Community Magazine November 2012

Community Chest Dirshu’s Latest Global Test Continues a Historical Torah Revolution “It was unbelievable,” remarked Reb Tully Neuman as he walked through the corridor of The Lakewood Cheder on Sunday evening, October 14, 2012, as hundreds of Lakewood residents, and approximately 15,000 Jews across the globe, took Dirshu’s second monthly test on the current Daf Yomi cycle. The scene at the Cheder closely resembled the scene in over 60 cities throughout the world where the hand of Dirshu’s Torah revolution has reached. Whether in North America on Sunday, or most of the rest of the globe two days earlier, the picture of those taking the Dirshu tests bespoke the diverse cross section of the Jewish nation that pursues excellence in Torah learning through Dirshu’s incentive programs. Participants were able to choose from a variety of Dirshu tests. The most popular was the monthly Kinyan Torah exam on Daf Yomi, which offers two different tracks. Several men in the room were seen hovering over more than one test. Dirshu also offers a weekly Daf HaYomi review exam, and tests on 120 pages every four months. The premier Dirshu test remains the Kinyan HaShas test, which features cumulative tests every six months and a final test on the entire Talmud at the end of the cycle. Dirshu offers stipends for taking exams, but when speaking to the participants, it immediately becomes clear that money is the last thing on their mind. Theparticipantsrepresentawiderangeofagegroups,backgrounds and occupations. The tests are thorough and comprehensive, but also simple and straightforward, and they thus can be mastered by anyone who studies and reviews the material, regardless of age or background. All those committed to the intensive study of Tamud can benefit from Dirshu’s program. This is the second Daf Yomi cycle in which Dirshu has been offering these tests, and the success of the first test cycle has clearly caught on. The recent Siyum Hashas celebrated the thousands of dedicated scholars who mastered the Talmud during the previous cycle, inspiring thousands more to join the program and reach new heights of Torah scholarship. - Shimmy Blum Keter Shelomo iOS App Sephardic prayers, along with a precise, clear English translation, can now be accessed through your iPad and iPhone devices. Danny Salomon, Vice President of the mobile software company United Holdings Group, and developer of the Kol Yaakob iPad and iPhone Application, has teamed up with Rabbi Abe Churba and Robert Grossman to develop the Keter Shelomo iOS App for iPad and iPhone, a free Hebrew and English prayer application available for download, free of charge, on the iTunes App Store in 32 countries. Keter Shelomo is a daily prayer book following the Sephardic tradition of Aleppo, Syria, featuring a linear English translation alongside the Hebrew text. The app is complete with all prayers for the entire year, including prayers for weekdays, holiday prayers, the blessing after meals, the marriage ceremony, and many other blessings and prayers for special occasions. It was especially designed to omit the prayers for Shabbat and other occasions when the use of electric devices is prohibited. A full table of contents is available with easy-to-navigate sub categories, along with pinch to zoom and swipe to turn features, a search function that allows users to quickly find a specific prayer, and more. New location- based feature updates, including a calendar with prayer times for each day, Shabbat times, sunrise and sunset times, and a minyan database with a list of the nearest shuls, will be available soon in the 2.0 update. Annual Shabbat Parade 2012 Vaad Shmirat Shabbat parade literature is again paying tribute to local Jewish establishments which have closed for Shabbat (and remained so) over the past 15 years. These include Fruits- A-Plenty, Reliance Cleaners, Computer Software Plus, Morris Cleaners, BP Car Wash and William Barthman Jewelry. This year’s parade, which is open to all, is scheduled for Shabbat Parshat Vayera, November 3rd at 11:45 AM, starting from Kings Highway and Ocean Parkway. The march proceeds down Kings Highway to Ocean Avenue, and then returns along Kings Highway to the Sgt. Joyce Kilmer vest-pocket park between East 12 th and East 13 th Streets. Brief, inspiring addresses will be delivered by prominent local rabbis at the parade’s starting and end points. 90 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE