16 ADAR, 5769 Israel MARCH 12, 2009HAMODIA B21

Feature

By Joel Rebibo

Seeing is believing.That’s why Rabbi Meir

Pogrow, founder of Master Torah,a revolutionary program thatmaintains that anyone can learnand remember all of Shas, invitedme to a siyum last Wednesdaynight in Ramat Beit Shemesh.

The siyum, on Bava Metzia,was moving, as you’d expect ofan event that culminates thehard work of 40 men whoattend an amud yomi shiur at5:30 every morning. The proudwives, who gladly pay the pricefor their husbands’ commit-ment to learning, were there,behind the mechitzah, as weremany children. Harav Zev Leff,whose son attends the shiur —in fact , he is so reliably on timethat he’s in charge of providingthe coffee and milk — wasthere to offer divrei brachah.

But what made the siyumextraordinary was “the test.”Community Rabbanim whohad been invited to stump thestudents sat at the head table,facing off against these baale-batim. The questions weren’t“fair,” straightforward oneslike “Tell me the differentpoints of view in the argumentover such-and-such issue,” and“Which opinion does theGemara accept?” (One of theRabbanim, who had testedthem at all their previous siyu-mim, explained that they knewthat such questions wouldn’tstump them.) Instead, theywere “unfair,” abstract ques-tions that tested not only theirmastery of Bava Metzia, butthat of of Beitzah, which theylearned four years ago, andfour other masechtos they’dlearned.

Even more extraordinary,the baalebatim appeared toenjoy being tested, as if “dar-

ing” the Rabbanim to trip themup.

“Give me a machlokes thatappears in Bava Metzia wherethe protagonists hold the oppo-site views of their own shit-tah,” asked Rav Chaim ZevMalinowitz, general editor ofthe ArtScroll Shas.

The question was battedback easily by a member of theshiur: “The machlokes regard-ing whether we are doreshtaima dikra [deduce the rea-soning behind the passuk]between Rebbe Yehuda andRebbe Shimon on 115a, involv-ing whether you can take amashkon [security] from a richwidow. It was based on a rever-sal of their shittos on whetherwe are doresh taima dikra.”

Then it was the turn ofRabbi Elimelech Kornfeld, Ravof the Gra Shul in Ramat BeitShemesh: “What quotation ismentioned in Beitzah and inBava Metzia — and has nothingto do with either?”

“The mishnah in Maasrosabout gmar melachah inBeitzah 13b and Bava Metzia88b,” came the answer.

“Where is Purim mentionedin Bava Metzia?” asked RavGedalia Hochberg, formerly arosh chaburah in MirJerusalem.

“Ninth perek ... 106b,” cameback an answer, referring tomoney collected to distributeon Purim.

“Where else?”“Sixth perek, 78b,” came an

answer from the other side ofthe room.

“How many of the melachosof Shabbos are mentioned inBava Metzia?” asked RabbiKornfeld, again requiring thestudents to do a quick mentalreview of the entire masechta.The only open gemaras in theroom were those in front of the

Rabbanim.The answers came from dif-

ferent parts of the room, withstudents giving each otherencouragement. “Zoreia [plant-ing],” said a local doctor, holdinga sleeping 5-year-old on his lap.

“Zoreik arneki dalet amos. ...”“Muktzeh,” said someone

else.“The shumshimin story on

49b,” said yet another, as thepace picked up.

“Taking interest from a bankon Shabbos ... Ein achrayusShabbos alav.”

As Rav Pogrow, who emceedthe event, looked on with pride,another Rav took a shot at con-founding the chaburah.

Where is Yerushalayim men-tioned in Bava Metzia? Six orseven references, citing exactsources, came back in rapid suc-cession.

An another attempt: “Nameall the places in Bava Metziawhere we don’t say hamotzi

mechaveiro alav haraya, andeven when there is a doubt, youhave to pay.”

“The case of stealing fromone person, but not knowingfrom who ... Rabi Akiva andRabi Tarfon,” answered one stu-dent, followed by a series of dif-ferent answers from the 119folios of Bava Metzia, a toughmasechta that is a part of theyeshivah cycle of learning.

As impressive as the answersto such difficult questions wasthe camaraderie among the stu-dents. People didn’t cut eachother off; they encouraged oneanother, and, on more than oneoccasion, when a particularlygood answer was given, therewas admiring approval:“Excellent, Yitzchak.”

“You feel you’re part of ateam that’s going where no onehas gone before,” says AkivaLebowitz, a criminal lawyerfrom Boston who retired earlyand moved to Ramat Beit

Shemesh. “There’s never been aprogram that is so demanding ofbaalebatim.”

What exactly are thedemands? What does it take toturn an average group ofbaale- batim into “masters” ofShas?

Keeping FocusedIt begins with commitment,

first and foremost from RavPogrow, who delivers his shiurevery day at 5:30 a.m, Sundaythrough Friday, at the AishKodesh shul in Ramat BeitShemesh. When he is abroad —he travels extensively to workwith schools on developing cur-riculum and meeting AmudYomi groups — he delivers theshiur through live, interactivevideoconferencing.

