’s life. You have something that will carry you, that will be with you, for the rest of your life. No matter what happens you will always have the Torah Hakedosha.”
Rabbi Roizman joined Rabbi Cohen and 5th grade Rebbe Rabbi Nosson Ungar in presenting the boys with their Gemaras.
Rabbi Roizman ended his speech with this bracha for all the parents who had come to watch.
“I want to wish you all such beautiful nachas that your children should not learn but they should have Ahavas Hatorah, and they should have joy and simcha and feel the warm embrace of Hashem’s love throughout their lives.”