Cover: Rabbi Eli Stefansky holds a Yeshivat Reishit mug during his Moed Katan Daf 3 shiur, following the completion of Maseches Megillah.
More than 200 students. Fifty-seven from Reishit. One shared achievement: completing Maseches Megillah, a daf at a time.
Students from Yeshivat Reishit Yerushalayim and other yeshivas in Israel joined Rabbi Eli Stefansky for a siyum celebrating the completion of Maseches Megillah through Daf Yomi. For Reishit’s 57 participants, the evening marked weeks of daily learning, encouragement from their rabbeim, and friends helping one another keep going.
The challenge brought together more than 200 American yeshiva students, many around 18 years old, around a straightforward commitment: follow Rabbi Stefansky’s shiur and finish the masechta together. The promised celebration was an all-you-can-eat fleishig meal in Jerusalem. Getting there took the quieter work of opening a Gemara every day.
Reishit students helping one another stay with the daf
The initiative grew within the learning environment built by Reishit’s rabbeim and staff. Their teaching, patience and attention to each talmid gave the students a foundation for taking on another commitment. Alongside the yeshiva’s regular sedarim, the Daf Yomi effort became a shared project that continued in the beis midrash, around campus and in the dorms.
Brachi Feder, Ezra Friedman and Menachem Rosner, all from West Hempstead, Long Island, helped keep that project moving. They encouraged their friends to continue, answered questions and learned ahead so they could help others understand the material. Working with Reb Eli and av bayis Sender Gross, they turned an ambitious goal into daily, practical support for the chevra.
That student leadership mattered. A friend checking in after shiur, explaining a difficult passage or making time to review could help someone return the next day. The achievement belonged to the young men who kept learning and to the wider Reishit community that supported them.
Daniella Gross: a welcoming home for the students
Daniella Gross, Reishit’s eim bayis at the time, supported the students with meals and a welcoming home. She hosted and cooked for the boys who were continuing with the challenge, giving them another place to feel encouraged and cared for. Her contribution was part of the daily support that helped sustain the learning beyond the shiur itself.
Rabbi Eli Stefansky on Daf Yomi: the strength of showing up
Rabbi Eli Stefansky captures his approach in a familiar line: “It’s not about the Daf, it’s about the Yomi.” The emphasis is on the daily commitment. Completing a page matters, but so does becoming someone who makes time for Torah again tomorrow.
For a young person taking on Daf Yomi, that distinction can make a demanding goal feel approachable. A whole masechta may seem far away. Today’s learning is a smaller, clearer task: open the Gemara, follow the discussion and give the material serious attention.
Stefansky’s Mercaz Daf Yomi began with a small gathering in his home to review the week’s learning. His decision to begin a shiur in the middle of a masechta reflects the same encouragement: a person does not have to wait for an ideal starting point to begin learning.
A daily shiur also creates a shared point of connection. Students can discuss the same question, compare what they understood and help each other through a difficult sugya. At Reishit, that connection was visible in the students who prepared ahead and made themselves available to their friends.
The pace of Daf Yomi asks for both commitment and humility. Some passages take more work than others; asking a question or returning to review is part of learning. The support of rabbeim, chavrusas and fellow students helps make that effort sustainable.
A siyum gives the daily work a moment of recognition. Its lasting value, though, is the habit students carry into the next masechta. The Megillah celebration was a chance to appreciate what they had completed—and to see another day of learning as something within reach.
Gemaras in hand, and an invitation to begin
Rabbi Stefansky made free Gemaras available to students who committed to learning, offering ArtScroll Hebrew or English editions. With books in hand and support on campus, students could take the first step and build a rhythm alongside Reishit’s daily schedule of shiurim and sedarim.
A personal invitation, and a shared celebration
Rabbi Stefansky personally invited the Reishit students who had helped sustain the initiative to join him. Their work on campus had helped their friends stay motivated and keep pace. The Taanis Daf 31 shiur image records an earlier moment in that wider learning journey.
At the Megillah siyum, Reishit student Jonah Gerson delivered a dvar Torah, giving the students a voice in the celebration of their own achievement. The meal at Sheyan in Jerusalem brought the chevra together beyond the beis midrash, with the friendships formed through learning still at the center.
Building ahavas Torah, one day at a time
The wider learning effort encouraged students to continue, with some completing three, four or five siyumim. Each completion was a reason to take the next step. Rabbi Stefansky’s encouragement, the guidance of Reishit’s rabbeim and staff, and the students’ care for one another all contributed to that growing ahavas Torah.
For the 57 Reishit participants, the accomplishment was both shared and personal. They celebrated together, but each had made the daily decision to learn. The story belongs to that commitment—and to the community that helped it grow.
Related reading: “I Don’t Have Students; I Have Children” — on the lasting influence of a rebbe.