The program starts with ahalf hour shiur, followed by anhour of review in chavrusa-learning. The chavrusos committo an additional 45 minutessome time later in the day thatis convenient for them, for atotal commitment of two and aquarter hours a day.

Both Rav Pogrow and hisstudents — not just the onesattending the shiur in RamatBeit Shemesh, but nearly 1,000others around the world — arecommitted to the propositionthat it is possible to internalizewhat they learn, to make akinyan in Torah.

“The point of the shiur isthat when they’re done theyare already in chazarah[review] mode,” explains RavPogrow. “They’re reviewing,not learning. They have limitedtime. If they had to learn it bythemselves, it would take themfour to five times as long.”

In his shiur, Rav Pogrowstays focused on the flow ofthe Gemara, explaining whatthe sugya will be grapplingwith, what is the central diffi-culty and the various

Yes You CanAn extraordinary siyum last week in Ramat Beit Shemesh showed that

anyone can master Shas — if they’re willing to ‘think big’ and make a commitment

Rav Meir Pogrow (Center, sitting) and some of the members of his shiur, at last week’s siyum.

“You can, and you have to” remember the names of man d’amrim.

Since founding MasterTorah four years ago, HaravMeir Pogrow has recordedover 2,500 shiurim on mish-nayos, Rambam and Gemara.Incredibly, the material isavailable for free, atwww.mastertorah.com.

Today, nearly 1,000 peoplearound the world are takingadvantage of these shiurim,and Rav Pogrow givesHamodia some of the creditfor its phenomenal growth.“After Hamodia ran an arti-cle on the program, we hadfour times as many hits asbefore,” he says with grati-tude. “That article was aturning point for us.”

Despite the size of the pro-

gram, Rav Pogrow is essen-tially a one-man operation,not only giving the shiurim,but uploading them immedi-ately afterward and answer-ing an astonishing 800 e-mails a day on all aspects ofthe shiur.

In analyzing the success ofthe program, Rav Zev Leffsays it fills an important needfor people who want to learnand remember what they’relearning.

“My own son goes to theshiur, and I see how much hegets out of it,” says Rav Leff.“Rav Pogrow is not only agenius, he’s charismatic andhe knows how to give ashiur.”

800 E-Mails a Day

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16 ADAR, 5769 Israel MARCH 12, 2009HAMODIA B23

approaches for dealing with it;by “organizing” the amudbefore reading a word of text,he’s already giving them a keyto remembering what they’llbe learning. In a shiur I attend-ed for an earlier article (“ToLearn and Remember,” Dec. 4,2007), he managed to actuallyreview the amud five or sixtimes in half an hour.

The students are alsofocused. They’re there to learnand to know, not to hear them-selves ask questions that aresometimes irrelevant to under-standing the flow of theGemara and that can sidetracka shiur.

And, most importantly,they’re committed enough to dochazarah according to a planRav Pogrow has drawn up thatenables them to regularlyreview the six masechtos they’venow learned (Beitzah, Chagigah,Kesubos, Makkos, RoshHashanah, and Bava Metzia.)

Take Daniel Altmark, forinstance. The 31-year-oldYeshiva University graduate isa mortgage banker who lives inRamat Beit Shemesh andworks for a U.S. firm. His workday is from 4 p.m. till12:30 p.m., which enables himto give more time than therequired two and a quarterhours a day.

“My chavrusa and I meet at9 a.m. and download the shiurof that day. Then we do chaz-arah from 9:30 until 12:30,including chazarah of previousmasechtos, according to RavPogrow’s program.”

In referring me to Daniel,Rav Pogrow had said, “Hewon’t tell you this, but you cangive him any three words inBava Metzia and he’ll tell youwhere they are.”

I didn’t want to openly testDaniel, for fear of embarrass-ing him, so I innocently men-tioned that I had been to theshiur 14 months earlier to doan article, and couldn’t remem-ber which daf it was on. I justremembered the words, “hav’ha bshchiv meira.” Would hehappen to know what pagethat was on?

Daniel didn’t bat an eye. Hecorrectly answered 19b, andwent on to explain to me whatthe issue was about.

How is the learning in this

program different from whatyou’ve done in the past?

The main difference is thatthere is a structured schedule.Also, you’re part of a group ofguys doing something andalways moving ahead. If youmiss a day, you can’t just writeit off, you have to make it up.

Finally, Rav Pogrow gives ustests — every week, and at theend of every 20 blatt, and theend of every masechta. Whenyou know that you’re going tobe tested on your learning, youtend to remember it better.”

Besides the chazarah, whichis obviously important, do youfind that you approach a dafdifferently when your intentionis to remember it?

I’ll sometimes use tricks toremember the names of mand’amrim. If, for instance, RavNachman is the one who sayschayav, I’ll remember itbecause he has a ches in hisname.

I might also use simanim toremember what sugya is onwhat daf. For example, thesugya of chamishah chumshinis on daf nun-heh [55].

Do you summarize the daf inwriting or make charts?

Rarely, maybe if it involvesmeasurements.

Has this kind of Gemara-learning changed the way youlearn other things, sayhalachah?

Yes, if I’m going to learnsomething, I’m going to learn itproperly. I have to be sure it’s ina system that will make it possi-ble for me to remember it.

You and the shiur have visit-ed Harav Steineman severaltimes to be tested. What’s thatlike?

It’s a great feeling to be ableto go to a Gadol and feel confi-dent enough that I won’t lookfoolish in answering his ques-tions on the masechta.

Everyone reading this isthinking, ‘Sure, Daniel can dothis — he’s brilliant. But me?There’s no way I can rememberso many pages of Gemara.’

I don’t think you have to bebrilliant. I have a decentmemory, but never in the pastwas I able to remember thenames of Amora’im andTana’im. Until Rav Pogrowsaid, “You can and you haveto.” And he’s right.

I’ve found that the more I’veput into setting goals and liv-ing up to them, the more I’veaccomplished.

‘You Don’t Forget Your Life’

That’s the message thatmany of us are afraid to hear.Rav Pogrow has been tellinghis students, “Yes you can,”long before a variation of theexpression was used by a verysuccessful U.S. politician. Butthe message is, “Yes you can ...if you’re willing to make a com-mitment.”

The siyum last week inRamat Beit Shemesh was a kid-dush Hashem by any measure.It reflected an attitude thatTorah is important enough toregular baalebatim that theyare willing to make the effortto acquire it.

As Rabbi Leff said, “If a per-son learns Torah and under-stands ki heim chayeinu, it’sour very life — you don’t forgetyour life! You don’t forgetthings that are part of you.”

The siyum was a moment oftremendous pride for the stu-dents, their families and localRabbanim who left the headtable amazed at what they hadseen. But most of all it was avindication for Rav Pogrow,who every since he beganMaster Torah, almost fouryears ago, has been saying thatit is possible to help averagelearners master Torah.

“The basis of what we sawtonight,” he told his students atthe end of the evening, “is thelevel of she’ifah, yearning, thata Jew has in terms of his yediasHaTorah. The only thing thatstops a person is his katnushadaas [thinking small].

“We get bogged down in the

small details — in work, in allour other roles — but what arehere in this world to do? Kilekach notzarta — for this youwere created — is mentionedin Chazal with regards to peo-ple only twice — and bothtimes it refers to limmudTorah.

“There is a lav in the Torahagainst forgetting your Torah.Although if one forgets whathe learned despite reviewing,he would not be in violation,learning with no intention toknow and retain certainly isproblematic. Going to shiurand knowing that I won’t knowit afterward, there is no ques-tion that it’s incorrect to learnthat way.”

Rav Pogrow gave an exam-ple of how people can repeatsomething thousands of timesand not remember it unlessthey set out to. “In Israel, peo-ple say at the end of daveningthe service of the daily ketoresthat was brought in the BeisHamikdash. Yet, if you askthem a simple question likehow much karkom was in theketores, most can’t answer.That’s because they had nointention to remember. But ifyou tell a person that he’ll betested in seven days, then eachday that he recites the dailyketores offering, he’ll bereviewing and committing it tomemory.”

Rav Pogrow, who memorizedall six sedarim of mishnayos bythe age of 12 and finished Shasat the age of 17, has a theoryabout the way the brainremembers.

“The brain can rememberanything and actually cravesorder to facilitate memory,hence all we need to do is toactively structure the materialto remember. You have toorganize the daf, the sequence,the number of cases... asehsimanim laTorah ... each reviewshould give an additionalangle in facilitating memory.

“The tests we take everyweek require constant struc-turing and ‘force’ constantrefining of the tools we use inthe restructuring of the materi-al. Doing yet another chazarah,even after I know it all, makesit more meaningful.

“Tonight is about making acommitment to learn, toreview, to master what you’velearned,” Rav Pogrow told hisstudents. “The message is: Youcan know everything thatyou’re learned! That’s the moti-vation of the shiur, and it is giv-ing nearly 1,000 people aroundthe world tremendous sipuk.

“The joy in learning in thisway is unbelievable.”

In an e-mail the next day, RavPogrow told me: “Last night, yousaw people pick pieces of infor-mation in almost encyclopedicfashion out of 120 daf of Gemarawhile cross-referencing it with250 other daf they’ve learned inthe past four years.

“I thought I knew how wellthey know it, but even mymind was blown. Sadly I do notbelieve you can possibly con-vey in words what you wit-nessed with your eyes. ...”

Once again, Rav Pogrow isright.

(L. to R.) Rabbi Elimelech Kornfeld, Rav of the Gra shul in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Rav Zev Leff, Rav of MoshavMatisyahu, Rav Chaim Zev Malinowitz, general editor of Artscroll Shas, and Rav Pogrow (speaking).

Yes You Can

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