For the past six years, Reb Zev Dinner of Tiveria has been delivering a community daf yomi shiur. Dozens who seek a clear and concise shiur find favor with his lessons. His dedication to the shiur and to its participants is outstanding. Whether it’s after a busy day or an Erev Shabbos, Purim or Erev Pesach, Reb Zev is always there, going through every detail in his unparalleled fashion. He rarely misses, and even if he must, he makes sure to have someone fill his shoes — and someone good.
This year, on Parshas Tazria-Metzora, he had a family simchah taking place out-of-town that required his attendance. There was no way he could miss it. With no choice, he reached out to someone capable of delivering his shiur and instructed him as to what he must do. This was an especially hard day to miss, since this was the beginning of a new mesechta, but what can he do?
Sunday morning, he reached out to the sub, and to his dismay, the sub said that he’d forgotten all about it. Before Shabbos he’d prepared the daf, but at the assigned time, it had slipped his mind, as if he was never appointed, and he hadn’t shown up.
Reb Zev’s mind began racing. Had there been a shiur? Did the day go by without the daf being learned? That bothered him very much. His long-standing shiur’s continuity had been jeopardized. What was more intriguing was that not one of the partakers had bothered reaching out on Motzaei Shabbos to inquire why the sub hadn’t given the shiur. The participants are very dedicated, and if a day goes by without their learning, they would’ve — or at least should’ve — notified him.
After reaching out to one of the participants as to what had happened, the story unraveled itself. At the assigned time, the shiur regulars came, eagerly waiting for the fill-in. Five minutes past, ten minutes past, but no one came. They stepped out to see if anyone was coming, but not a soul was in sight.
Fifteen minutes past, and the door to the shul opened wide. In walked Reb Shlomo, a local melamed. A fourth-grade rebbi in a local elementary school. “Shalom Aleichem!” they greeted him, assuming that he must be the one who was to deliver the shiur. But he excused himself and said that he was not. He was only coming to learn on his own.
“Oh well,” they replied. “We have a daf yomi shiur scheduled for now, and the sub has yet to show up. We are scheduled to start a new mesechta, mesechta Shevous, and we are left without a trailblazer.”
“If that’s what you’re looking for,” Reb Shlomo said, “then I’m happy to deliver it. Let’s sit down and go through the blatt.” With no preparation, Reb Shlomo opened to the first page of their new Gemara, and he sailed through the entire blatt. Quick and smooth. The audience was awestricken. How was it that they had in their midst a baki b’Shas without anyone knowing? He was the community’s best kept secret — to be able to give such a presentation on the spur of the moment. Not only that, but when reading the content, he barely looked inside. Half the words he dictated while meagerly glancing at them.
When Reb Shlomo detected that they were amazed by his prowess, he assured them that he was no hidden tzaddik. By no means. “Several months ago,” he explained, “I accepted upon myself to bli neder learn a mesechta — and learn it well — in the memory of my father. I would not leave a single Rashi or Tosfos unturned. I would work through the entire mesechta from beginning to end. I began with the first blatt of mesechta Shevuos. I learned it some 30 times until I knew it in my sleep. But, by the time I was ready to progress to the next daf, I was burnt out. I had zero fuel to continue.
“When I opened the door of the shul and heard that you needed someone to deliver a shiur on the very daf, I understood that Hashem had sent me here to deliver the shiur. That’s how I was able to give it off the cuff.”
Hearing this, made the picture fall into place. There was a shiur, and Reb Zev did not need to learn two blatt during the one-hour slot on Sunday. He was happy to see how the start of the new mesechta started with a jumpstart.
There are two important points in this story. First, Hashem showed how he put Reb Shlomo’s one and only blatt to use. Tens of listeners enjoyed their shiur just because of that blatt that he learned. Second is how Hashem orchestrated that Reb Shlomo would be there at that time to deliver it. After Reb Zev did his best to set up someone to replace him, Hashem made sure that it would come to fruition. Reb Zev did his best, and Hashem did the rest.
